News

January 16 2008

This update is long overdue and I can only offer major distractions as my excuse. But our lives have taken a major turn and this could not have been written during the last few weeks of uncertainty. As you may have guessed from earlier diary entries, we have been looking at houses for rent and for sale in Derbyshire and a fortnight ago we found a near-ideal four-bedroomed house high on a hill above Matlock, with splendid views over fields on one side and across fields and distant houses in the valley to Riber Castle on the horizon. For people used to staying out in comparatively isolated rural moorings on the Cut this house, on a lane that leads to walks through an old quarry and woodland, was irresistible. We have applied for the tenancy and will know in the next week or so whether our referees (bank and personal friend) still think we are credit-worthy.

The result is, of course, that Snecklifter is for sale. We will be advertising as soon as we have established a selling price **, but if any of our friends out there know someone who is looking for a 60ft live-aboard in good condition with a boat safety certificate to March 2010 and a full year's BW licence, please tell them about us. Snecklifter will be at Barton Turns marina at least until the end of April and we will drive there to meet prospective buyers at weekends. Meanwhile, we have a great deal of sorting of our personal belongings, on the boat, at our friend Brian Parker's house in Ashford in the Water where we have spent the last few months, and in storage in Sheffield - all this while Liz continues her part-time job in Chesterfield.

Will we miss life afloat, the freedom to wander around the system, staying in favourite places for a couple of days or a couple of weeks, and moving on when we begin to feel restless? Yes, of course, but we'll miss more the many boaters who have become our friends or who know us just enough to wave as we pass. Some will keep in touch and visit us in Matlock - they already have in Ashford. Others we will travel to see when we know they are on a section of canal within driving distance. I hope they will all continue to email us and read the website when it is updated every week or so. I certainly intend to keep the site going, though increasingly it will deal with our lives back on land and with our family, especially our two granddaughters.

I can tell you now that I will never forget the many delights of the last five and a half years. Many mornings over the last three months I've woken up dreaming of steering the boat on very familiar stretches of canal. Sitting in front of the television or walking the dogs on the local field I suddenly see an image of favourite moorings almost as clearly as if I were there - I'm the kind of sad person who still dreams of being back in the Sheffield newspaper office in which I worked for over 20 years, often unable to find my desk or the exit door to normality. Neither Liz nor I have ever regretted selling our cottage in Ashford more than six years ago and starting a four-year adventure that stretched to five a half years. But staying so long in a house again after short Christmas breaks in past years convinced us it was time to make the change. We literally and figuratively found ourselves plugged back in to the land-locked life.

*** We have set our asking price for Snecklifter at £49,950. (* Note : Sold for £45,000 on August 22 2008 - more than a few tears shed, at least by Mike.)

Email update : We continue to hear from regular correspondents and here's another boat pic to compensate for our winter desertion of the Cut. It's from Alan and Sheila Beattie from Cornwall, who we first met passing their hire boat at Great Haywood in September 2004 and then at Rugeley when we had time to stop and chat. Two years later they emailed us to say they had bought their own 57ft boat called Andante. This is their latest email:

"We have spent a very pleasant four months on Andante this year and have cruised as far as Nantwich and Middlewich in the North and to Gloucester and Sharpness in the South. We came back to Cornwall in mid November as we had various appointments booked, doctor, dentist etc. and hope to return to the boat at the beginning of February to get some more winter cruising in.

"At the present we intend to keep our home in Cornwall and hope to spend eight or nine months on the boat, so not full live-aboards but spending long enough to make the boat feel like home. This photo was taken at Tixall, now one of our favorite spots."

February 3

It's official : we are now landlubbers. We collected the keys to our new home on the edge of Matlock Moor in Derbyshire last Monday and since then have been racing against time to prepare the house for the arrival on Tuesday this week of furniture which has been in storage for over six years. Which is why the update to this website it again later than promised. By the time you collect six 6ft high DVD and CD towers and a heavy bookcase from IKEA, carry them from car to house and then assemble them, you are pretty tired - well, I am at any rate. Liz is younger, fitter and, besides, she's at work most of the time doing the skilled stuff and leaving the labouring to me. I'm also packing box after heavy box of possessions kept at our friend's house in Ashford as well as removing as much as we can from the boat.

But we are enjoying ourselves and looking forward to our new life and most of all to plug-in electricity. We loved our life on the canals for all of the five and half years we roamed the system from Skipton in the North to Bath and Bristol in the South. But we are sure we're making the right move at the right time. And besides, we expect to be on or around the Cut before long (see locking threat/promise below!) And we hope that our many boating friends will call to see us whenever you are near Matlock.

We hope, too, that it will be easier to see our family - as you can see from these recent pix, our granddaughters Sienna and Camille grow more interesting by the day.

Though it's obvious (above) that Camille has no need of a visit to a hairdresser yet.

Now back to life on the canals. We are still receiving emails from our friends on the Cut as well as a phone call from our old (young) friend Pete Adcock from the Ashby. He sold his boat Tiger M a couple of years ago, before moving to a new job in Dorset. He's back - and so is his enthusiasm for boating: he's having a new one built which will be lined professionally before he starts on his own fit-out. We look forward to seeing it - and him - again on the Ashby soon. Emails include this message which accompanied a splendidly evocative photograph from Sarah Levick:

"Well, it really is true. All my bloggers have picked up on it and there it is, on the website – the end of an era is nigh, but hey, what an era! I just hope whoever has the pleasure of Snecklifter from now on brings us as much joy and fun as you guys, but I very much doubt it. So ‘tis with a heavy heart I write … although I do have cunning plans to get you locking for us at every opportunity! *

"It’s all a bit mad here at the moment - work is piling up and thoughts of the boat are somewhat distant. We’re desperate to get away in the motorhome too as we haven’t used it for ages and we’re going to try to sneak off to Chirk this weekend – as the campsite is within spitting distance of the canal, I can get a double dose of my passions, although I hate to think about the condition of the towpath just at this minute.

"The trip back to Nantwich was a triumph, despite losing half the blacking we’d just had put on. Very quiet and peaceful, our early starts being rewarded with the superb Xmas lunch our friends provided on Christmas Day. The boat is transformed too. I don’t know what they did to her but she goes like the clappers now … well, relative to what she was like. We’re not speed merchants but it is nice to know there’s a little more power there than we’ve had previously, particularly as we’d like to revisit the Weaver this year. Highlight of the trip was meeting Sue and Vic plus dogs Lucy and Meg off No Problem – a lovely couple who urged us to follow our dream as quickly as we could. We also happened upon an old pal who we used to moor next to at Streethay. He’s been cc-ing for the past 2-3 years and looks about ten years younger – if that’s what it does to you (and you two are living proof of its rejuvenating qualities) then I definitely want some!

"When I get a moment to think, I’m considering a T&M, Macc, Peak Forest and HNC trip around Easter – so plenty of locking opportunities*, my dear friends. We can only get as far up the Huddersfield as the point where they turn you round if you’re not booked in for Standedge but that should be a sufficient taster. I wonder if we will ever be able to self pilot our boats through one day? I can’t help thinking they might get a bit more traffic that way."

* We'll be there, twice!

September 7

I had not planned to update this section of the website after we moved to live in Quarry Lane but this week we've had some delightful emails from Jo Hamilton and Joseph Butler, the couple who bought Snecklifter at Whilton Marina. It seemed a perfect way to finally round off this account of our own association with a splendid narrowboat by quoting the emails almost in their entirety. Jo has promised to send a photograph of them aboard, so as soon as it arrives I will add it to this page.

This first email arrived on September 1:

"I thought I'd drop you a line to say how much we've enjoyed the first leg of our journey aboard Snecklifter. It's obvious that you've looked after her well and enjoyed your time on her - she is SO well designed (but then you knew that). Every time we thought 'now where might I find a gas spanner / dipping stick for the water / rag for the engine / mallet for mooring pins...' we just put our hand where we might find it... and hey presto. You've really made our transition to living aboard much easier than we thought (although six windlasses - perhaps I could start juggling!).

"We had a great journey from Whilton down to Oxford, where we'll be moored for the foreseeable future. Most of our experience to date has been on the Oxford Canal - so wider locks were a first for both of us. Luckily our first double-berth locks on the Grand Union were shared alongside a very experienced hired-boat crew, who guided us through. The locks, and the very curvy parts of the Oxford Canal provided ample time for us to get confident handling her, so once we were in home territory (from Banbury southwards) we were cruising - and had some very good crew we'd trained up along the way.

"Although I'd seen your website, I didn't realise quite what a following she had - we had lots of comments from other boaters saying that 'is that the original Snecklifter?' . Mooring up by Kirtlington quarry we were met with similar remarks from people who know you (the boat name escapes me - sorry) who said they'd been avid readers of your blog before buying their own boat and doing the same. I look forward to reading your website in more detail when time permits - although the log you'd kept in the Nicholson guides was great - I noticed you were just north of Oxford when the floods started hitting last year.

"We're looking forward to living aboard in and around Oxford, mainly on Snecklifter, and the 43ft narrowboat that my husband built. With best wishes to you both."

I replied, saying how pleased we were that they were happy with the boat and explained that in nearly six years of travel we had found several windlasses left at locks by forgetful boaters and that once they reached four in number, of course, they started breeding. I also asked for some biographical info and received this:

"Snecklifter's new owners are Jo and Joe. They've previously lived at Lower Heyford aboard a friend's boat The Duke of Bridgewater and both love being aboard - on narrowboats or sailing boats.

"Jo coordinates Oxfordshire ClimateXchange (http://climatex.org/) - a climate change awareness and action project based at Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute. She's also starting an MSc in Energy and Environment Studies at the Centre for Alternative Technology ... and when she's got time she's playing flutes, saxophones and English bagpipes.

"Joe teaches artist blacksmithing at the Hereford College of Art, and is a published poet (http://ironscribe.co.uk/). He runs creative writing workshops, does poetry readings, and blacksmithing demonstration projects. In November 2007 he launched the boat, Gaudete, he'd been making in his spare time. So when Jo's piping gets too loud, there's a space to retreat to!"

Finally before we sign off on this journal, one small request from Liz and me to all those many boaters out there who were so friendly to us, so generous with their time, and so helpful whenever we were in difficulty. I hope you'll all keep a lookout and continue to be what Sarah Levick once labelled "Friends of Snecklifter."

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