Living Aboard a Narrowboat - is it as Idyllic as it Looks?

Do you see those colourful narrowboats on our canals and envy the boaters their seemingly idyllic, relaxed lifestyle? Do you long to get away from the busy city or town you live in to a more easygoing life cruising through the countryside on our rivers? Before you sell up, buy a narrowboat and take off, please take some time to think about the realities of this way of life.

Having lived on a narrowboat I hope I can give those of you who haven't some pointers on how to decide if this way of life is for you. You may have had a holiday on a boat, enjoyed it and thought that living on a boat will be similar - in reality a week on a boat is very different from making a boat your full time home. Here are some of the challenges you will need to overcome to enjoy living and maybe working on a boat.

I'm going to assume for a moment that your idea is to cruise the waterways of England, taking a leisurely trip through our beautiful countryside, relaxing and enjoying the scenery. It can be a great life but there are some practicalities you will need to be aware of. A major problem you will have is lack of good transport apart from the boat, unless you carry bikes (if you are fit enough) or small mopeds (if you have the room) you will be limited to using facilities within walking distance, or relying on local buses. If you are used to having a car always available for shopping trips or doctors and dentist visits this can be seriously inconvenient, especially as you may be a long way from a surgery or hospital. Also take into account the lack of space in a boat to store any amount of shopping, neccessitating more frequent shopping trips, you can see this can be a real problem you need to overcome. There are a few supermarkets within walking distance of the canals, and some wonderful local farm shops, but a lot of the time you will be shopping in smaller local shops. It may seem trivial but fresh milk can be a particular problem with no room in a small fridges to store very much and a long way between shops to restock.

You will need some means of collecting post, while a lot can be done with mobile phones and an Internet connection there will still be times when you need to have something delivered. If you're used to being able to order whatever you want online and getting it the next day, then this won't be available to you. You will need to have someone you can trust who you can have post delivered to, and you will need to arrange some means of collecting your post regularly. I am a great reader and was used to having half a dozen books at a time delivered from Amazon, of course this isn't possible from a boat but I solved this particular problem by buying an e-book and downloading books from the Internet.

Which brings us to an Internet connection. At least now we can have a reliable internet connection through a mobile dongle, it won't be as fast as a fixed broadband connection, and there will be black spots where you won't be able to get a connection, but the technology and coverage are improving all the time, so unless it's absolutely critical that you have an internet connection at all times you will probably find it adequate.

A narrowboat is self contained, not connected to services like a house, so you need to carry all the water and fuel (for propulsion or heating) you need with you. There are water points and diesel services along the canals and rivers, but you will need to make sure you know where they are and that you can reach them before you run out. It's said that whenever a group of boaters get together sooner or later the conversation will turn to toilets - and how true that is. Toilets and sewage disposal are something we take for granted when we live in a house, on a boat you aren't connected to the system so you need to take care of it yourself. There are two main solutions to this problem, a tank built into the boat to collect the waste or a toilet with a built in 'cassette' which you remove and empty. Both requires disposal facilities, a tank will require regular pumping out, facilities are available on the canals but tend to be few and far between on the rivers.

Travelling the canals and rivers can also be hard work, and you need to be reasonable fit to work the locks, of which there are many. On some stretches of the canals there can be more than 20 locks in a flight. Lock gates can be very heavy and difficult to move, especially the double width locks, although if you are lucky you can team up with another boat going the same way and so share the work. On the rivers the locks tend to be bigger, some have electric gates which are a great help but the paddles still need winding up and down by hand.

Most of these difficulties can be overcome with a little thought and planning, however if you really want to live on a boat but are not sure you can cope with a travelling life it may be worth considering finding a mooring in a residential marina. That way you have the advantages of living on a boat but with the convenience of being in one place. Most residential marinas have good facilities with pump out and diesel sales, shops, a car park so you can keep a car nearby, even post office boxes so you can receive your post.

Billing Marina in Northampton is a residental marina on the River Nene. Since it is part of Billing Aquadrome, in addition to a full range of facilities including diesel sales and pump out, post office boxes etc. moorers also have access to all the park's leisure facilities, including a newly opened entertainment center with a bar, restaurant and indoor swimming pool. For more information on residential moorings at the marina, including prices visit us at residential moorings.