Looks like a joyous ride. Sure work needs to be attended to keep afloat but oh goodness the scenery makes it all worth it. I'd rather be in a narrow boat to see all what the canals offer than be in one of the larger boats and be limited where you can go 😊
Hey, yes! It's amazing and I guess there's a trade off for everything.
Our canals go back to the industrial days, so we are not as lucky or modern as French canals with locks that are automatic... The experience is great, but it would be nice if we had a mixture, as operating the locks manually takes a long time, effort, and slows down the travel time considerable.
Also, there is an ageing population of boaters which make it even harder and risky for the elderly to navigate across the locks to operate them.
I am typing on my mobile, something that I rarely do...:)))
Just like on the road, eh? Almost always when I pass a super slow driver I look over and see an elderly person behind the wheel. I can't get mad but chuckle a bit. I can imagine them on canals, I'm sure them working the locks takes even longer and wouldn't be surprised if others go to their aid just to speed up the process 😊
The case on the canals is that you have older people who have been doing it since their teenage years (mainly driving the original vessels from the industrial times), who are know-it-alls. Then you have the elderly who finally achieve their dream of living on a boat, only to find that they underestimated the demands of the locks.
Yes, most boaters are understanding and helpful when faced with such encounters.
We are finding more young people choosing to live this way now, and it adds a great variety to the network:)
I can see that. See it here often with campers who buy mobile homes late in life. If I choose to ever get a narrow boat I better hurry before I get in this category 😂
Yeah!
The prices of narrowboats vary a lot.
We were after a particular boat for a long time and missed it. As soon as we got this boat, it returned to the market 2 weeks later. It's 15 feet longer for the same price. I count it as a blessing though, because our boat needed no work whatsoever, whereas that one might have needed some urgent TLC or bigger engine work.
We love this one and we're comfortable in this space, but still on the look out for a great deal so we could trade it in for a bigger boat:)