Both Steve and I want to let you know how much we were blown away with the number of comments posted on our first blog of Narrow Boating and the many messages by texts and calls you have sent us. To receive so many good wishes has been most unexpected, very much appreciated and certainly a boost of encouragement for our latest adventure.

And breath! Us not you!!! Since boarding we (and by we, I mean mostly Steve) have been fire fighting. This morning is the first morning we’ve approached without a list of essential repairs taking priority.

Initially, ‘we’ had to see to the locks on the front iron doors from getting in with the aid of a crowbar, to locks and handles that work easily. Ditto, the back door, which was originally propped closed with a large log on the outside (quite some security – not!). Then there was the heating to fix, hot water to boil, the wood stove to service, so it would work efficiently, the internal doors to persuade to close instead of jam and, not least, see to the multiple leaks under the kitchen sink.

It’s almost been a repeat experience of moving out of home for the first time when you are so happy to be anywhere that isn’t living with your parents, you don’t care if things don’t work and you can live without the things you think you need. That first time around our futures were in front of us, there was no rush to fix or replace, we had all the energy in the world and the stamina to party and go to work the next day. When we moved on to Verulam we knew there would be work to do, so finding everything needs repair or replacement has not been a surprise. We are both active doers, and having gotten bored through lock downs that we had no outstanding jobs, this project is perfect for us. Second time around we are enjoying the benefit of past experiences doing up our homes, the internet with YouTube tutorials, more than a little spare cash in our back pockets but sadly this time the aches and pains interfere with our youthful enthusiasm.

Here’s a video I took of where we are.

Out for a Drink – that’s beer for Steve and a white wine for me

With the Hartford Social Club and Hartford Mill on our ‘doorstep’ we lost no time in trying them out. The pub has all day carvery and Sunday breakfasts which gives me time off. The Social Club has social club bar prices, the members are friendly, there’s a choice of activities and Stella was welcome. Result! On Wednesdays Pete, who has an allotment and hens, provides farm fresh eggs at the reasonable price of £1 per half dozen. I wasted no time in putting a regular weekly order in. As with our experience caravanning, we find residents of the marina in their floating homes and boat houses come from all walks of life and are great company. We’ve already attended a few social events; one being a quiz night which we enjoyed. No, we didn’t run the quiz. Well not yet!

The Morso Squirrel Multi-Fuel Stove – Model 1410 to be precise

Without the central heating working, which we knew before we moved in, we thought we could manage with borrowed electric heaters and the wood stove in the man saloon which houses our sofa bed. Wrong! No matter what eco fuel we used, how we arranged the combustibles or how intense our fires were, it just wasn’t as toasty hot as we had been lead to believe it should be. A couple of days into being on board, hearing our central heating engineer wouldn’t be able to visit until Thursday (a whole six days of make do), we decided to give the wood burner a good clean and inspection. Unsurprisingly we found some issues.

Wood stoves usually have a lining of three fire bricks, one either side and one at the back. We took a look. They were cracked, crumbling with age and desperately needed to be replaced. Laptop to hand, I was on line and ordered new fire bricks. When the new bricks arrived we naively thought it would be a case of the old ones out and the new ones in. Wrong! There were too many bricks at the back, a previous owner had been too lazy to do the job correctly. As Steve investigated, in the process of getting covered in soot, with second opinions from Charlie one of our neighbours, they found some bits that were broken and rusted away and, still at the laptop and on line, I ordered more new parts. Let’s just say that the first Wednesday night was a bit chilly and Thursday’s engineer’s visit couldn’t come quickly enough.

Central Heating/Hot Water Boiler

Without the benefit of the central heating working, which also heated the hot water, we had been told we could achieve hot water by running the boat’s main engine so we tried that. However, after a few hours, despite the chugging noise of the engine sounding great, the water barely achieved tepid temperature so we turned the engine off and I went back to boiling pots of water on the hob. When the engineer finally made this visit, he diagnosed the problem to be that the diesel tank was contaminated with water. How? We don’t know. We had to pump out 100 litres of diesel – or to put into other words Steve was brought to tears having to throw away over £100! Actually it was donated to the workshop. By the end of the day we not only had hot water but central heating too.

The Galley

Cleaned by me to an inch of its life, the under counter Belling is not far from a normal sized double oven, runs on LPG (camping gas) and works. However, the hob presented me with challenges. It has four burners, one very large, two medium sized and a small one. The large one has just one setting, slightly low of cremation, without much adjustment to reduce, which is OK for searing steaks with a window open. Of the two medium rings, one kinda does what it is supposed to and the other is lower than the smallest ring which is fierce and not adjustable. I can’t wait to have the new hob that I’ve bought fitted and get the three bears off my back.

I wasn’t able to store anything in the kitchen unit under the butler sink, as there was a leak. Steve asked me where the leak was and I said everywhere. He replied “what do you mean everywhere” and I gave him a look. He investigated. Absolutely every join, pipe and connection leaked. For the record when you think there is only the waste, on the boat of course there is the waste =1, then the expansion tank which only had 1 out of 2 leaks and the pump (essential on a boat or caravan) jackpot 2 making a total of 4. What Steve thought would take a couple of hours to sort out was a much longer and involved job over a couple of days. Luckily the Marina’s Chandler is quite well equipped and there’s a range of plumbing suppliers nearby and without the use of the sink for a day or so, we had the convenient of the Hartford Mill to feed us and do our washing up.

Squeaky Clean

Without hot water in the bathroom, I substituted shower for a splosh wash. I carefully boiled water in a pot on the hob, using the enthusiastic ring, I carefully carried it with oven gloves to the basin in the bathroom, pouring it carefully not to lose a precious drop.

By the time I had taken the pot back to the kitchen, removed my oven gloves and returned to the bathroom the water had almost disappeared. It had been my intention to wash quickly anyway because I was cold, but my speed rapidly increased as I wanted to complete my splosh wash before all the precious hot water drained away completely. I looked longingly at the shower, currently a storage area until we were more sorted out.

Pink and Blue Jobs

If you followed us on our year’s travel in our Wobble Box, you’ll know that we work exceedingly well together with specific pink (mine) and blue (Steve’s) jobs. They were easily specified as everything inside the caravan was pink and everything outside the caravan was blue. Not so with Verulam. Inside jobs so far are mostly blue and Steve’s as they are mechanical, electrical and/or involve maintenance with dangerous power tools. I make the tea. Outside jobs are also mostly blue, except Amazon collections and runs to the recycling centre. I make the tea. I’m incredibly lucky to have a man who can and does, no matter how much mess he leaves behind in the process.

Handing Salamanca Keys Over

This weekend as we complete the sale on the house we will be returning to move what stuff we have left in the house (which is stacked and racked in the man cave) into storage in Wokingham. As we are on the boat, we have mostly already handed over to Gail. This is it. Once we hand over our front door keys Gail becomes the Chatelain of #8 and there’s no turning back for us. Exciting times ahead for all.

PS.

You all want to ask or know how far we have travelled so far and what’ it like. So far not one centimetre but watch this space.