Hey Guys, I am in England! I just spent the past couple of hours at the Barbridge Inn and met all sorts of boaters. The place is crawling with them. And they were all very nice people. Today was the first day that I saw narrowboats in person. And here was my big revelation.
THEY ARE A LOT SMALLER THAN I THOUGHT!
The internet seems to make things appear bigger than in real life. I spent an hour with Steve at Tattenhall Marina and he showed me the little stinker and a couple of other boats. He is really a VERY knowledgeable person and he answered tons of narrowboat questions for me.
Tomorrow morning, I'm going to go have a look at the Moorhen narrowboat at the Barbridge Marina. Tonight, I met a painter named John who is the person who actually painted Moorhen. Such a small and interesting world. I'm going to answer a few of the questions that people posted above. Athy, yes, being able to use my laptop and connect to the internet is absolutely mission critical. I am willing to buy a lesser boat and work on it but when it comes to internet, I will spare no expense to have a solid, top quality connection. I LIVE on the internet and have been doing so since 1989. Yes, it's important to me. OldGoat, yes, I am starting to see that size matters... Alan, yes, I do want a proper bed... Cal, I have thought a little about the cruisers but for me, they just don't have the charm of a steel narrowboat and I don't want to live in a piece of plastic. Anyway, I have put my money where my mouth is and come up here to have a look. I will keep you all posted as to what I decide.
n