Now followed by Barging On.
A disused barge bought in Holland, a cargo hold converted in Belgium and a cruising lifestyle discovered in France. The true story of how and why a British couple built their home and their dream on water.
Peter and Meg realise their dream of sailing the Mediterranean, then realise Meg wasn’t designed to be an ocean going sailor. Taking their yacht to England via inland France, they discover an alternative escape from noise, traffic and junk mail. A floating home, complete with brick fireplace and geraniums, becomes a maybe, one day, new dream.
They find Colibri too easily. Making the decision to buy this sixty-year-old, eighty-seven foot barge is much tougher, but that is only the beginning of tough. An antique toilet that swallows buttocks simply has to go, and persuading a cargo hold to become a three bed des res entails some tricky episodes.
An embarrassingly verbose parrot, a cat that wants to walk on water and a hose that can lift a man off the ground with a rampant ton of water are just a few of the ingredients in a complicated life. Then there is the question of ballast, and shifting several tons of concrete slabs, delivered in pouring rain the very day the cat puts Peter’s back out, was not part of Meg’s euphoric dream.
Through it all, France and her waterways beckon. For her forty-eighth birthday, Meg receives a rope, a ladder and freedom, and a half converted barge leaves Belgium and heads for France. The River Meuse in flood, Strasbourg by Easter, Dijon for Summer and a barge-crashing spotter on an impossible to negotiate canal bridge are all part of their travelling joys. Choosing where to moor their home for the night, dining beneath the stars and cycling down the towpath to find bread for breakfast and returning with sunflowers instead becomes a way of life.
After spending winter in beautiful Burgundy, Peter’s sabbatical year is over. But a litre of red Chateau Plastique consumed on a moonlit deck helps them to decide that it’s easier to ignore the white window envelope from the bank than the onset of spring and those other boaters happily planning summer cruising. That’s it, then. They’ll just have to keep sailing into the sunset, won’t they?
The sequel to this book, Barging On, is now available in the Kindle store and as a paperback.
A disused barge bought in Holland, a cargo hold converted in Belgium and a cruising lifestyle discovered in France. The true story of how and why a British couple built their home and their dream on water.
Peter and Meg realise their dream of sailing the Mediterranean, then realise Meg wasn’t designed to be an ocean going sailor. Taking their yacht to England via inland France, they discover an alternative escape from noise, traffic and junk mail. A floating home, complete with brick fireplace and geraniums, becomes a maybe, one day, new dream.
They find Colibri too easily. Making the decision to buy this sixty-year-old, eighty-seven foot barge is much tougher, but that is only the beginning of tough. An antique toilet that swallows buttocks simply has to go, and persuading a cargo hold to become a three bed des res entails some tricky episodes.
An embarrassingly verbose parrot, a cat that wants to walk on water and a hose that can lift a man off the ground with a rampant ton of water are just a few of the ingredients in a complicated life. Then there is the question of ballast, and shifting several tons of concrete slabs, delivered in pouring rain the very day the cat puts Peter’s back out, was not part of Meg’s euphoric dream.
Through it all, France and her waterways beckon. For her forty-eighth birthday, Meg receives a rope, a ladder and freedom, and a half converted barge leaves Belgium and heads for France. The River Meuse in flood, Strasbourg by Easter, Dijon for Summer and a barge-crashing spotter on an impossible to negotiate canal bridge are all part of their travelling joys. Choosing where to moor their home for the night, dining beneath the stars and cycling down the towpath to find bread for breakfast and returning with sunflowers instead becomes a way of life.
After spending winter in beautiful Burgundy, Peter’s sabbatical year is over. But a litre of red Chateau Plastique consumed on a moonlit deck helps them to decide that it’s easier to ignore the white window envelope from the bank than the onset of spring and those other boaters happily planning summer cruising. That’s it, then. They’ll just have to keep sailing into the sunset, won’t they?
The sequel to this book, Barging On, is now available in the Kindle store and as a paperback.
