Ride a Cock Horse ......

Dear Motley Crew,

Well, here we are, holed up at Banbury on the south Oxford Canal, 52.0629° N, 1.3398° W for those of you who are well versed in the use of a sextant.

It’s been an odd few days since arriving here, not the least of which being our first encounter with a large town since beginning our travels in January. Being thrust back into “civilisation” after the isolation of the canal felt a little odd on its own, but to wander through the centre of a large town and be almost the only two people on the street felt decidedly surreal.

Shops shuttered; car parks vacant and roads empty of vehicles. The only activity to be found wasaround a large supermarket, its sparsely filled car park indicative of the state of its shelves. I have no doubt though, that this is a scene being played out the world over.

We are being asked how we’re faring – is life now more difficult for us on the boat than it has been? I realised then, that many people may not be familiar with the way narrowboats function, and so I thought that I’d give a rundown on our setup so you can see how we manage on a day-to-day basis.

There are many variations upon a theme with a narrowboat, but essentially, they’re caravans on water, that is, they’re completely self-contained. Matanuska is 58 feet long and 6 feet 10 inches wide, which means that she is able to travel along 99% of the canal system. If your boat is too much longer than this, you may not fit into a lock or be able to turn around in a winding hole – a turning point.

Her interior is set out in what is called a reverse layout, that is, she has the kitchen at the rear and the bedroom at the front. This means that the lounge area, with the fireplace, is in the centre of the boat. She has two seven-foot kitchen benches – a rarity in a narrowboat – which affords room for two chefs (well, one and a sous!). We had a drop-down table installed along one wall, under a window, and that allows us to face outwards when eating or working on our computers and to keep an eagle eye on the happenings along the towpath. The back of the boat also has a separate utility room, rather like a mud-room, that allows us to discard wet and muddy clothing before entering the boat. Given the run of wet weather that we’ve had since being here, it has been worth its weight in gold. This little space also houses our washing machine which we run only when cruising.

Now for the technical bits – bear with me here. We have a large engine – that’s fairly important for cruising along rivers with a tidal flow. When running, it heats the water and charges the batteries. If we are not cruising, and the weather is inclement, we may need to run the engine to bring the batteries up to 100% charge. If the weather is fine, however, and we’re stationary, our three solar panels do an amazing job of charging the batteries to full capacity. In the evening, our LED lights run off the batteries and we cook our meals on a gas stove. Our heating is provided via a diesel-fuelled heater or by four, water-heated wall radiators. We have a bar-sized fridge, with a very small freezer compartment. You may laugh, but not all fridges have this luxury! We have internet, an excellent pair of binoculars and a small stove-top coffee machine. This last item initially felt like a luxury, but now that all coffee shops have closed, it has become a necessity.

Finally – the unmentionable – the toilet. Believe it or not, the debate rages long and loud about whether a cassette-type of toilet or a pump-out type is the best. It seems that, as with the old Ford/Holden war of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, the two camps are strongly divided. Matanuska has a cassette-type and that means we empty it ourselves at set points along the canal. If we needed to, we could take just the cassette to the emptying point, leaving the boat at its mooring, so cassettes come with little wheels and an extendable handle to assist you in this venture. Very cute!

And so folks, there you have it - our life aboard.

The Captain, The Commodore and Mrs Chippy