Recreational Ownership - Use of N/B

[mark99]

Hi All,

 

After reading in another thread about the reality of some time restricted (due to work) recreational owners of N/B's chugging up and down the same little bit of canal, how do other owners in full time work manage to vary their cruising interest?

 

If say, you have 6 weeks annual holidays plus weekends it may need some planning to get out a bit further on the system?

 

TIA

 

Mark

[alan_fincher]

Unless you are conveniently located at a base on or near one of the "hubs", (Braunston would be our nearest), I would say you to some extent have to be happy to see at least some of the same stretches of canal on a regular basis.

 

We are kind of halfway between London and Braunston, (on the GU), and, if not going fairly flat out non-stop, can spend half a week getting to either, and back.

 

That means we really only have opportunities to go places we go less often if at least a fortnight is available.

 

I am fortunate that I currently no longer work, but my wife still does, and we have lots of other commitments. However my wife is a teacher, giving us bigger windows of opportunity to get away. I don't think I could justify the cost of the boat if either of us were in a job with only 4 or 5 weeks total time off per year.

 

So currently we are managing.....

 

1) A trip of around 3 weeks in Summer - our big opportunity to go somewhere new - this year we got as far as down the Anderton Lift.

2) A trip of up to two weeks at Easter - we managed the Thames ring this year - new this time, but another one off the list.

3) At least one other full week somewhere else - we went op the Lee to Hertford atWhitsun, having gone the other way at the Stort divide last year - a bit of new territory there, and a canal closure also unexpectedly caused us to traverse London via Limehouse on the return - a bit more new ground.

 

We hopefully can get another week in at the next half term, but the boat needs fixing first - I'd love to do the Thames through London, (new again!), but my level of confidence about not needing rescuing would need to be built up a bit!

 

I absolutely love Birmingham, but only ever seem to pass through by the "standard" routes. If I could find the time, we would be doing all the ones we never have, but really that is only possible in summer.

 

If my wife didn't have a job with more holiday than most, I think we would consider a "share" boat. These tend to get moved around the country every few years to a new operating base, giving their joint owners a greater choice of canals and rivers - I have just been chatting to an old school friend who says she has never been more grateful that theirs has been of the K&A - she hates it, but one still on our "to do" list!

 

I long for the day we can spend more time, but in fact my wife has recently reverted to teaching a full timetable, and her retirement starts to look further away. I hope increasing costs don't drive us off the cut, before we have the opportunity to spend months at a time cruising - I rather fear they will.

[Naughty Cal]

Base your boat where there is a lot of choice of waterways within easy cruising distance. Even then you have to accept that at weekends it will be a cruise on the same stretch of water sometimes. We are lucky and have a whole range of waterways within a 4 to 5 hours cruising of our base. Works for us.

[carlt]

Before living aboard I used to move the boat around the system.

 

I'd leave the boat near bus stops or railway stations, returning a couple of weeks later, to continue the journey.

 

This is now known as continuous cruising and is considered impossible, if you have a full-time job.

[Allan(nb Albert)]

Hi All,

 

After reading in another thread about the reality of some time restricted (due to work) recreational owners of N/B's chugging up and down the same little bit of canal, how do other owners in full time work manage to vary their cruising interest?

 

If say, you have 6 weeks annual holidays plus weekends it may need some planning to get out a bit further on the system?

 

TIA

 

Mark

 

Can't make a suggestion regarding weekends but you may wish to consider shared ownership. Being a part owner of two boats potentially gives you two different bases each year and the ability to move around the system as in some schemes owners elect to change a boats base every year or two. Some private schemes work on a continuous cruising basis for much of the year.

 

On the other hand you could hire if your pockets are deep enough!

[WJM]

Simple answer, keep your boat at a hub where you have lots of choice.

 

My hub is Brentford. I have The GU Mainline, the Thames, the Paddington Arm, the Regents, the Lee, The Wey and the Basingstoke all within a day's cruising. Oh, and the Slough Arm too!

Edited September 10, 2009 by WJM

[Lady Muck]

Simple answer, keep your boat at a hub where you have lots of choice.

 

I would say check how busy the hub is first though. We met a couple on our trip who told us they'd moved from a marina at Braunston to one up the Ashby as they found that at busy times of the year, they would hit a queue for the locks, soon as they left their old marina.

 

Sharing does sound like a good idea though.

[madcat]

Im a funny old moggy so I am quite happy pottering about on favorite local bits of canal with the occasional long trip to Ellesmere Port or Manchester.Finishing the house took priority over boating the last couple of years,now its time to work on the boat.

[Naughty Cal]

Our "Hub" works quite well.

 

Based on Witham/Fossdyke. And have:

 

The Trent

The Ouse

The Wash

The Humber

The Chesterfield

The SSYN

The Aire & Calder

The Selby

 

All within 24 hours of our base.

[Chertsey]

Our "Hub" works quite well.

 

Based on Witham/Fossdyke. And have:

 

The Trent

The Ouse

The Wash

The Humber

The Chesterfield

The SSYN

The Aire & Calder

The Selby

 

All within 24 hours of our base.

 

That's be about a week for anyone else then?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry!

 

Before living aboard I used to move the boat around the system.

 

I'd leave the boat near bus stops or railway stations, returning a couple of weeks later, to continue the journey.

 

This is now known as continuous cruising and is considered impossible, if you have a full-time job.

You'll scare the bloke off! Lots of people do do this, including the well known blogger Granny Buttons. It takes a lot of coordinating you need to have confidence in leaving your boat in strange places - although that can include marinas if you're nervous.

[Naughty Cal]

That's be about a week for anyone else then?

 

I think even a NB could manage most of those in 24 hours.

 

Well certainly the Trent, Chesterfield, SSYN, or Aire & Calder

 

Sorry!

.

 

Forgiven

[NB Alnwick]

The ideal situation is where 'work' is not dependent on a particular location. Before retiring completely in April, I 'worked from home' researching and writing features for a part-work that ran to 97 volumes. I found that this was easy to do from the boat and, during our first year of boat ownership, we were genuine 'continuous cruisers'. In the event, the cost of boat ownership and the continuous cruising lifestyle, proved to be rather more than we expected, and to cope with this it, was necessary for Jane to get a part time job - so we applied to BW for an on-line mooring.

 

These days we plan our cruises to suit Jane's work situation. Fortunately she works in the centre of a varied canal network with Banbury, Braunston, Napton and Norton Junction all within a short drive from her workplace. This enables me to start any cruise from our base at Cropredy single handed while Jane is at work - when she finishes work in the evening, she phones to find out where I have moored and drives to that location. Then at the weekend or at the start of a longer holiday, we either leave the car in a safe place or shuttle it forward to our intended destination and use public transport to return to the boat. Although it all sounds a bit complicated, it does enable us to enjoy the boat and indulge it fairly ambitious cruises.

[bristol & argo]

Before living aboard I used to move the boat around the system.

 

I'd leave the boat near bus stops or railway stations, returning a couple of weeks later, to continue the journey.

 

This is now known as continuous cruising and is considered impossible, if you have a full-time job.

 

Or how about living on board (maybe just for the summer?)

 

It helps to have a job in central london, but using my holidays for long weekends through the summer allowed us to range from a nominal base in Hungerford to Bath, Banbury, Waltham Abbey and Uxbridge since i could commute along the way.

Then after the Uxbridge dry docking we stayed on the GU but ranged to Paddington Basin, Beale Park, Hillmorton, and only hard runs to Braunston Show and back required more days off.

 

Simon.

P.s. don't try and do it with a car - that becomes a logistical nightmare

[Lady Muck]

The ideal situation is where 'work' is not dependent on a particular location.

 

This is our situation. Self employed. Only need a laptop, a layout pad, a few pens, scanner and printer. I'm very portable.

Have managed almost five months away from the marina this summer. Have had to travel to meetings, but that's doable - book online using internet dongle in order to get the cheapest price, use canalplan ac to figure out the nearest station. It's rare that you are not near a station because of how the canal /railways system was built.

[carlt]

You'll scare the bloke off! Lots of people do do this, including the well known blogger Granny Buttons. It takes a lot of coordinating you need to have confidence in leaving your boat in strange places - although that can include marinas if you're nervous.

I never really had a problem coordinating my ccing and disasters can happen in the most familiar places.

 

Personally I think Google Maps, which links up with the public transport network and is available on the mobile phone, would make the task even simpler (it was OS maps and a drawer full of timetables, in ye olde days).

 

Leaving the boat near waterways offices, lock keepers cottages (younger readers may want to google this term), liveaboards or even an hour's cycle from the nearest habitation was always safe and, if not able to get to the boat for any longer period, a temporary marina mooring was always available.

 

Or how about living on board (maybe just for the summer?)

I continuously cruised, worked full-time and lived aboard for 3 years, again physically impossible, according to some but not, happily, according to BW.

[Tillerpin]

We are based near Napton junction and three years ago when our boat was only a couple of months old, we trustingly left it overnight at Fenny Compton. When we returned we found the control panel had been removed and the deckplate had been opened and the alternator and wiring loom gone. We had to call for assistance to get fixed up to get the boat back to the marina but since then we have never felt happy at leaving it. As family commitments restrict the opportunities to stay on board, our cruising is mainly day trips so, yes we do travel the same routes quite often, but at least we have a choice from Napton.

[Heffalump]

(younger readers may want to google this term)

 

 

oi!

 

[Gibbo]

Before living aboard I used to move the boat around the system.

 

I'd leave the boat near bus stops or railway stations, returning a couple of weeks later, to continue the journey.

 

This is now known as continuous cruising and is considered impossible, if you have a full-time job.

 

We did this for 2 years whilst actually living aboard full time, working a full time (but flexi hours) job, and managed to do over 600 miles of different canal (twice with the return journey). But we used a mixture of two cars and staged them or one car and a push bike. It takes some planning but it is possible. I guess using public transport is still possible but would take a bit more planning.

 

Gibbo