Living and working on a narrowboat
8 weeks around the North West – Summer 2022
And so it begins, 8 weeks of living and working on a narrowboat, N.B. Dreamcatcha. We generally only spend every other weekend on our canal boat, primarily due to work. We have had a couple of weeks on it for a holiday before, but due to a change in circumstance at work we have made the decision to try living on it ful time for 8 weeks over the summer.
Preparation for the trip
Over the last couple of months we have been fixing minor outstanding niggles up, such as paintwork. Oh and Paul did re build the kitchen. Best not forget that! To be fair having had the boat 8 years, like any home we constantly fettle it.
We have made a few extra purchases for the trip. The first was a twin tub washing machine. To be fair this was due to us having seen Miles and Marina on N.B. Cruising Alba use it. We will need to wash clothes, and this seems to be a good bet. The second was my bureau (more below).
The other item purchased literally this week (it was on offer) again should be attributed to the Cruising Alba team as it was on their videos that we first saw it. A Jackery Explorer 500. We have excellent new solar panels and batteries. However, we have no way of knowing how much power we will both use working on the boat so have one of these as a backup.
Storage for food and clothes
Clothes
Paul can wear what he wants as he is never seen by anyone. I on the other hand have multiple Teams calls across the week and the odd visit to the big city, London. Granted only my top half is seen but nevertheless needs to be suitable for work. This meant that I had to pack more clothes than I would if I wasn’t being seen as much. When we cam with the suitcase I must admit I wasn’t convinced it would fit, however the simple task of putting all warmer clothes is said suitcase and leaving in the car means that the wardrobe and the one drawer I have is housing it all comfortably.
Food
You would not think looking at the food in the kitchen there is only two of us on the narrowboat. You would be forgiven for thinking that we had a large family staying! We brought pretty much all the food we had at home so that we could turn the fridge and freezer off there. Then all the tins, spices, and herbs. We will not starve that is for sure!
The fridge is a full size under the counter type, and we have a small freezer on board that holds more than enough between shops. At least I think it does, will know more over the next few weeks.
The new kitchen layout means that we have crates (courtesy of Ikea) that hold quite a lot but also means that items do not get lost at the back of cupboards.
Then there is the bar, can’t omit to mention the spirits that are there should the need arise 🙂
My Workspace
I (Lisa) have no holiday days left for the year so this does mean working normal days throughout… Paul, can be a little more flexible being his own boss but nevertheless still needs to work (sort of…)
We have kitted the houseboat out to include a designated workspace for me, comprising of my upscaled bureau, who doesn’t love a bureau! Cost me £40 from Facebook marketplace. It came already repainted and should be ideal to work at. I am used to working with a much larger second monitor but hey ho this should be fine.
The chair was a good buy from Ikea for £99 and appears to be very comfy, however time will tell after I have been sat at it for 8 hours a day!
Slight listing issue
One thing we did spot was that with the new purchases and the extra load in the kitchen all the weight was on one side. We happened to look at the boat one day straight on and spotted it was leaning quite a lot to one side. Not to panic though, a quick swap around of the two moveable items we had, the sofa and the log storage box should do the trick. Thankfully the weight of those two items straightened us up, we now have a chicane to remember. Easy enough for me, but Paul has managed to walk into the log box twice so far!
The planned canal journey
We created the plan a couple of months ago, we didn’t want to restrict ourselves too much as we can only guarantee being able to move at night after work and weekends. Then you have the not only the British weather to contend with but also that of the North West of England. This is generally grey, overcast and rain for much of the summer. We have already decided that we are fair weather cruisers.
To begin we would leave our home, Barton Grange Marina on the Saturday evening heading toward Preston. Then today cross River Ribble to Tarleton. First destination Liverpool, to arrive for next weekend and spend a week there. Well the best paid plans went out of the window this week when the Canal and River Trust (CRT) called us to say due to their main team and their reserve team all having covid it was a no go and we have been bumped for 2 weeks! Interestingly though they are all fine tomorrow, Monday as none of those were cancelled… How you know who will be ill that far in advance is beyond me but seems to be the world we live in these days. To say that this scuppered our plans is an understatement.
After Liverpool, the plan was to head to Chester and spend 4 nights there. Next onto Lymm for a couple of nights before heading back to the Ribble and home to the Lanky.
Due to the 2-week delay in the crossing, Chester has been canned. Such as shame as that was the only part of the trip that we had not done before.
The revised canal route
With a quick change we have decided to do the following, all of which we have done before but not whilst living and working on a narrowboat.
Set off yesterday, Saturday 16th for Garstang. A slow cruise and spent the night.
This afternoon as I type this, we are off to Lancaster for a week or so. One of my favourite stops to be fair.
Next week we will head back toward Preston for the new crossing.
As it stands, we then head to Liverpool for 9 nights and then off on the Bridgewater for Worsley, Sale and Lymm.
Internet Access – living and working on a narrowboat essential
This will be the key to this trip being a success or not. My job is the Head of E-commerce for a Charity called Contact. I am responsible for their website Fledglings, that provides products to help families with disabled children. Needless to say, my whole day revolves around being online. This is were the working part of living and working on a narrowboat comes in. If I can’t get great internet access then this trip will need to be aborted, at least by me. Timing means that I am also going to be launching the new website theme 3rd August i.e. during this trip, yay.
Add to this Paul’s job as the owner of ISSL, providing standout online property management software to estate and letting agents he too needs to have internet access to work.
We have a SIM card with unlimited internet connected to the wi-fi router. Using a few apps and the trusty Ookla speed test we will know as soon as we find a place to moor up the signal strength. This is what will determine if that is home for the night or not. Tonight will be the first test as we head toward Lancaster to ensure we can work tomorrow.
