or should I say ahoy! ahoy! Either way, just wanted to welcome you to my (our)- mostly my blog :)
Let me start from the beginning which brings us back to why we are here in the first place. Rob and I met while travelling in South Africa a few years back. Me being from the good ol' US of A and Rob being from the small island with a big presence, England. We fell in love, had some wicked adventures together then settled down and got married. Now here we are living in a beautiful corner of the world, Leicestershire UK. Our meagre funds took a beaten from all the travel we had done, trips back and forth to the US and the wedding itself, that when it came down to buying a house, we didn't have much choice in location or condition. We bought an ex-council town house in a not so nice part of town, but with a lot of hard work and tough elbow grease, we soon made it into a lovely home.Before we even moved to England, Rob showed me my first pictures of the beautiful canal systems and narrowboats. Its fair to say I fell in love instantly before even seeing their beauty in person. At the time, I was itching to get back on a boat again as it wasn't long before that I was working as a deckhand on a 65m luxury motor yacht in Canada. It was by far in the top 3 best experiences of my life, and I really wanted to be back there. Living on a narrowboat was the closest I could get and to be living on it with the man I loved - AMAZING! However, when it actually came time to come to the UK and really settle down, living on a narrowboat just wasn't on the cards. What we did do, was make a plan for the future, and a canal boat was item one.
Two years later, and we are finally in the position to make it happen! It all started when Rob saw an adorable cottage right by the canal on his afternoon run. He came home, got on the Internet and we had a viewing that evening. A cottage- with front and back views of the canal- get in! We were so excited this opportunity sprang upon us, we acted without hesitation. A few days later, a man was outside hammering down a for sale sign in our drive. Several weeks passed, and we still hadn't received an acceptable offer on our house, but the cottage remained for sale. The lull in movement gave us plenty of time to contemplate our decision. Was the cottage really what we wanted? sure.. we are 'near' the canal, but don't we want to be 'on' it. It was a lot of money for very little space, a tiny courtyard, and not a lot of storage. If we were going to sacrifice these things, why not just ...wait for it... get a canal boat! Then, the icing - another house came up for sale for the same price but with much much better spec; more room- plenty of storage, near the canal, and a lovely garden complete with green house and vegetable patch! We offered them there asking price- but they received a higher offer! This is unheard of in this market, who does that!? So back to the drawing board we went.
We had a cash buyer for our house, just waiting for us now to decide what we were going to do, so we knew we had to make our decision sooner rather than later. Our offer was excepted for the cottage, but we still hesitated. Yes, we lusted for this house at first, but lust fades and sometimes you realise when it does, your not so keen about what is really there. After a few very stressful days calculating our budgets, scrutinising our finances,our wants and our needs it brought us once again... to a canal boat. So what do we do now? well, it just so happened a property with a garden right on the canal- with its own mooring rights- came up for rent that day. Fate? So here's the new plan, and yes.. we have put a lot of thought into this decision and we are more than satisfied; for the summer, we rent the house with the garden on the canal so we can take our time to find the 'right' vessel, do our research, and make sure we are 100% ready for this move. All the while, enjoying the summer and all the glory living on a canal has to offer. Its a win win in our books.
"Bon Voyage! "- Amy
"Stay Classy" - Rob
SAIL ON!!!!!
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