'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!
After the excitements of the Aire and Calder, the Selby Canal was peaceful and almost deserted. If we had been in the Midlands or South at this time of year (near Bank Holiday weekend), we would have been meeting boats all the time. Seemed like no-one else knew that this canal was here! There are lovely stone bridges along this stretch, though sadly most have ugly pipes next to them. Here's one that doesn't! We knew that our passage through Selby Lock onto the Ouse would be governed by the state of the tide, but we also had to wait for a spare part for our central heating boiler to arrive at Selby Post Office. It was due to arrive on the Saturday but, thanks to the Bank Holiday and some confusion in the Post Office (at the sending end this time!), it didn't get to us until the following Wednesday. No problem; Selby is a nice town, the Basin was quite quiet, plus the tide times were getting slightly later each day. This meant that we could leave at about 8.30 a.m. on the Thursday instead of 6.30 a.m. on the Monday – much more civilised! The plan was to join the River Ouse as the tide was coming in and ride it all the way up to Naburn Locks, the upper tidal limit. Our only experience of tidal water so far had been the run down the Thames from Teddington to Brentford last July, and that was downstream. Now we were riding upstream on the rising tide – a new experience, but not much different from going downstream on any river, except for the speed of travel relative to the land! We went from Selby Lock to Naburn Locks (14¾ miles) in 2½ hours, which means we travelled at just under the 6mph river speed limit! We spent a lazy rest of the day at Naburn; a pleasant quiet spot, not far from York, and an easy place to meet visitors – where they can park their car as well. And then on towards York, passing Bishopsthorpe Palace. We didn't see Dr. John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, but that is apparently where he is based. And so to York, where we are now. We arrived on Friday and will probably leave on Monday morning, after we have sampled the fellowship in one of York's many churches. A rare (but very welcome) thing happened on Friday evening: a local Christian saw the 'fish sign' and the Alpha and Omega on the side of Zindagi and started into conversation, inviting us to visit them at 'St. Mike's'. So that's the plan for this evening!
After the excitements of the Aire and Calder, the Selby Canal was peaceful and almost deserted. If we had been in the Midlands or South at this time of year (near Bank Holiday weekend), we would have been meeting boats all the time. Seemed like no-one else knew that this canal was here! There are lovely stone bridges along this stretch, though sadly most have ugly pipes next to them. Here's one that doesn't! We knew that our passage through Selby Lock onto the Ouse would be governed by the state of the tide, but we also had to wait for a spare part for our central heating boiler to arrive at Selby Post Office. 
It was due to arrive on the Saturday but, thanks to the Bank Holiday and some confusion in the Post Office (at the sending end this time!), it didn't get to us until the following Wednesday. No problem; Selby is a nice town, the Basin was quite quiet, plus the tide times were getting slightly later each day. This meant that we could leave at about 8.30 a.m. on the Thursday instead of 6.30 a.m. on the Monday – much more civilised! The plan was to join the River Ouse as the tide was coming in and ride it all the way up to Naburn Locks, the upper tidal limit. Our only experience of tidal water so far had been the run down the Thames from Teddington to
Brentford last July, and that was downstream. Now we were riding upstream on the rising tide – a new experience, but not much different from going downstream on any river, except for the speed of travel relative to the land! We went from Selby Lock to Naburn Locks (14¾ miles) in 2½ hours, which means we travelled at just under the 6mph river speed limit! We spent a lazy rest of the day at Naburn; a pleasant quiet spot, not far from York, and an easy place to meet visitors – where they can park their car as well. And then on towards York, 
passing Bishopsthorpe Palace. We didn't see Dr. John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, but that is apparently where he is based. And so to York, where we are now. We arrived on Friday and will probably leave on Monday morning, after we have sampled the fellowship in one of York's many churches. A rare (but very welcome) thing happened on Friday evening: a local Christian saw the 'fish sign' and the Alpha and Omega on the side of Zindagi and started into conversation, inviting us to visit them at 'St. Mike's'. So that's the plan for this evening!
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