Canal Boats

My sister mentioned the other day that she didn't like water probably because I nearly drowned when I fell in a lock when I was young. My father actually pulled me out of a sluice gate with a boat hook. Anyway it didn't have that effect on me I love boats, the canals and sea. 

Alex and I bought a canal boat many years ago when we were first married. We bought it in the Exchange and Mart. I am not sure if that is still around. I don’t think we had even seen it but it was very cheap. The owner obviously just wanted rid of it and it was in a marina in Northampton.
Anyway the only real problem with it was the engine wouldn’t start and it was on expensive moorings. We thought we could sort out the engine between us and that was no problem. We decided to bring it along the canals to Welsh Frankton where we could more it for next to nothing (things have changed). We set out in the middle of winter and after a day or so the canal began to ice up until we had to use the boat as an icebreaker. At night we would stop near a pub to spend the evening in the warm with a few beers. We never got it all the way home as British Waterways were doing engineering work assuming no-one was mad enough to be using the canal at that time of year. We left it tied to the bank and returned for it a couple of months later. It was fine and it arrived in Welsh Frankton where it was used for a season. We later sold it along with our motorcycles when children came along to buy “things” for the nursery!