'Zindagi' is a colourful word for 'life', originally from ancient Persia and now used in many languages across the north of the Indian subcontinent. We met in North India in the early 1970s and have made several visits back there to visit old friends and make new ones. 'NB' just stands for 'narrowboat'!
After nearly 6 years living on our narrowboat 'Zindagi', we returned to rural mid-Devon in January 2013 and, several years later, are still busy sorting out our bungalow and the 4 acres of land!
The bungalow is looking much better, but getting the land back to good condition again will take a LOT longer!
While we were away on the canals, it suffered from the terrible effects of being completely cultivated (more than we had ever done) and then being completely neglected, so that we came back to a rampant jungle of well-established weeds. The increasing demands of our Garden Tools business left us little time to really get stuck in to land reclamation but we passed the tools business on in February 2022 and so gave ourselves the opportunity to start pushing back the boundaries again! It will not be a quick process . . .
This blog started as a way of keeping friends and family in touch with our narrowboat travels, starting in 2007, but we understand that other visitors often find us, so WELCOME! If you would like to start reading at the beginning, here is a link to take you to the very first page.
Both of us take pictures on our simple Canon digital cameras - nothing very technical at all! We now have thousands of them, so selecting the ones to use can be difficult!
To see any of the photos enlarged, just click on it.
What's the Score?
In our travels from the 27th March 2007 to 5th November 2012, we went through 5205 locks to date and travelled an estimated 7122 miles.
The total for 2012 was 590 locks and 855 miles.
Plan? What Plan?
When we started out in 2007, we had a vague idea of the main places we wanted to go first, and then worked out where we might go after that. Our plans have been flexible, to say the least, and we like it that way!
In 2007, though we started up in Lancashire, we headed south and spent spent most of our time exploring some of the waterways in the south of the UK – but not all of them!
In 2008, we headed north and stayed there for most of the year, heading southwards in November to moor up in Blisworth Marina for the first time. After that, it became our usual winter 'home' until early 2013.
2009 found us fitting our cruising around Val's replacement knee joint operations in January and July. They were very successful! In the Spring, we went down the Nene to the River Great Ouse and the Cambridgeshire Fens. After the second op, and more recovery time in Blisworth, we set off for the Kennet and Avon Canal, via Braunston, the southern Oxford Canal, Oxford and the Thames.
An eventful time on the K & A, and a magnificent frosty journey back up the Thames from Reading to Oxford – and we entered 2010.
To start with, largely immobile in Aynho and Blisworth, but then we headed north-east via Leicester and Nottingham to the River Trent, from which we branched off wherever we could, down to Lincoln and Boston and back, then along the Chesterfield Canal and back before leaving the Trent on our way to Rotherham and Sheffield.
Then north and west over the Pennines by the Rochdale Canal, down to Manchester and then via the Macclesfield, Trent & Mersey and Staffs & Worcs Canals south to near Wolverhampton, via Birmingham and on down to the Severn at Worcester. Right down to Sharpness, then back up to Stourport, to head up the Staffs. & Worcs. Canal near to Wolverhampton again.
Blisworth again for the winter, then in the spring of 2011 we took a trip down the Grand Union to London, through and out the other side to the Lee and Stort – and slowly back! Then over to the Stratford Avon and up the Severn to visit the newly re-opened Droitwich Canals.
By boat to London for Jeremy and Laura's wedding in October 2011, then back to our 'second home' in Blisworth for the winter, enjoying a little more involvement with Christian folks there, too.
In 2012 we started by heading north again to see the Caldon Canal in the Spring, then changed our plans and decided to cross the Pennines again - up and down the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and then back over the Leeds & Liverpool to the Bridgewater. Our proposed visit to the 'Shroppie' and the Llangollen followed on after that – beautiful countryside on the way and once we were there.
Then onto the southern section of the 'Shroppie' and from there the Staffs. & Worcs. – we decided not to go down to Stourport but turned north again to Great Haywood, then south via the Trent & Mersey to the River Trent and then the the River Soar – up to Leicester.
From there, we dawdled back towards Blisworth for the winter again. The folks at the marina were expecting us on 5th November 2012, and we just managed to avoid being there early!
January 2013 saw us move back to the land in Lapford, and very little 'boat-related activity' until October 2014, when we moved Zindagi onto the 11-mile long Grand Western Canal near Tiverton in Devon. 3 years there gave us the opportunity to carry out some needed maintenance, but we did very little cruising!
The future? Well, as you can see, we moved Zindagi back onto the main national canal system in early October 2017. Just those couple of days gave us a fresh taste of enjoying life on board – almost like old times!
So, we hope to get out for some more trips, hopefully sometimes with friends, re-exploring some of our old haunts. Looks like there may be some interest from the younger members of the family, too. Lots of different routes to follow from Hatherton! Only about 3 hours drive to get there from Lapford – not too bad!
Pronounced . . .
Sometimes people ask how to pronounce 'Zindagi'. The emphasis is on the first syllable, the first 'i' is short, the last one is long and the 'g' is hard, so you might think of it as being spelt 'Zinderghee', with 'zinder' to rhyme with 'cinder'. Hope that helps!
Boating on rivers is different from boating on canals – it's the flow that makes the difference. The bigger the flow, the greater the difference! So we have been on some rivers which have been very little different from canals, just with rather more water going over the weirs. Even these relatively placid rivers can change when there is a lot of rain, but happily in we avoided the areas which were badly affected in July 2007. All we experienced was 5 days' delay on the Thames when the water rose at the end of May. But now, having crossed the Pennines on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and then joined the Huddersfield Broad Canal, we joined the Calder and Hebble Navigation and found ourselves on a great big river – the River Calder! Our map book told us that we needed to keep our eyes open for turnings off the river which are the flood gates. These took us to 'canal' sections which took us down through locks (rather than over the weirs on the main river!). A different style of boating, but very enjoyable in its way. Clear contrasts between river and canal, and plenty of evidence of recent floods in the river sections – all sorts of debris quite high in the trees where the flood water left it! Another difference, too, as some of the locks on the Calder & Hebble have strange equipment. Instead of the 'paddles' (sluices) being operated by turning a windlass, these work by using a wooden handle (a so-called 'handspike') in a fairly crude ratcheted wheel arrangement. It works, and that's the main thing! Meanwhile, we were seeing parts of Yorkshire which we had never seen before; more rural, peaceful waterside scenes than we had expected, alongside graphic reminders of the force of the river in the recent floods! Yes, river boating is different – you are reminded quite often that the river is a more independent thing with a life of its own, not like the much more docile canals! At Wakefield, the Calder & Hebble turns into the Aire & Calder Navigation, and we knew that we were soon to meet larger boats. Before we met them, the size of the locks was a bit of a hint – here are three narrowboats (Zindagi at the back) with lots of room to spare in an Aire & Calder lock. Then we reached Castleford Junction, where the River Calder joins the Aire flowing down from Leeds. We nipped into the flood lock after crossing the stronger current of the Aire, and then found out that the locks downstream from Castleford were 'on red', meaning that there was too much water coming down the Aire for us to be able to proceed in safety. So, a couple of days waiting in a 'canal' section there while the levels went down, and without much rain to bring them up again. The extra water in the river was no deterrent to the 'big boys', though, and we started to see them coming past us – mainly 500 tonne sand barges, either fully laden and low in the water like this one or empty and riding high, but being very considerate to us 'little uns' and keeping their speed (and wash) reasonably low. After such a gentle introduction, the prospect of meeting one of these boats on the water was not quite so daunting. Just as well, as we soon met one coming the other way and needing all the available space under a bridge. A hasty stop and pull in to the side, and then waves of thanks to each other as we passed. Very shortly after that, we branched off the main line of the Navigation (which takes the big boats to Goole) and followed the sinuous route of the River Aire as far as West Haddlesey, where we branched off again into the Selby Canal – a real canal this time, linking the Aire to the River Ouse.
Boating on rivers is different from boating on canals – it's the flow that makes the difference. The bigger the flow, the greater the difference! So we have been on some rivers which have been very little different from canals, just with rather more water going over the weirs. Even these relatively placid rivers can change when there is a lot of rain, but happily in we avoided the areas which were badly affected in July 2007. All we experienced was 5 days' delay on the Thames when the water rose at the end of May. 
But now, having crossed the Pennines on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and then joined the Huddersfield Broad Canal, we joined the Calder and Hebble Navigation and found ourselves on a great big river – the River Calder! Our map book told us that we needed to keep our eyes open for turnings off the river which are the flood gates. These took us to 'canal' sections which took us down through locks (rather than over the weirs on the main river!). A different style of boating, but very enjoyable in its way. Clear contrasts between river and canal, and plenty of evidence of recent floods in the river sections – all sorts of debris quite high in the trees where the flood water left it! Another difference, too, as some of the locks on the Calder & Hebble have strange equipment. Instead of the 'paddles' (sluices) being operated by turning a windlass, these work by using a wooden handle (a so-called 'handspike') in a fairly crude ratcheted wheel arrangement. It works, and that's the main thing! 
Meanwhile, we were seeing parts of Yorkshire which we had never seen before; more rural, peaceful waterside scenes than we had expected, alongside graphic reminders of the force of the river in the recent floods! Yes, river boating is different – you are reminded quite often that the river is a more independent thing with a life of its own, not like the much more docile canals! 
At Wakefield, the Calder & Hebble turns into the Aire & Calder Navigation, and we knew that we were soon to meet larger boats. Before we met them, the size of the locks was a bit of a hint – here are three narrowboats (Zindagi at the back) with lots of room to spare 
in an Aire & Calder lock. Then we reached Castleford Junction, where the River Calder joins the Aire flowing down from Leeds. We nipped into the flood lock after crossing the stronger current of the Aire, and then found out that the locks downstream from Castleford were 'on red', meaning that there was too much water coming down the Aire for us to be able to proceed in safety. So, a couple of days waiting in a 'canal' section there while the levels went down, and without much rain to bring them up again. The extra water in the river was no deterrent to the 'big boys', though, 
and we started to see them coming past us – mainly 500 tonne sand barges, either fully laden and low in the water like this one or empty and riding high, but being very considerate to us 'little uns' and keeping their speed (and wash) reasonably low. After such a gentle introduction, the prospect of meeting one of these boats on the water was not quite so daunting. Just as well, as we soon met one coming the other way and needing all the available space under a bridge. 
A hasty stop and pull in to the side, and then waves of thanks to each other as we passed. Very shortly after that, we branched off the main line of the Navigation (which takes the big boats to Goole) and followed the sinuous route of the River Aire as far as West Haddlesey, where we branched off again into the Selby Canal – a real canal this time, linking the Aire to the River Ouse.
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