Our Narrow Boat Adventure Begins

In 18^th century, canals were built in England where were they became a major method of transportation. This infrastructure remains solid to this day, but is now used primarily for recreational boating for tourists and locals. We are going to count ourselves as new members of these recreational boaters.

We met Tom at the lobby for a quick English breakfast. The breakfast included some unusual choices such as blood sausage and baked beans Although I love to try local fare, that desire lost out to the standard eggs, hash browns, and regular sausage.

After a train ride to Crewe, we took a taxi to Anderson Boats to take possession of our home for the next two weeks. The taxi driver was a colorful chap who claimed to have had a couple hundred cars, Apparently driving is his passion and he likes to try different cars to see how they handle. He likes to take them to the autobahn in Germany to see how fast they go. He claimed to have gotten a BMW he had for a while up to 200 miles per hour. Based on his current jack rabbit driving and swerving through the streets of Crewe, that didn’t inspire confidence in his driving for Susan.

At the livery, we learned that our planned route, the Chester Ring, was closed for repairs. We could go part of the way around, but would have to turn around and come back the same path we went. It didn’t take much convincing to agree that the Four Counties Ring would be a much better choice. So we got a map and the guidebook for that route instead.

The boat wasn’t yet ready so we took the time to get some provisions (there is a good nautical term!). It was a good 15 minute walk to the store, but the store had a cafe and some fresh food for our trip. It is always hard to find things in a new supermarket, and even more so in a foreign country. For instance, the eggs were in the produce aisle, but we couldn’t find then and had to ask a couple times before we realized that the eggs aren’t refrigerated, they were sitting on regular shelves across from the coolers where the milk and yogurt were.

Back at the livery, we learned how to use the toilet, the water heater, the radiators, the inverter, and the other systems on the boat. Then we went to the boat where they showed us how to start it, turn it off, fill the water tank, and so on. Finally, they helped us pilot the boat and navigate through the first three locks. Tom drove while Susan and I operated the locks. It wasn’t too hard and after that first half mile or so, we were pros. Oh, and yes, miles. This is England, they use the Imperial system of measurement just like we do in the US.

We continued on for several miles, making it about 5 miles on our first day. We moored for the night where we thought there might be a pub a little up the road from us. Turns out, we were quite wrong and was only close to some houses and industry, no food after following Google instructions to several places that clearly weren’t the as advertised food establishments. We ended up taking an Uber a few miles away to a nice Italian restaurant. While eating, we argued over what might be an address near the boat. Turns out we did a pretty good job of coming up with an agreed upon address because we were only over a bridge from the boat.

After wrestling with one last problem for a good 30 minutes, how to start the heater, we all turned in dreaming of the warmth the radiators would be delivering in about another 30 minutes.