Review of working on a narrowboat

We are back home at Barton Grange Marina, earlier than planned, but that is the lesson learned from this trip. You can plan, plan and plan some more, but it doesn’t mean it will actually go according to it.

Bank Holiday Ribble crossing

Well, that was a bit choppy!

We crossed in the afternoon with just one other boat. As ever when crossing the River Ribble the object is to go as fast as you can. This day was lovely but the tide was quite fast, so was quite choppy. We crossed very quickly and arrived on the Savick Brook in good time. The next stage of the journey though seemed to take an age. We ploughed through until we arrived at Moons Bridge Marina where we stayed for the night.

Bilsborrow

Once filled up, we moved up to Bilsborrow for a couple of nights ///tent.drags.tester (great solar and internet of 36mb and 15mb). before heading back to the Marina.

Barton Grange Marina

We arrived home Thursday, home as in the Marina. We could have gone back to the house but to be honest staying on the boat seemed like the right thing to do. We are a week ahead of schedule due to the changing plans from start to finish to be honest. There seems little point going to the house when it would cost us more to live there than here.

What have we learned

The last few weeks have been interesting and have flown by. We have learned that planning is great but just don’t bank on it. Water levels and the CRT moving the first crossing put paid to all of ours.

It is actually very easy to work from the narrowboat. The right set up of course helps, with space to work. Thankfully, we have the space for me to have my desk and Paul to work on the dinette without either of us having to move things at the end of the workday out of the way and then set up again first thing.

The internet was always going to be key for us and was my biggest concern. It needen’t have been though as we never struggled at all. Using Speedtest.net we checked as soon as we stopped but only once have to adjust location and even then, only marginally.

What’s next?

We plan to stay on Dreamcatcha until the end of this weekend then move back to the house. Not sure why, but we have a house so should use it 🙂

With the impending cost-of-living crisis we have decided to stay on the boat January and February. We have a charity light show for Halloween, holiday booked for November and then Christmas light shows throughout December. Thus, the start of the New Year makes sense to spend the colder months here and see how that pans out.