We were chatting today to a Canal Trust volunteer about the different populations of boat-dwellers on the canal.
They seem to divide into three groups.
Firstly, the narrowboat hirers like us. There is no shortage of hire companies on the canal, and quite soon we can recognise a vessel from ABC Boating (boats named after birds), FoxHangers (boats named after foxes), Sally Narrowboats (boats mostly with girls’ names) etc from afar. These boats are chugging along with a man of a certain age on the tiller and a woman of a certain age up front and possibly another couple of a certain age on board if they are from the same household, as Covid restrictions still apply this week. The boats are shiny although with some tell-tale dings along the side from inexpert handling.
Secondly, the committed canal-crazy boat-owners. These people may have gone for a traditional narrowboat with an excess of painted flowers, or they may have opted for a 12′ wide-beam vessel which fits down the Kennet & Avon as long as you don’t mind a bit of a squeeze in places and gives you the luxury of being able to walk all the way round your own bed. Costing up to £200K for a new wide-beam or under £40K for a narrowboat which requires a bit of work, these boats are usually moored up with someone at work somewhere on the boat doing polishing or painting or refitting. It is considered good form to paint your home location on the side of the boat, so that gongoozlers can see that you have travelled all the way from Watford or Droitwich or even London to get here. We run a small competition for “boat name of the day” which was won yesterday by the Onion Bargee and today by Andante (although Adagio might be an even more accurate name).
Thirdly however there has been a rapid recent rise in people who are living in a boat simply because it is somewhere to live. Many of these boats are not showing a canal license, and many of them are in a very sorry state. The top of the boat is a great place to store things, and many are piled high with wood, bits of bicycles and other things that many come in useful one day.
