It was a warm day of September with rays of sunshine reflecting in the water, and Billy the boat was put to rest after a long journey down the canal.
In a small Venice not too far away from here, but minutes away from Carrington road, a boat was floating in anticipation of the next adventure.
However, Billy was not left unsupervised. On the bank there was Clare, tying the boat with a rope and greeting other terrestrial walkers.
“My husband is ten years older than me, and he retired”, she said. “I thought that if I wait ten years until I retire, we won’t be able to do anything”.
This was happening three years ago, when Pete (66) and Clare Brady (57) first thought about moving on a boat and leave their land life behind.
“So we looked at our finances and we decided that we could just sell up and leave our land life and do this”, said Claire nostalgic.
“So we did.”
Besides investing their time and resources into what was going to be the ‘journey of their lives’, Clare and Pete were not entirely sure they could easily adapt to this kind of lifestyle.
“I think that a lot of boaters hire first, so that’s what we did and we actually loved it so much that I said to my husband that this is what I always wanted to do.”
Suddenly, their lives have become a continuous adventure that they wish it will never end.
“We were planning to do this for two years, but we are now on three years and a half and we already planned for the next two years.
“So I think we will do it for a bit longer.”
When it comes to the best spots to see while travelling on a boat, Clare became an expert and has some recommendations for boat enthusiasts.
“My favourite cities are Chester, Ely, Lincoln, York.
“And my favourite canals are probably the Red Pink Canal, Llangollen Canal which is more private, Montgomery Canal.
“And my favourite river is the Nine.”
For many people, Billy might be just bright coloured boat floating down the canal.
But Billy is more than a simple boat. For Pete and Clare, it has been the place they’ve been calling home for three years. Growing to become real boat lovers, the couple have tried to learn more about this lifestyle.
“We went up to Chester – lovely city by the way, I absolutely love it, and we booked an appointment with a curator at the Canal Museum.
“They found paperwork that proves that this boat was built in 1892. So he’s really old.”
The next natural question would be… how much was it?
“You never ask a boat that. Would you ask someone how much they spent on their house? Would you ask someone how much they earn?
“This is an aspect that many people don’t know about.”
So moving away from the financial aspect of living on a boat, Clare disclosed how their sailing experience has changed since the coronavirus outbreak.
“Coronavirus hasn’t affected us that much apart from the fact that we couldn’t move”, she said.
“This year we couldn’t move until the first of June, apart from that it doesn’t affect us much because we don’t see people.
“We haven’t seen people from one week to the next because we’ve been travelling in North”, Clare added.
“Apart from wearing a mask when we go to the shops and being careful on docks, our lives haven’t changed that much.”
So while terrestrial travelling has been restricted due to the coronavirus pandemic, this hasn’t affected the couple’s ability to explore their favourite canals across England.
“It gives you the freedom to be able to travel, it really does. I hope we will be able to continue to do so.”
By Olimpia Zagnat
Photos credit: Olimpia Zagnat