Week 1 of living and working on the canal

Garstang, Galgate and Lancaster

It is not the destination rather the journey. On a narrowboat nothing is fast paced at the best of times but when you can only move after work you question if it is worth it and do you need to. Working on the canal invariably means you have to move whether you want to or not.

Garstang

Had just one night in Garstang, a good place to stop off for any essentials, coffee and cake or to pick up any Amazon parcels from the local Booths. The Sunday we headed up toward Lancaster with a few of spending a few days there including the Saturday.

Galgate

Arrived in Galgate to begin the first working week. Galgate for anyone who has not stopped here is small. It has a couple of pubs, a shop, a village hall and a few churches. Oh and a private marina.

The Internet access was always going to be a potential challenge. With the aid of a few apps, Phone Signal, Speed Test Master and Speed test by Ookla we slowed found ourself a home for what we thought would be a few nights.

At this point I thought it maybe useful too use What3Words to track what was good or bad about the internet access for future reference. The first stop was ///moderated.hurray.listed excellent access with speeds of 24mb download and 25mb upload. Fabulous for solar as well.

Now, we started the week with the hottest days on record, even up here in the North it was hot for two days. Being in a 60 foot steel tube (that happens to be painted black!) was not as bad as you may think. We kept the curtains closed on the sunny side, had the doors and windows open. Other than for a couple of hours late afternoon on these two days it was nice. Much better in that out.

We made good use of the solar panels and got the new Jackery fully charged and all was well at least on day 1. Day 2, Paul decides will be too hot so moves us. We are now at ///bracing.wasps.chains still very good internet at 18mb and 22mb. However, keeping us cool under trees meant that we were no longer getting enough solar to keep up with what we were using. This put us on the back foot.

Lancaster

A fantastic city to be moored in, so much to see here, so much history. Having moved to try and get the sun here we stayed for a few nights through to Sunday. The Waterwitch is a fine establishment that we have been to several times although not on this occasion. It is on the canal and you can moor up literally outside it. Point to note though in good weather there are lots of tables on the canal side and it gets a little noisy.

Dining out in Lancaster

As it was the weekend it meant dining out at some point :). Would be rude not to contribute to the local economy. Friday night, Galico Lounge was calling. We have been to number of these lounges always for breakfast though as they offer an excellent Gluten Free menu taking veggies into account. I opted for the Mexican bowl with halloumi followed by the brownie sundae. I have to say that the Mexican bowl was one of the best dishes I have ever had!

Saturday, coffee and cake was on the cards at the Whaletail vegetarian cafe. Previous visits meant that it was a safe bet for a gluten free cake and they did not disappoint. I cannot recall the name but it was Canadian thingy me bob and amazing! Plus, they serve coffee from the local coffee roasters (there will be a real name for this job) Atkinsons. Tastes so good!

Early dinner booked in the Merchants 1688, the restaurant in the cellars near the castle. They do not advertise they offer gluten free as they assume that is the norm now (if only!), the can make anything pretty much GF including the fish and chips. I opted for their sweet potato and chipolte burger on a GF bun and it was awesome. Paired with a very affordable double G&T I would highly recommend a visit. A shout out also to the young lady who served us, very knowledgeable and excellent at her job.

Internet and solar watch working on the canal

As for internet and solar watch… ///wool.jukebox.tunes (have to love these) is just before the Waterwitch and provides good speeds at 14mb both directions. The downside though is that there are trees. Once again, no good for solar and we ended up using more than generating, we couldn’t even get the Jackery up to full power The result was that I kept working but Paul didn’t. Thankfully, he can get away with it.

We moved forward a little to ///stack.paper.gallons and got great sun but poor internet aghhhh only 6mb and 7mb respectively. Thankfully a free Facebook check-in to the pub and we were connected to theirs.

Working on the canal

The first week I would rate as a success. Yes, we had to move a couple of times for solar power (those flippin trees), but the actual internet access has not really caused us any issues. Some careful consideration and testing speeds before deciding to moor but nothing that was any real hassle.

Not one of my Teams called dropped, all the work that I wanted to do was done with ease. The one thing that I am struggling with a little is the work environment. The chair is not as comfy as a real desk chair (one would simply not fit on here), so having to make sure I stretch out. No bad thing as I try to alternate my morning between a power walk and yoga anyway. Just finding that my desk and back are not as happy as they usually are. Time will tell how big of an issue this turns out to be.

Facilities on the Lancaster canal

I have mentioned a lot about working on the canal and the essential need for us to have good internet and solar access. There is also the question of general facilities though such as water, recycling and rubbish disposal, toilet emptying and of course shopping.

This short journey has meant that we have encountered zero issues with any of them. Water points are available at all of three stopping points. In Lancaster directly opposite the Waterwitch along with other CRT facilities. The downside of the CRT rubbish collection here though is there is no recycling. We have very little general waste and more bottles and paper. Fortunately, a very short walk (no more than 5 mins and that includes waiting to cross the road) up the canal, just across the road is Thurnham Street car park that has full recycling facilities.

Being in Lancaster and having a water point on hand did mean that we could also do our washing. First time using a twin tub and that too was a success. Clothes washed, rinsed and drained all in under 30 minutes. All powered from the Jackery. At this point the Jackery was still not back up to 100% but it doesn’t use that much to wash it seems.

Getting ready for working on the canal week 2.

Tonight, we are back at Galgate. Heading south toward Preston to cross the Ribble next Sunday. Not fully charged batteries or Jackery as it the traditional summer is here. Cloud and rain. Sat at strain.marzipan.recital with decent internet ready for back to work in the morning.