Living on a narrowboat on the canals of the UK changes your life drastically and makes you become more involved in finding self-sustainable ways of enhancing your daily life. Some of the areas you'll first start to become more responsible about are your energy consumption, water consumption, and you pay closer attention to your waste disposal. In other words, you become more environmentally conscious.
Being on a narrowboat also gives a constant reminder of how amazing nature is when we care about preserving and maintaining flora and fauna as green spaces help to calm the mind and the wildlife animals are adorable.
When the light hits the right hour of the day, you get stunning colours :)
Power Supply is different from living on land
Relying on an alternative power supply is a given for narrowboat living, and as you chug along you'll see impressive investments made by other boaters for a truly sustainable and comfortable living.
The power supply for Badger, our narrowboat is solar-powered with an Eberspacher Diesel heating system, not a traditional wooden burner, something we inherited from the personal preference of the previous owners. What this means is that yes, we always have power (if monitored correctly), and on days when the sun is in full beam, our batteries top up and perform at an optimal.
It is Spring, yet it has been reported to be one of the coldest springs in the UK within recent years, so some mornings the solar panel tends to be frosty and covered with leaves. I like to give it a quick wipe down to maintain and enable the full force of the sun to activate quickly.
Deeds to Help Restore Earth
We all have busy schedules with good intentions, but sometimes our actions tell a different story. However, everyday living on a narrowboat along the canals forces you to be more vigilant of energy conservation such as:
- Switching off all lights, not in use and only turning on when necessary, unplugging all appliances (except the refrigerator), turning off computers, and unplugging USB chargers
- Taking shorter showers, turn off taps in-between brushing and rinsing of teeth, turn off tap in-between scouring and rinsing dishes (or fill sink) to avoid running water unnecessarily.
- Turning off our oven 10 minutes before cooking time to use the residual heat.
- Opening the oven after using to heat the boat/living environment.
Canals and narrowboats are a tremendous part of UK history and heritage.
You have the option of living on a narrowboat at a marina, or you could be a continuous cruiser, which gives you the opportunity to explore the UK canal network by being on the move and mooring up at designated mooring spots for short term stays. If continuous cruising is your option, you'll have an increase in physical activity opening and closing locks, when living on the narrowboats.
Canal Locks
The engineering of the olden days created a system on the canals known as locks. Locks are basically ascending or descending of hills. Since canals are manmade, you have to imagine that they needed to be built according to the layout of the land, and since the Uk consists of hills, valleys, and plains, the locks allow boaters to get from one level to the next.
For something that was created by man over 200 years ago, I feel so privileged to be utilizing the network in the twenty-first century.
Bridges And Tunnels
'Great workout opening and closing locks and gates and an increase in walking or cycling into towns which reduces carbon footprints.'
Facilities
With a narrowboat being your home with a functional engine, facilities such as Garbage Disposal, Sewerage Disposal, and Water Filling Stations are dotted along the canals.
The use of these facilities is part of the Canal license we pay for the year.
Recycling and DIY Habits and Practices
I've always had the tendency to collect items with the hope of recycling them for use in the future, and living on a narrowboat has brought that practice of mine to another level. Before I throw away any container after using a product, I take a good look at it and think, what could I re-use this for? Can I recycle it and use it to make something useful on the boat? I guess it's a bit like what some of us saw our grandparents and in my case of parents do. My mum always reuses things like butter cartridges, ice cream tubs, and even foil, whenever possible.
I reuse jars and bottles to make my own natural air freshener and surface cleaner: Here's a recipe that I like:
DIY Air Freshener / Surface Cleaner
- Peel of 2 Oranges
- half cup Neat Vinegar
- 8 to 10 drops of essential oil such as Rosemary, Tea Tree, Lavender, Eucalyptus, or Peppermint Oil.
You can add it to your spray bottle to refresh your house/narrowboat, it can also be used to wipe surfaces for a nice fresh scent.
I am a bit late on sowing seeds for a herb garden, but I have a few purchased and gifted plants that I tend to in the bow of the boat.
Laundry Days
As narrow boaters, we diligently do simple things like sourcing biological and eco-friendly products, which are also big on recycling their containers use bio-friendly detergents and washing-up liquids which can be found at boathouses or marinas, as well as in regular supermarkets.
At the moment, I do not have a washing machine, but we intend to buy a semi-automatic washer that is compact and eco-friendly to fit on our boat. So in the interim, I hand wash small items and hang them out to dry in the bow. The ball of fire might not be flaming, but the wind dries the clothes quickly enough.
Ummmm, what you see being hung to dry was a rather large load, as we had been low on water supply due to non-availability at our closest mooring spot for a period of 10 days.
Normally to lighten the burden and get clothes dried in a timely manner, as well as monitoring of water supply, I tend to wash small items daily and also top up our water supply whenever we pass water outlets.
Resourcefulness
Another thing that's handy when living on a narrowboat is having good housekeeping tips and life hacks.
My husband and I had a little dilemma about a blocked kitchen sink. Although we try our best not to wash food items down the drain, somehow we got a massive surprise of a drain that was stubborn and the water decided it was going nowhere. Without a plunger or plumber at our disposal, we successfully unblocked the drain using our own DIY "Liquid Plumber".
In the past, I've always relied on Vinegar and Baking Soda for removing scum marks and for cleaning around my cooking gas hob. However, occasionally while mixing my cleaning supplies for the shower in a hurry, I'd accidentally mix vinegar and baking soda and it forms bubbles and swell up my spray bottle attempting to burst open. So I thought, ok, maybe if we mix the same intentionally and pour it down the drain, this could do the trick...almost! We still needed a bit of plunging.
My makeshift plunger that did the trick was this cup suction:
Oh yes! A plunger is on our shopping list on our next shopping trip when we get to the next town.
Do you dream of living on a #narrowboat?
Is it a #lifestyle you think you could adjust to?
Would you be happier living in a more #minimalistic way?
My answer to all these questions is yes!
Thank you for reading my blog, and I'll share more of my everyday living on a narrowboat across the UK with you sometimes 🤗
