No Direction

No Direction is our 70ft Narrowboat which is now home to my wife Jayne and myself, it was launched on 4th February 2008.

We spend the Winters in a Marina and cruise in the warmer weather.

Saturday 4 December 2010

Winter in the Marina.

The problems encountered by boaters like us who spend the Winter months in a Marina pale into insignificance when compared with Continual Cruisers, these are the boaters who choose to stay out on the Canal all year, where we may have to join 2 or 3 hoses together to reach an un-frozen water tap to refill our water tanks the boater out on the Canal must watch the weather forecast closely and plan ahead to avoid being frozen in miles from anywhere.

3 hoses joined together to reach the un-frozen tap.

Last Winter Kings Bromley Marina was frozen for 5 weeks so no boat movements, we were ok as we have a water tap close to the ground which doesn't freeze, we have a car so can get to the shops, the Marina sells gas, coal and Diesel, we have a mains electrical connection so that we don't have to run the engine to charge the batteries and we have Cassette toilets so we can empty them without moving the boat. 
For the Continual Cruisers it's much more difficult, they can only carry so much water, coal, gas and food on a boat and therefore need to make sure that when the ice comes they are at least within walking distance of these necessities.

A Grim scene at Kings Bromley on Friday morning, ice and fog.

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