Life Afloat

I’ve been living on land for the last couple of months while Bristol Fashion is at Whilton Marina, lined up with dozens of other boats for sale. What with all the rain we’ve had lately I thought I should check on the boat so I travelled up to Whilton.

As it happens she was fine, there wasn’t much water in the bilge and nothing leaking anywhere. It was strange to stay on an empty boat with no pictures on the walls, empty cupboards, no food in the fridge.

I miss my boat. Not knowing where I’d be mooring at night, life used to be so delightfully random, just heading in one direction until dusk then staking the boat to the towpath.

Stewart Marchant’s Movable Bridges website says:

If it’s a swing bridge, lift bridge, drawbridge, bascule bridge, sliding bridge, retractable bridge, curling bridge, rolling bridge, telescopic bridge, transporter bridge, counterweight bridge, boat lift or any other sort of movable bridge and is in the British Isles, it belongs on this website.

It’s a comprehensive resource and obviously a labour of love. He’s appealing for information and photographs on any bridges he may have missed from his database so please help him out using his simple feedback form.

At Weedon, a brand new narrowboat is lowered by crane into the canal, while another boat waits patiently to pass by.

I’m at Whilton Marina for a few days, cleaning the boat, boxing up some of my belongings and showing a few prospective buyers around.

While I’m here I have to get some work done too so I was really pleased to find that the marina has wireless Internet. They have two separate signals, one in their cafe and one that emanates from their office, so they give a good coverage. Best of all, wifi is free to boaters.

Last time I stayed in a marina that offered wifi, they used the Just Yachts service which charges (and charges plenty) for patchy delivery and in my case took my credit card details and then didn’t give me anything back; and of course the 24 hour helpline wasn’t available.

A message to marinas: it’s very easy to set up and offer free Internet access and you don’t need to pay a company to manage it for you. You may have to pay your local geek twenty quid to install it for you – but you certainly don’t need Just Yachts.

This photo was taken while travelling over an aqueduct near Weedon.

Stoke Bruerne is a famous canalside village. It has a great pub called the Boat Inn, the canal museum, the entrance to Blisworth Tunnel nearby and best of all, when the hire boaters are out and about, it has great entertainment value.

I watched a man trying unsuccessfully to moor his narrowboat. He came in at every angle except the right one, bumped into the boat in front, revved and reversed back and forth for ages. His wife was shouting out very sensible advice like “just throw me the rope” – which of course he completely ignored.

I smiled but couldn’t help casting my mind back a year and a half. I’d only had Bristol Fashion a couple of days and could hardly steer her in a straight line. When I reached Stoke Bruerne I got out the boat but left her in forward gear. She headed off without me and crashed into the lock gate. There were a lot of people watching and I felt very very foolish.

Maybe that’s what draws all the tourists to Stoke Bruerne. It’s not to wander around the picture postcard canal village; it’s to gongoozle at the first-time boaters making complete arses of themselves.

The Nicholson guides are absolutely invaluable to boaters. The one for the Grand Union Canal is always open on the dashboard while I’m driving.

• They show the route of the canal, which side the towpath is on, the location of locks and winding holes and boatyards and marinas.
• They also list canalside pubs, drinking being something of a hobby for many boaters, especially if the pubs have their own moorings and real ale. Car drivers would, you hope, refrain from going to the pub during a journey but it’s part and parcel of boating.
• The writers of the guides are also a bit church-obsessed and never fail to mention if there’s a nice set of 15th century brasses nearby.

So, great guides. However, if you try to arrange to meet someone they are next to useless. Try telling a car owner with an AA road map that you’ll meet them by bridge number 129, you know, it’s next to lock 38.

It’s great to have crossed the hills and left all those locks behind. Marsworth had several locks every mile but from Fenny Stratford there’s mile after mile of uninterrupted cruising.

It’s tempting to drive fast. Nearly came a cropper earlier when, while driving at speed, something caught in the propellor and the boat swung suddenly towards the towpath. It’s tricky to know what to do in that situation because boats don’t maneuvre well in reverse: do I rev up and try to swing the boat so she hits the towpath side on; or put her hard in reverse to minimise the crunch? I did both and got away with a slight bump. Not that a crash would damage a steel narrowboat boat, but the crockery might go flying.

The landscape is a bit repetitive around Milton Keynes. It’s nice enough, with trees lining the towpath and plenty of parkland, but it all gets a bit Groundhog Day after a while. Didn’t I already go under this bridge? Didn’t I pass those houses earlier? Still, Milton Keynes is great for shopping and I picked up a new leisure battery and an offcut of carpet that fits the lounge perfectly.