A POTTED HISTORY.

 

Our home Feb 2013

As we are still retracing our steps back to Trent Lock in readiness for our trip up the Erewash, so I thought I would give you a potted history of how we became boaters.

But first an update on our journey to Trent Lock, and eventually up the Erewash canal to Langley Mill for blacking.

We stayed a few days in Burton, called in at the Alfred for a couple of pints, and did some shopping at Lidl. We then slow poddled down the beautiful Trent and Mersey staying at Willington and Shardlow on the way. We paired up with NB Phoenix for the locks from Swarkestone to Shardlow, and discovered that its crew was from Loscoe (a small village not far from Ripley) and we had a friend in common. Its a small world.

We moored up on the pontoons at Trent lock and met Paul off NB Time Warp, he will be joining us to go up the Erewash. The Captain contacted CRT to arrange the assisted passage, which according to their notification we would need to to travel between 2 of the locks due to low water. The lady tried to be helpful, but in the end had to contact the local team to confirm this. It turned out the canal is not actually closed, and they are not offering assisted passage, just asking boaters only to travel through the affected area if absolutely necessary. (And it is absolutely necessary for us). Their notification was not clear on this point, and it can be difficult to interpret what they actually mean at times. We are going all way up the Erewash on Wednesday, 16 locks and 12 miles, so its going to be a long day.

Us 2008

A potted history of how we came to be boaters. The Captain and I met on the internet in 2007, for many years we had a long distance relationship as he lived in Wigan and I lived in Ripley in Derbyshire, but it worked for us. The Captain had a time share, and I was the one who had to try and find flights to match where we could use the time share. It got harder and harder over the years. In 2010 we were in a use it or lose it situation with a week he had banked. I was really struggling, and in an effort to expand our choice I changed the search criteria, and up popped a narrow boating holiday in October from Market Harborough. I had always wanted to do one of these holidays, I had watch a TV programme called Waterworld in the early 2000’s, and fallen in love with whole living on water thing. The Captain was more than happy to agree, he had done 1 holiday in the 1980’s and also loved it.

First Hoilday

So it was booked, some people thought we were mad boating in October, but they were wrong, the weather was kind to us, I loved doing the locks, (Foxton being my first) and just the pace of life it offered. Over the next 2 years we did a further 3 holidays, 1 in April from Skipton on the Leeds Liverpool, and 2 again in October from Sawley on the Trent and Mersey. On returning from our last trip the Captain went back to Wigan and work. First day back he was told he was being made redundant. As a manager his redundancy package was generous and he uttered the words ‘we will buy a boat’ and that’s what we did. He sold his house in Wigan quickly and moved in with me, along with a garage full of boxes filled with all sorts of, what I would call rubbish, but he called important bits and pieces. It took us about 4 months and many many boats to find Avalon Two, but at the time the Captain thought she was slightly over priced and we kept looking. A couple of month later they reduced the price, we went back for a second look and decided it was the right boat for us, this was May 2013. Our problem was that my house hadn’t sold, so we used the boat for weekends and holidays. I eventually accepted on offer in May 2014, but it took until September for everything to go through. The time was well spent getting the boat ready to be a live aboard, although to be honest it didn’t need a lot. In the weeks before the house sold, we had to go through all the boxes in the garage, as there was no way we could take everything. The Captain was not to happy about this, but it had to be done, we started with 3 piles, number 1 definitely need, number 2 would like and number 3 get rid. It took some doing, but eventually we had things we really needed or wanted to keep. Everything in the house was either gifted to friends, sold on Ebay, or given to charity On Friday September 12^th we packed our car to the brim with our remaining possessions, just leaving enough room for the 2 cat carriers contained Bubbles, Tiggy and Sam. We dropped the keys off with the estate agent and headed off into sunset for a life on the water, and we have never looked back.

Us Corfu 2025

Our first trip was from Hyde near Manchester down to Swan Lane in Coventry for the winter. We did not know if Swan Lane would suit us, but as we say the rest is history, and it has become our very happy home in the winter, and cruising in the summer is a lovely life balance. The Captain never had another job, so he basically retired at 58yrs, and I just work in the winter. I was lucky enough to find a company that has me back every winter, and I love working there and have many friends who are always pleased to see me when I return in October.

So that is a potted history of how we came to be living the dream, and our aim is to stay afloat for as many years as we are capable.

I hope you enjoyed reading how we got to were we are, its a bit of a fairy tale in my opinion to be honest.

Avalon Two 2026

19 miles, 9 locks 1 canal the Trent and Mersey and 1 river the Trent