Have you ever walked along the river and seen a lovely Dutch Barge and have been curious about what it is like to live on water or perhaps you have even considered buying one yourself but have had lots of questions?
We had an ordinary life. Bret ran his own business and I worked as an administrator. We lived in a small cottage on the edge of the Cotswolds with our daughter and cat.
This book follows our tales from buying our first boat, an inflatable dinghy with outboard engine (this was the seed from which grew a great passion for the waterways), through our adventures on our second boat, a thirty foot Seamaster cruiser. After spending every spare minute on the cruiser our home fell into disrepair and the garden became overgrown, something had to change.
In 2009 we made the brave decision to leave our life on land and the hunt was on for a suitable boat to live on. We finally found 'Edith', a fifty-seven foot Dutch Barge made by the British company Sagar in Yorkshire, then moved on lock, stock and cat.
We are continuous cruisers, which means that we do not have a permanent mooring and we travel almost every day. We have travelled along the Gloucester and Sharpness canal, down the mighty Severn Estuary, along the daunting Kennet & Avon Canal to the wide and magnificent River Thames. The book describes the characters we have come across, the magical and special places we have visited and the stunningly beautiful English countryside and wildlife we see along the way.
Sometimes life is hard, especially in the winter, but I always remind myself of the sheer joy of sitting in the sunshine watching the sun glint on the water or the flash of turquoise and orange as a Kingfisher flies by, the changing seasons and good friends we meet.
Our book tells the story of the pros and cons of buying a live-aboard barge, what it is actually like to live on-board as continuous cruisers in the UK, warts and all.