TAKING THE PLUNGE

Why Chris and Sarah Atkin will never forget tying the knot

When you’re up against the clock, a narrowboat is unlikely to be your mode of transport of choice. But when the easing of Covid-19 restrictions permitted liveaboards to resume travelling on 1 June, my in-laws had little choice.

Already delayed once by the pandemic, our wedding date had been rescheduled to take place in Cambridge on 18 June. Hotels at the time were closed and visits to the homes of friends or relatives were prohibited. This meant that if they were to stay for more than a day, Di and Mark needed to bring their home with them. So they began the 180-mile journey from Wootton Wawen on the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal in their two-year-old boat, Enbilulu.

The trip involved passing through 138 locks as they travelled across the Grand Union Canal, up the Northampton Arm, along the River Nene and across the Middle Level Navigations, via the Denver Sluice, out onto the River Great Ouse and then down the River Cam. Usually an unremarkable stretch of water, the almost total absence of traffic along the Middle Level Navigations meant that the water there was almost completely undisturbed. Gazing down as the boat moved along, it was as easy to spot fish as it is when looking at an aquarium.