Appeal of a life afloat

Being able to cast off for a weekend without having to pack; wash up while a pair of swans swim past your window and fall asleep to the gentle rocking of the river current; life aboard a canal boat can be exciting and romantic.

While many of us may dream about living aboard a narrow boat at some time or other, a growing number of people are turning this dream into a reality.

As the cost of buying a house has rocketed over the last decade, the number of boat-dwellers. According to British Waterways, there are now 32,000 licensed boat users in the UK – more than at the height of the Industrial Revolution.

Pamela Clarke, 51, lives aboard a wide beam boat on the Leeds-Liverpool canal with her husband, Ian and two of the youngest of their five children.

"I don't actually like staying in houses anymore," she says." Because we're out in the open so much on the boat, it feels quite claustrophobic in a house."

Their three-berth boat, Eller, moored in the canal basin in Skipton, was designed and fitted by Ian, 52, who has worked in various jobs involving boats for the past 30 years. The couple, who own a boat business, Pennine Cruisers, and help organise Skipton's Waterway Festival every May, decided to move into the boat full-time after a long weekend turned into several months.

"We went for a weekend in May and then went home for a week at Christmas and on New Year's Day I said 'right, come on, that's it we're going back to the boat' and we haven't been back to the house since," recalls Pamela.

That was four-and-a half-years ago. They sold their terraced house in Skipton two years later.

She says she is now confident that she would not want to go back to living in a house and that they enjoy all mod cons on their floating home. These include two bathrooms with a shower, a four foot bath and a "proper flushing loo"; satellite TV, leather settees; diesel central heating and a solid fuel stove.

She adds: "When you're on the boat it almost feels like you're permanently on holiday. You seem to escape from the rat race somehow."

Though with five holiday boats to let, a day tripping business and a caf to run, they are clearly not on holiday.

Their son Jordan, 12, and daughter Stephanie, 20, share the 57ft by 13ft wide canal boat along with the family's small, grey dog. Now and again, two of the couple's grandchildren also stay the night.

"Jordan loves it. We all do," says Pamela. "He's quite an outdoors type. He does have an X-box on the boat but he likes to fish and cycle and walk along the tow path if we're out cruising."

Though she admits there are obvious risks involved in bringing up children on a boat. "Jordan has fallen in probably about eight or nine times and Stephanie a couple of times. Last March he was walking down the gunnel of the boat on the outside edge and he just walked straight off it. It was very cold and he went right under the water.

"He said afterwards it was a real eye-opener. Although he is a strong swimmer he just didn't realize how scary it is when the water is so cold.

"If they fall in and you panic, you panic them. My husband just reached down and pulled him out."

The family often take off for weekends, though with a top speed of just four miles an hour, they usually only get as far as Gargrave or Kildwick, three miles away.

"It's just so relaxing," says Pamela."You really see the wildlife because you've got the time to look."

Over on the Rochdale Canal near Hebden Bridge, Dawn, 39, who didn't want to give her surname, says cost is really what drove her to buy her first narrow boat six years ago. She bought her 50ft steel boat when she split up with her son's father and says you can pick up a stripped-out boat for as little as 10,000.

"When we sold the house we couldn't afford to buy another house each. Getting a canal boat was affordable and practical, but I wouldn't say it is for everyone. It wouldn't suit women who like to wear high heels and do themselves up in front of the mirror."

She says her son Rowan, 11, lives with her on the boat for half the week, but space can be a problem. When he is on board, she sleeps on a settee bed and gives him the bedroom.

"It is still a lot cheaper than living in a house, I run on solar power, so I don't have any electricity bills. I spend less than 10 a month on gas."

As well as fuel, other expenses include a British Waterways licence and council tax. As she is part of a boat club, mooring costs just 600 a year.

When she first moved onto the boat, she says she had to camp in a virtually empty shell. The boat had been stripped out for refurbishment and she had to install a bedroom, a bathroom, a galley kitchen and a wood-burning stove.

As we speak, a friend is at work painting her boat bright red and a butterfly flutters through the pot plants on the deck.

Dawn, a part-time literacy teacher from Halifax hopes to sell up to buy a two-berth boat. She says keeping a boat is hard work and can be uncomfortable.

"It is annoying when the holiday boaters go really fast. Everything starts to rock and the crockery goes flying off the shelves."

Late summer brings swarms of midges and winters can be damp and cold, but there are compensations.

"We often see herons and kingfishers and every year we see a flock of Canadian Geese; until recently there was a mink living nearby. But one of the best things about being on a boat is lying in bed and watching the moon's reflection on the water."

YP MAG 24/12/10