How it all began. 1.

I have to confess I am hooked. It's like a drug. I have been reading all the narrowboat blogs I can find (thank you Granny Buttons for the list) and everything has gone out of the window. It has inspired me to create our own. I would like to indulge in a bit of history before getting on to the more interesting topic of narrowboat travels. Our travels start this Friday so I will put out the 'how we got here' over the next few days and hope that someone is interested enough to have a look.

'We' are Jon and Ali, we have been together for many lovely years and first experienced narrowboating about 25 years ago for a week on the Leeds and Liverpool canal courtesy of Snaygill Boats at Skipton. It's great to see they are still going strong. Jon and I (Ali is writing this) are probably a case of opposites attract, when it comes to purchases I will think things over, and over , and over to the point that by the time I get round to buying anything the interest has gone or whatever I wanted has been sold. Jon is the opposite, he goes with his heart and buys more or less instantly and sometimes on a whim. This is all very well for christmas presents etc. but when it comes to major outlay (houses, boats) I'm not sure which is best. Our first house together was the third we looked at (we had put in an offer on the first we saw-I told you he was impetuous-but it fell through). Strangely enough Jon's method seems to work and we stayed in the house for 23 great years. The next house was one we saw whilst driving past one day. It was in a village in Surrey that we love and had a for sale sign outside. Very soon after we were in the middle of a nightmare (the last time house prices fell- ours took 12 months to sell and with a bridging loan costing more than our combined income the nights were sleepless). However it all came out right in the end and we now love this house. I feel for the couple (?Caxton) who were trying to sell their house for so long, I hope all goes well now with the swop.

Patience people there is a boat link here soon.



My roots are in Lancashire and my Mum lives there so we often visit and in order to make life easy, about 15 years ago we bought a little 'coronation street' type of terraced house there. Again Jon's whim, we saw the house across the back street from my Mum's was for sale (image of the credits on coronation street with back street and outhouse with cat on it-just like that), so we looked into it. The following conversation with the bank manager took place

Jon I'd like to borrow 7,000 pounds

Bank Manager certainly sir, can I ask what it is for.

Jon To buy a house

Bank Manager for the deposit sir ?

Jon no-to buy the house

Bank Manager what! 7,000 pounds for a house

Jon Certainly not, 5,000 for the house and 2,000 to do it up

Bank Manager I think you ought to buy the whole street



Yes 15 years ago you really could by a house up there for 5,000.

In hindsight with house prices rising we should have followed his advice and bought the whole street.

I think that enough for now and I need my lunch so the next instalment will be tomorrow, unless I get bored this afternoon