Rain And Shine

With the holidays over, it’s back to the books for Emma and as her classroom on the cut experiences every type of weather

We have recently spent some time on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal from Great Haywood to Penkridge. We had a few lovely days at the Tixall Wide which is a beautiful stretch of canal. We then returned to the Trent and Mersey Canal in order to head towards Stone and Stoke-on-Trent.

The canals are really busy at the moment and there are often queues for services and locks. At Great Haywood, we had to double moor to wait to fill up with water. On the whole, everybody seems to be taking it in their stride and waiting patiently. Things haven’t been helped by the changeable weather. We have had days of heavy rain followed by lovely sunshine. This results in people waiting for the weather to improve before cruising, making the sunny days busier. We have felt sorry for people hiring boats for holidays and having such bad weather. We hope it doesn’t put people off hiring boats for next summer. I filmed a tour of a holiday boat owned by Anglo-Welsh, at Great Haywood and gave tips for what to bring with you on a narrowboat holiday.

Life as a continuously cruising liveaboard involves endless planning. We are constantly planning where the next water point or CRT facilities are. Our water lasts about 10-12 days, but we always try and have reserves, in case something goes wrong. The availability of bins can be a bit of an issue and we sometimes find that they have been closed down or moved. We have quite a small boat, so we don’t have a lot of room for storing rubbish bags. We are lucky to have a compost toilet, so we are not as dependent on Elsans or pump-out facilities.