Some of you might know that we didn’t start our blogging life with narrowboats, in fact we had been blogging for 2 years prior to this all about our life living in a campervan and travelling around Europe in a van we had converted ourselves. Despite sinking our savings into buying Toby we still kept our beloved van and have been using it regularly to go on adventures, however August saw the month where our fleet went from 2 vehicles down to 1 as our van ceased working.
On a trip back from a festival plumes of smoke poured out of the back of our van and filled the air and a quick trip to our friendly mechanic revealed that there was extensive work required which would cost us upward of £2,000 and so with a heavy heart we may have to look at selling our van and being boaters only. Therefore if you’re expecting us to be anywhere you may have to wait a little longer while we either cruise slowly or pedal ourselves there instead.
We’d found over the last 7 months that the combination of campervan and narrowboat was a perfect mix, the ability to slowly move around the canals in your home as well as being able to go further afield with your home on wheels meant we were never short of the chance to adventure and so our van will be sorely missed should we have to sell.
On a happier note, August also saw the continued efforts to get Tebay used to cruising with some successes. While previous attempts had seen him rush straight to the kitchen cupboards and hide this month had him venture out to the front deck while we cruised, further from the sound of the engine but also with the protection of Olivia. Both of those factors meant that he was finally enjoying being able to watch the world go by as we cruised much to the joy of the walkers along the towpath, we’ll make a boat cat out of him yet!
In terms of boat works we have very much taken the month off. We finally feel settled into the rhythms of the lifestyle, the regular chores that come with boating and the slower pace of life. We know that we should be pushing to do more works on the boat but for once we want to just enjoy the lifestyle without the pressures of having to work.
