Many moons ago – when the Murray River was still a mighty serpent – my family did the holiday on a houseboat thing. For a week we plied the muddy waters pretending to be pioneers, and tying up to giant River Red Gums to rest along the way. I remember this childhood river-living trip as one of the all-time greats, so naturally I’ve been looking forward to this latest Carrier Pigeon Does London challenge, to interview a family living permanently aboard one of those lovely ‘narrowboats’ built specifically to slip through the slender canals of England and Wales.
My brief was to find this family at Little Venice, a pretty labyrinth of waterways near Regents Park that harbours London’s largest floating community. But I got embarrassingly lost and it was frightfully freezing, so instead I approached the only person hanging around a bunch of boats moored at Camden. Andy Waterworth seemed like a nice young fellow – the kind who wouldn’t chop me up and store me in his freezer if I dared to step aboard his very homely 17 metre Emily Jo – so I accepted his kind offer of a cuppa and a river-living education.
How did you come to live on a narrowboat?
It’s always been my ambition to live on a boat; I worked in the merchant navy for five years, then I went on to study yacht surveying at Southampton. Years after that I came across a boat for sale on the mooring in Surrey, so I bought that, spent two years doing it up, made a few grand and put the money towards this one. It used to be owned by an elderly couple and I think it has a really nice character to it.
So how does the canal life actually work?
Well you’ve got the marina moorings, which are for people who don’t want the hassle of moving around all the time, and then you’ve got continuous cruising, which is cheaper but riskier as you don’t know where the available mooring spots are. I kept this boat at the marina in Hampton for 12 months within a small community of boats where everyone knew each other and everyone worked, then this summer I decided to try cruising around. It’s definitely harder, but this boat has a good engine and there are quite a few places to stop even within the M25.
What kinds of characters live on boats in England?
You get a lot of elderly couples who have retired and bought boats to cruise around in. You also get quite a few typical English eccentrics with strange styles of boats, then you get people like me who live permanently on boats and work full-time in London [Andy is a ship surveyor], and then you get lots of families that hire boats in the summer.
Is it a sociable life or a solitary one?
It could be both, depending on where you are. There are places around the Oxford Canal where you can really hide out, but people on the canals and rivers are generally really friendly. Sometimes when you’re going through the locks you can have another boat alongside you the whole day, so you chat with them and then you might see them at the pub later on. I’ve met groups of guys who have invited me on board for some beers, that sort of thing.
How much does river living cost?
Well I bought this boat for £36,000 but you can pick up a habitable one for about £20,000. Marina moorings can cost between £200 and £500 a month, depending on where you are; the Thames being the most expensive. An annual cruising license costs about £600.
What do you do to relax in here?
The same things that people with homes do really; I read a lot, I practice my guitar and watch a bit of TV if I feel like it. I also enjoy DIY projects, like basic carpentry and bits of plumbing. I’m currently building some shelving to house all my books.
What’s hard about living on a boat?
It’s hard in the winter because you get home and it takes a while to warm up. I actually light my gas oven and leave that on for an hour with the door open to get some initial heat in here.
In your opinion, why don’t more people live on boats?
It’s the space I think. My girlfriend says she could never live on a boat because of the space. We’ll take the boat up to Oxford for a week and she really enjoys it, but she’s ready to get back into her house.
What’s the best thing about your chosen lifestyle?
Summertime in the evenings; the fact you can actually take your home and go cruising somewhere really quite scenic. Living within nature, and having all of this on my doorstep for limited costs is really special. For me, this is my home, my holiday and my hobby.
Thanks Andy for inviting me on board the Emily Jo, and thanks to Sarah and Bert Calman for issuing the challenge!
Gretel Hunnerup is convinced that in a past life she was a carrier pigeon, such is her love of taking fanciful flights and posting little stories about her discoveries to her independent online pigeon hole: www.thecarrierpigeonpost.com.
The Australian sticky beak now writes about the little-known delights that make London hum…stuff that wouldn’t make the papers, like quirky establishments, not-for-tourists pursuits, and ordinary folks doing surprising things.
A trained journalist with six years travel and lifestyle writing for print and web, Gretel has taken a new post heading up internal communications for STA Travel’s Northern Europe and Africa Division, geared for maximum on-the-road reportage. Oh and she’s a sucker for documentaries, dress-up parties and dolmades.
