From July 2009 to August 2010
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| Parvathi on the Thames with Hobie Kayak tender. July 2010 |
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Johnny (Banjo) Hebburn attempting to play guitar |
John had come to meet me on his boat - the inspiration for all this, for when I picked up my boat from the yard. The intention was to travel in convoy for a few weeks while I got used to my boat. Sadly it wasn't ready on time, but John's boat was big enough for the two of us, so he let me hop on for a few days (or so we thought) - till my boat arrived. Three weeks!! later it finally arrived on the back of a flat bed! A big purple hulk of iron. I was dismayed when I got on board that it was still not completely finished.
My mother was with me at the launch, and she also felt the real disappointment and frustration. The boat builders, Collingwoods of Liverpool, had only finished 3/4 of the boat. It floated and the engine worked, but it was a complete mess inside with saw dust and unfinished work in side and out. My heart sank. Even the marble kitchen work top was cracked in half. This was to be the start of a full year of absolute hell chasing the builders to finish the works and repairing bad workmanship- but at least she looked beautiful from the outside.
A few weeks earlier I had visited the builders yard to try to put pressure on them to get the boat finished. When I arrived I found a shell that has some paint on and nothing else at all. My boat had been booked in for a build slot over a year previously, but it turns out that boat builders are natural born liars! Suffice to say, pressure was applied and even persuasion in the form of a crate of beer for the lads on the job was attempted. But all to no avail, the boss carried on with his other boats and left me quite literally high and dry - I had to spend more than 2 weeks on Johns boat, putting an ever increasing strain on our friendship. The stress was awful. I had nowhere else to go.So much planning all for nothing...but at least John's support kept me a positive as I could be.
Phew! My new life had begun! John had gone ahead a few days earlier, so I needed to shift to catch him up. On my very first day on the boat, with the nervous help of my mother, we kept moving for 5 hours and finally moored at 11pm. Still one day away from John. We had locked through 20+ locks by the use of a tiny torch and plenty of tea. The adventure and the locks had begun!
During the coming months I traveled through Staffordshire, Yorkshire and Shropshire, slowly exploring old mining towns and broken industrial centres. But between these quite depressing scenes Parvathi and I, with numerous visitors of family and friends, pootled through gorgeous bucolic landscapes, soaking up the rays, drinking a huge variety of real ales and generally having a truly back to nature lifestyle.
The boat was wonderful (except for the slowly shortening list of repairs that needed doing), from the wood burning stove, to the drinks on the quarterdeck, to the surround sound home cinema to the fully equipped, high finish kitchen and bathroom, I was in canal heaven. And my life slowed down to a 3mph plod. Everything I did became methodical and unrushed. I and any visiting crew went through hundreds of locks, through tens of tunnels and under thousands of bridges and into scores of lovely wayside pubs and inns. The boat needed constant attention to keep it in tip top shape and at £72,500 pounds, I wanted to look after her.
My mother was with me at the launch, and she also felt the real disappointment and frustration. The boat builders, Collingwoods of Liverpool, had only finished 3/4 of the boat. It floated and the engine worked, but it was a complete mess inside with saw dust and unfinished work in side and out. My heart sank. Even the marble kitchen work top was cracked in half. This was to be the start of a full year of absolute hell chasing the builders to finish the works and repairing bad workmanship- but at least she looked beautiful from the outside.
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| In the yard with the first layer of paint - this was taken after the expected delivery date! Useless builders! |
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| My mother painting the sign on the port side of the boat. Very tough task, but she just about finished it on her second visit. It was a truly wonderful moment when it was complete because Parvathi finally had a name and thus character. Over the coming weeks I painted a mirror image on the starboard side. I photographed this one and printed it out and used it as my guide. The result was wonderful. Every single day on the journey someone commented on how lovely the colour and painting on the boat was, it really made a lot of people smile. |
Finally I carefully steered my 57.5ft long, 6.5ft wide boat into the marina for the storing ship and shake down, which I hoped would be just a day or two. For the next 5 days my mother and I worked hard on every part of the boat to try to get it ship shape. So much dirt and so many things were incomplete...what a disappointment. BUT, on the penultimate day of my mother's visit, we moved Parvathi to the diesel point at about 1pm to fill her belly with 200 litres of the blood that would see me traverse the length and breadth of ol' blighty. The lads had just finished filling her up when the smell diesel became very strong and then the canal started taking on a rainbow sheen as spilt diesel poured onto to the water from the bilge pump. I quickly opened the engine bay to see Parvathi was injured already, her pink blood was spewing out of the leaking seal where some YTS guy had fitted the fuel gauge! Disaster! Everyone's heart dropped as all the hard work for the last few weeks seemed to be fading away. BUT Gary to the rescue.....The manager of the Marina was a dab hand at repairing this kind of problem and finally by 6pm we were off with a full, non-leaky fuel tank.
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| typical wayside refreshment! |
During the coming months I traveled through Staffordshire, Yorkshire and Shropshire, slowly exploring old mining towns and broken industrial centres. But between these quite depressing scenes Parvathi and I, with numerous visitors of family and friends, pootled through gorgeous bucolic landscapes, soaking up the rays, drinking a huge variety of real ales and generally having a truly back to nature lifestyle.
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| Andy from Singapore on a rather wet walk in Yorkshire. After this walk we enjoyed a great pub meal and a few beers. |
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| Blue bell woods on a walk in Wales May 2010. I tried to explore the surroundings on foot or bike as often as possible. I got to see some beautiful parts of town and country and never had to pay for a hotel. |
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| Crossing the aqueducts on the Llangollen Canal -May 2010. This was probably the most beautiful canal and very interesting historically. Its route passed lovely rolling hills and through peaceful woods. |
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| Archery by the side of the Thames - got to pass the time some how. By the time June 2010 came around I was actually getting a little bored. I needed more stimulation....at least this sport was distracting for a few hours. |
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| Buttercups in the canal |
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| The wildlife kept on breeding all year!!! Noisy lot! |
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| Some of the canals were positively stunning. And I could stop anywhere for the night -my garden changed everyday. |
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| Oxfordshire downs on a walk in the Upper Thames area. I really got back in touch with the history and nature of England. Some of the walks were truly inspirational. I can understand how Wordsworth and his peers wrote so much poetry about our green and pleasant land. |
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| Wildlife and farm animals kept me company for the whole time. There was always something alive to look at. CUTE! |
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| Oxfordshire had great watering holes and I tried to taste as many real ales as possible - we definitely produce the widest variety of beers in the world part of the journey was the joy of tasting as many of the local brews as time and money allowed. |
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| Ice breaking on the Middlewich Arm canal. The noise of the breaking ice was so loud it was like the random hammering of thick glass with a sledge hammer. But wow, this was such a beautiful and quiet period on the canals. |
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| Sister Keri enjoyed a short break right near the end of my time on board. All visitors seem to appreciate the slow pace of life. It took some of them a few days to acclimatise to the pace though. City slickers beware of narrowboating - its good for your health. |
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A stair of locks - not sure where this was now, because the locks have all blurred into one mass of locks. Locks, locks, locks, locks - meditative and a good time to do lots of sit ups and press ups, but boy o boy did they get monotonous! Good chance to chat with other boaters though. However, one thing I have not really mentioned is that many other boaters were very odd, or very stressed |
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| In all her glory - so many sunsets and amazing sunrises, with birds singing me awake and bats swooping low in the late evenings, this really was an idyllic life. The boat had solar and wind generators so I never lacked power to enjoy the luxuries like TV and music. |
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| In my trusty Akubra from Perth, I steer the boat as if it is an extension of my arm after only a few weeks. So relaxing and so in touch with nature. Sometimes too much! |
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| Pail and Charlotte at the end of another lovely weekend on board It was always fantastic to have company and many dozens of friends and family visited during the year. |
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| Parvathi on the Upper Thames - with my Hobie Kayak Tender after a day paddling up to the source. The Om signs gave the boat an even greater Indian flavour. |
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| The interior design was something I was very happy with. All mod cons and in an Indian style. Even the curtains were made from purple Saris. And my piano was a wonderful pasttime. |
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| In the drink - the boat needed constant care and attention. Here the rudder bolts had come lose - I found out just before it fell out of the rudder post - that would have been interesting if I had been moving! The boat was so full of faults from the outset, it was not till the day I sold it that it was finally completed! What a waste of life! :) |
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| February 2010 - a very long winter. But the boat was snug thanks to central heating and wood burring stove. This was my favourite period on the boat - everyone had stopped moving so I had the canals to myself. |
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| Ahhhhh! |
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| More fun with visitors Chris Fiona and Alex, enjoying a peaceful fire and glass of wine, always close to nature, a wonderful playground for young boys like Alex - and me! - July 2010 |
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| Locking on the Lower Thames was easy as they were all manned by traditional lock-keepers. |
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| Oaks and Birch trees dot our landscape but are the remnants of a once huge forest that spanned most of England and Wales. The last remaining examples should be strictly protected, they give our land its distinct character and are a precious habitat for numerous species. |
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| A week of painting and I managed to copy my mothers work on the starboard side of the boat. The image is of Parvathi (actually the face is of Aswari Rai the famous bollywood actress). The mountain is Nanda Devi, a beautiful mountain in Northern India where the Hindu Goddess and mother of all Gods and Shiva's consort, Parvathi dwells. |
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| More stunning summer daisies. Flowers still carpet large swathes of the countryside. We haven't completely poisoned everywhere yet. |
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| IN the winter months my wood burning stove was perfect, one part of the boat I truly miss. |
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| English oaks make me feel like I am home. I can feel their life when I hug big trees! |
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| In my kayak on the Upper Thames I paddled under a bridge and at the same time this man got down on one knee and proposed to the lady. aaahhhh! How romantic. I had my camera in hand and snapped this shot I met up with them later in the day and got their email address and sent them the photo, she was very grateful, but potentially very foolish! |
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| Leaving my last ever lock! Such a relief. Enough was enough. I needed a new challenge. I spent the next five days cleaning, painting and packing the boat ready for the handover to the new owner on 1st August. Parting was going to be very sweet sorrow. |
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| Chris helping with the paddles on the last lock. no Idea how many had done in the year - certainly many hundreds. Phew! |
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My last moments with Parvathi. All my personal belongings were now in storage or in two rucksacks ready to take with me to my new job in Vietnam. I had spent over a year with her and I would certainly miss her. I had managed to sell her for £73,000 and so I had lost very little during the year. All the stresses and strains with warranty work and completion of the build, would be left behind on the cut. All the irritations with nerdy arrogant narrowboat owners who were obviously so bored with their own lives, they had to stick their noses into everyone ese's would blow away with the autumn breeze. No more spending days and days on end only talking to the trees or ducks, no more cleaning, repairing, or expense on just keeping up appearances. But also no more peace, no more natural beauty, no more going in the direction that I chose, at my own pace and for whatever reason I fancied, no more piano, no more wood burning stove, no more fun with friends and families, but as I knew what was coming in Asia, the one thing that worried me the most was that where I was going there was no more English Ale! Would I do this again? Probably not, the build and the continuing upkeep was so much hassle and fellow boaters a breed unto themselves, that I became really quite disenchanted. - the dream life is not all I thought it would be. But it was a fantastically refreshing year and I felt ready to take on my new challenge in Asia as Head of Science at an international school in Saigon. My mind would be challenged once again and I was now ready. Onward and eastwards. Maybe I will find fulfilment somewhere else, I did not find it on the canals of England. :) Piping ashore for good this time. |
