3 Days of Floating Van Life (England to Wales by Narrowboat)

this 55-foot narrowboat is going to be our home for the next four days as we travel 22 miles through the UK's most beautiful Canal from England to Wells don't run into that side too oh my God the only issue is as you can see by the fact that we're running into a tree right here is we've never driven a boat this long before or both it steers like this do that along the way we'll have to make our way underneath countless tight Bridges through two dark tunnels and over two aqueducts one of which being the tallest in the entire world the metal that is holding us on here is only an inch thick I assume this is going to be a little bit like van life on the water and it should be a lot of fun but there's also a lot of things that could go wrong like right now we're about to run into a boat or just scrape the whole side I'm coming okay we've been following along and you're wondering how we got from Nicaragua to the middle of the UK you should head over to daily Drops YouTube channel to watch our full review of JetBlue mint class that brought us here to London from London we took a train to crew then another train to whim and finally a taxi to the small town of ellsmere where we'll be beginning our journey time for a driving lesson get back on the boat quick don't leave us so long so straight away we're still that way so you want the back to go that way to counter this actually feels surprisingly fast to me yeah some people you see that fear in their eyes I've got my sunglasses on you can't see it what's the name of the in town how do you pronounce it where we're going like with the seats I know we want to take some momentum out so we'll give it some reverse Center Line me when you can't feel safely to come across okay you got it okay yeah now wrap it around your waist and just put your body weight into it hurry careful come on it sounds like you're calling it jerk thank you so much for everything bye wish us luck what in the world have we gotten ourselves into I already forgot to ask can we drink the water out of the sink all right go go catch him foreign Nate first told me that we were doing this I really wasn't that nervous because obviously anybody's allowed to take these boats out you can only go four miles per hour I don't know I just felt like what could go wrong turns out a lot I thought we would be even more relaxed once we got here and got the lessons and everything but it would be one thing if it was just a bunch of tourists out here playing bumper cars in that case I don't think anybody would actually care but there are a lot of people that live here on the canals I actually read somewhere that 9 000 people live full-time on boats in the UK you just don't want to go down the canal bumping into people's homes all you have to do is top it's toxic and then nobody knows that we're foreigners except for maybe the big sign on the boat that says it's a hire I really like speaking in a British accent I'm going to try not to overdo it [Music] yeah yeah we're doing it we're on our own one mile per hour Mark said he would take rain over wind any day what is the worst possible thing that can happen all right we're about to go into our first Bridge oh I don't like this at all am I gonna run into it you're doing great it's so tight I've been the captain for five minutes and this is what I'm having to go through what in the world am I supposed to do I'm pushing off I'm pushing off I'm definitely hitting the side okay that didn't go quite as smooth as I wanted it to we did it we made it through the bridge I got a little overconfident back there I probably shouldn't have tried to pick up the camera it is kind of tricky because the boat goes the opposite way of which you push the tiller so I just have to constantly remind myself opposite opposite look how beautiful hey we're going towards that wall thank you look at those little baby duckies oh we scared of them it was not making that sound earlier ah nothing like a nice peaceful boat ride down the canal Now by this point you may be wondering why these canals exist this in the first place so let me tell you Way Back in the 1700s these canals were built to transport Goods throughout Britain because it was much faster and cheaper than by land which was a pretty big deal during the Industrial Revolution but these first Canal boats didn't have Motors instead they were towed by horses and you can actually still see the horse's Towpath along the canals today around 1840 the much more efficient trains started taking over so the canals were no longer needed and were eventually abandoned so sad but thankfully nearly half of the original canals have been restored so people like us can come enjoy them today so not only am I driving between parked boats and through narrow Bridges but there's oncoming traffic I trust Nate with my life it's gonna be fine I mean I don't think anything bad's gonna happen to us so I think bad things might happen to someone else's boat no way this is like a pub right on the water as usual I plan to give you a full tour of our new home but we need to get a few hours of driving in before it gets dark outside we got a wee bit of a late start so we'll show you around tonight or maybe tomorrow once we've lived in it for a little while all right looks like we have another tight squeeze coming up I'm definitely gonna hit this time oh I haven't hit yet no jinx it you're good mate that's the first bridge that I've gone under where I haven't hit the side you did it did it I'm absolutely loving this day the sun is shining the birds are chirping there are baby ducklings left and right and when there aren't ducklings there are sheep or cows or super adorable locals getting in their boat that they live in the views are just stunning I don't know how it gets any better than this I'm just so happy right now it feels like you're just driving through a painting [Music] all right Bridge number five if I hit it this time I'm blaming it on the Wind so far so good it took me three that was number five I know but I hit the first three and I made it through the second two I'm definitely hitting this one whoops sorry all right three for three fifty percent no problem you're so good it really is low stakes I mean oh I think that guy just ran into the side and it was no big deal there's kind of these metal bumpers on either side of the canal and I think the boats are kind of made to run into things I'm sure the rental company does not want me saying that no way look at these cows I love them are you ready for this what no no Nate you're doing we're about to run into the side no I'm not doing it I want today to go swimming come on come on come on let's just have one day with no drama no you gotta Warhead drive this is romantic you put your hand under mine yeah I'll guide it around great pick them already that's great I'm joking I'm joking wow this is so nice I need a snack Nate don't leave me you better better come back here actually getting whoa look at the swans whoa It's Gonna like attack me it is it's swimming beside the boat they're so fast they I can't get distracted by animals goodbye swans sorry we don't have any food so you gotta keep your hand on it so you get a film for it please you seriously got the hang of this in like two seconds thanks I feel like but for what you can't just say watch out I can't see anything surgery now Nate come back please I'm running into the side I'm just gonna spot this bridge up here for you no no they no I'm not doing a bridge you gotta have more confidence in yourself please come back okay is about to do her first Bridge kind of hard to see oh and there's a boat right beside it this is exciting put your hand on this we're gonna have to go over here close to this boat to be able to shoot straight through the bridge push towards me Center bring it back to Center that was good I hit my first three I'm sorry I got confused throttle it throttle it we have control problem you got it that's a new scratch the sauce is this home yeah grab the camera grab the camera it actually did hit me oh the Bros on my back I did it nice work you look so dreamy yeah [Music] yeah or somebody's gonna tell me what an amazing spot we are surrounded on both sides by fields of sheep they're pretty loud we may regret this but what else do you have the opportunity to sleep on a boat next to sheep [Music] I think this might be one of the coolest Parts about narrow boating down the canals you have complete freedom on where you camp so nowhere is off limits you can just pull over and Camp wherever you want for the night so we've been on this narrow boat for a grand total of six hours and I'm already trying to decide at what point in my life does it make sense to spend a year living on a narrow boat so that I can just explore all the canals in the UK it's like the perfect mix wow I'm so glad more of that didn't spill I just knocked the whole thing of hummus off with my elbow I'm so cold laughs I'll be here we finally got the heater working we pulled the hole turn it off turn it back on again you know just flip the switch a few times today was really just like a training day tomorrow is when it gets really exciting we're starting the morning with two locks then we have two tunnels and two aqueducts hopefully our 12 hours of training has prepared us for this it's been 12 hours well I'm counting sleep 12 hours of being on the boat [Laughter] not as hard as you just left my butt it is not soft at all do you think the Sheep are sleeping [Music] this is fun I think I might miss bad life yeah real quick we want to say a big thank you to Sofi for sponsoring this video if you don't already know Sofi is an all-in-one finance app that helps you Bank borrow and invest all from one place it won't come as a surprise to most of you to hear that we manage a lot of credit cards to make sure we're maximizing our travel rewards so that we can fly in seats like this so one of our favorite features is their credit score monitoring which won't hurt your credit score and it allows you to earn reward points every time your credit score goes up not only that but new users get ten dollars in reward points just for signing up monitoring your credit score is a responsible thing to do anyway so you might as well get rewarded for we also love Sofi insights which allows you to link all of your accounts even non-sofi accounts and then the app compiles everything into a one-page easy to understand snapshot that way we have a bird's eye view of our cash Investments what categories we're spending on monthly savings upcoming reoccurring expenses and credit score all in one mobile dashboard and the best part is there is no added cost but Sofi is taking it up a notch and they are giving away ten thousand dollars to enter all you have to do is scan the QR code on the screen or click the link in the description and sign up for Sofi insights or credit score monitoring [Music] foreign good morning before we get going I want to show you around our floating home in case you're new around here we lived in a van for two years during the pandemic and it turns out there are a ton of similarities between van life and narrowboat life so everything feels very familiar and we've settled in surprisingly quickly minus the flooding and driving part we're going to start in the front and make our way all the way to the back hi that is okay yeah [Laughter] let's go inside because it's freezing first of all I want to take a minute to appreciate how far 55 feet is this is a crazy amount of space as usual we booked this boat at the very last minute they make four person boats but the only one they had available was this six person boat hence the links this is our dining room table but it also converts into a bed just like our van here is one of the many haters in the vote which took us a while to figure out last night but let's just say we had to get up and turn it off because it was so hot in here in the middle of the night so there are one two three heaters lining the side of the boat and then you have one in each bathroom so every single room in this boat is Toasty here we have our cute little kitchen we have a gas stove just like in the van but this one also has an oven that is an upgrade lots of storage which I love they provided a means of coffee which I also appreciate my pinky toe this is the trash can and this might be the biggest difference between narrowboat life and Van life we would never in a million years have glass in our van especially just out on a shelf like this so this really just shows you how calm and easy the waters are those would all be broken in a matter of minutes if we were driving the van that was a doozy this is our like Pantry area with lots of snacks we actually have two bathrooms this is bathroom number one toilet sink ventilation window and yeah that's about it having separate bathrooms has been so fun especially in the van usually we're brushing each other's resting each other's teeth usually the man we're fighting for the sink to like brush our teeth at night I'm trying to wash my face and it's a whole thing but this has been luxury here's the bed we chose to sleep in last night for a couple of reasons one there's only a window on one side so it's the darkest part of the whole boat just close these windows and boom plus we have USBS right here and here we have bathroom number two the door is a little sticky there we go a little tight it's tight but compared to what we're used to it's so big the toilet is in the shower we have a shower in my bathroom this is a marine toilet kind of smells like pee all the time but that's every marine toilet I've ever experienced and here we have bed number three technically if you had two more people this is where they would sleep but it has become what we call our stuff bed if we ever walk into a hotel room that has two beds we're always like stuffed bed there's a window on either side of this one which would have been nice this morning because you could have woken up to the Sheep over there but I could hear them from our bed right they all go and that's it for the inside we've made it to the back of the boat this kind of reminds me of a sailboat kind of hard to figure out but oh two locks we were nice and safe last night oh wait I forgot there's a hair dryer I would never have this in our van it would just be instantly done if you do want to turn the inverter on you just grab the red key flip that and now the inverter's on I'm running our battery out oh that sound is so triggering [Music] ah you told me that was that one this is a Stern some would say this is where Nate's been captaining the boat apparently you can walk up here if you want to this pole here is like if we get stuck we can push ourselves out not sure what the plank is for I guess if we're too far away from the side and that pretty much does it for the tour now we need to get going because it's almost 11 o'clock we're both still a bit jet lagged and slept in a little too long this morning we have a lot of exciting ground to cover well I would say last night was a success if for no other reason then we stayed tight on all right day two if this is not the most exciting one then something's gone horribly wrong on day three like we got everything so yesterday all day I was so confused at why it got so narrow underneath the bridges I was like this is frustrating because it's already challenging enough and then for some reason it gets super narrow as you're going underneath the bridge and then I realize it's because of the tow path so you can see the old tow path that runs along the side of the canal the horses couldn't just walk through the bridge so they had to make the Towpath go underneath the bridge and that's why I get so skinny I thought they were just trying to make it more challenging speaking of bridges you're crushing this one I did it I got through is that your first yeah no hit Bridge yeah what a start to the day yeah wait do I go this way see I start freaking out when I'm close don't worry about us all right I was celebrating too soon I'm sorry I think we're fine I think we're fine when it's a situation that really matters I get really nervous I forget everything all right we're coming up to our first lock this is so trippy walking backwards where'd the page go so I'm just setting some expectations I've watched a YouTube video on how to open a lock and we have these drawings so that's what we're going off of okay she didn't know it's basically like an elevator for boats I thought somebody would be here to help us do it but it's like no one is here we just have to figure out how to do it our stuff all right we're going in it's so skinny are we even gonna fit in here are we in all right we're in the line okay so Kara's in the lock we have to fill it up so the first thing I'm gonna do is close these doors so much easier to move than I expect it those doors are huge and you can literally move them with the Press of a finger look very close I see the gap the camera fell this is not helpful it is not close there's added stress because I'm pretty sure there's a boat on the other side waiting and where are those tourists right now that don't know what they're doing we thought we did okay so Cara's not convinced that the back door is closed but I think I've done everything I can do I assume they don't just get perfectly water tight and there's just more water rushing in from the front than there is the back so that It ultimately it fills up so I guess I'm just going to open these front paddles and hope for the best the paddle is like the thing that's under the water that controls water coming in and out of the canal gosh I feel like I'm gonna poop my pants so there is quite a bit of water coming out this backside okay so the water is equalized between the canal and this next stretch of water that we're going to be driving through and I believe that means we can open this door oh yeah it's working okay you should be good okay I'm going okay that was stressful not a perfect first try but we did it we did it we made it out nice work I did make one massive mistake the first cranking that I did that actually opened up the paddles on the back door so as we were filling it from the front all the water was also just spilling out the back which was just creating white water inside of the canal and Care was trying to keep the boat still and then I realized what I had done so I broke the camera for no reason [Music] otherwise it's like one moment everything is reasonably calm and the next moment it's just a disaster oh you're doing it again to the other side down the canal like this should we come through all right he's waving us on yeah I think we're going but I hate that I have an audience at least I know what I'm doing this time I think they're gonna do it for us what do you think please yes hello thank you wow you gonna help me out yeah great pressure up we go this one's going much more twizzly foreign [Music] [Music] that is the most majestic course I've ever seen I love how everyone just makes their boat their own this one has a unicorn on it and a mannequin on top that's kind of weird it's kind of fun getting to drive past and just look at everyone's home I always try to peek in the window a little bit to see what's going on but then every once in a while there's someone looking out at you and it's really awkward I bought this in Japan but in a bag's habit matcha is way better oops it feels so weird making something in the kitchen while we're moving I would never do this in a van especially with hot liquids it would be way too dangerous but it's just so easy I could just come back here and make a matcha or coffee whenever I wanted it would be dangerous perfect thank you this is the life that is one thing that you don't see in the US and I love seeing here in the UK are fields that are separated by hedges in the U.S it's all fences and here there's actual rows of bushes separating the different fields and I really love that I knew we weren't going fast but we just got passed by a lady pushing a stroller so that really puts in perspective how slow we're moving apparently this bridge is a world heritage site you scrape the world heritage site oh you dodged it what's over this side ah so this is how fast we go I'm currently pulling ahead it honestly feels faster when you're on the boat can he make the jump he's back proposed Mr duck [Music] we have a grand total of 22 miles to cover over the course of three days which means that we have plenty of time to stop we just saw a sign for a pub we're gonna see if we can go on a little walk and find it first Cask L experience oh we gotta go somewhere else no drugs does that mean cheers I think it stinks actually honestly the woman at the bar said tall two or three times and if it weren't for Craig and ain't crazy like what are you saying what is happening what is happening guys you are crazy I need to see if we're in Wales or England right now we are literally On the Border we're on it we're right on top of it but we're still in England this Pub is actually really confusing I'm noticing now because you've got the British flags hanging up here and then I'm pretty sure the dragon's Welsh also in terms of building suspense for what's coming next it doesn't get much better than this we're literally sitting here with our drinks looking at the first aqueduct that we're about to go over so apparently a cask L is like the traditional way that beer was brewed and stored so there's no CO2 at it for like extra bubbles it just ferments in the barrel and then they don't refrigerate it so it's like a flat room temperature beer just imagine if you poured a beer and then you forgot about it for a few hours and then you came back to drink it you've had a CasCal I'm sure that's gonna be somebody very unhappy [Music] success the boat is still here and the door opens what are the chances the geese will eat out of my hand oh my gosh I don't want it just hits Demi okay time it's time I'm gonna drive us over the aqueduct watch out everybody oh this is amazing man so from what I understand an aqueduct is basically a bridge that boats can go over and a Viaduct is a bridge that cars go over we're on the aqueduct obviously the viaduct is the bigger one right next to us this is awesome so as soon as you get over the aqueduct it sends you straight into a tunnel definitely the most exciting 30 minutes of the trip so far or very crooked [Music] the walls whoa and we don't get our deposit back it's because of this tunnel Echo let me tell you a ghost story about the girl and the boy who went into the kitchen well it looks like we're going into another dimension not my best part foreign a little sad we've officially completed both tunnels both locks and we have one Aqueduct left thank you so much yes well that's a great knot well this is our unexpected home for the night cheers cheers love one we were just on our merry way down this canal and we passed all these boats that were already parked for the night we're like wow this is really popular spot wonder what we'll keep going because the biggest no tallest tallest aqueduct in the world this is her first glass of wine in the world is less than 30 minutes away but we wanted to save it for first thing tomorrow and all of a sudden we hear Kate and era which we get a lot and I love I met a fantastic couple who's been living on their boat full time for 18 months but they told us that there were no more places to park for the night before you get to the aqueduct they helped us reverse the boat back and then he helped us take it down and and I just loved listening to them talk sorry I only have one so for all time's sake I'm making peanut butter Ramen for dinner I won't bore you with exactly how to make it since I made this on our Channel a million times but in case you've missed it I'll link it below cheers Bon Appetit can you see the Steam on this oh yeah this is the best dish on the planet tastes like the van it really does oh my gosh the Ducks are going over there they just laying on our roof they've heard about Kara's famous they're not shy at all they're literally just coming and looking down honest eating our peanut butter Robin [Music] this did not happen last night when I made salads okay chest puffing up okay we should probably end it here morning how are you good how are you good morning surprisingly easy to pull out the ground [Music] I have very mixed emotions about today very sad that it's our last day I can't believe it's already over but I am super excited to go over the aqueduct I did a little more research last night and learned that not only is it the world's tallest but it's also the longest in the UK I forgot we still have to go through a drawbridge all right so Cara's gonna hold the boat in place while I crank the drawbridge open times if you want yeah I've been knocking down here future okay you're welcome it's hard work yeah well let me help what's your name Dave thank you Dave oh really we had two super nice guys who cranked the whole drawbridge for me didn't even get to try myself now I've got a lot of pressure to drive smoothly thank you I love them all right to the aqueducts all right I think the aqueduct is just going to be nice and easy really fun beautiful scenery but as soon as we get past it there's a 90 degree turn where we've heard that a bunch of people gather to watch people who have rental boats try to make this turn because apparently it's really hard sorry on here wow this is much scarier than the other ones it's so narrow and one side just drops straight off like there is nothing like my feet are old we are so hot when I'm standing here I can't see the edge and it feels like we're flying oh man I'm really nervous right now I don't like it wow this is so beautiful just driving a boat over a bridge no big deal oh I just touched the side don't run into that side duel oh my gosh we're pretty much just in the middle of a big water drop hi want a ride just let me give you a little perspective of what our view looks like so it's actually not even that thick like if you the metal that is holding us on here is only an inch thick also if I fall right now there's no rails I feel like I should have a seat belt on right now like this is not safe these views I mean the views the whole time have been stunning but this is another level we are directly over the river right now this is the highest point in the aqueduct the wells Countryside so good and England oh we're getting a bit closer that's right we're coming up on the 90 degree turn you're on your own oh there are definitely more people here watching that I want there to be up to date look you have any tips for the turn I'll take that as a no okay well the aqueduct didn't collapse so that was a win how's it going you have any tips for the turn have you ever done this before I'm really gonna go for it hard here I kind of feel like I'm nailing it so far so good oh they're cheering for us I think I messed up I messed up I was on course right what am I doing I'm embarrassed for myself this is kind of working hey there's a boat coming oh no I was all lined up perfectly nice work everyone looked like we knew what we were doing no no we're not driving two days ago yeah the coast is clear no way first try well kind of bouncing off the sides but I'm getting through I'm gonna say that actually went quite a bit better than expected do that oh shoot wrong way falling apart after completing our last challenge we had a nice leisurely last few hours of the trip and we did our best to soak up every second of it and then it was happily ever after just kidding Carol was fell in the water and I got pooped on Baggers I can smell it actually I've got to get this shirt off [Music] in case you've never seen one before is a radio a chair this thing is called a book and it has slightly stronger pages on the outside and then flimsy pages on the inside it is crazy that two people could be speaking English and it'd be hard to understand probably thought that I was the question and I would know it was English but I wouldn't exactly know what she was saying and I have to process for a second and they'll be like ah she asked if I wanted ice and she was like you're off and I was like yes so I'm gonna be on YouTube as long as you're okay with that absolutely Absolutely I'll take some of the royalties man that was hot ow ow that really hurt [Music]

Channel: Kara and Nate

Views: 1,692,173

Keywords: uk canal, living on a narrowboat, narrow boat, canal boat, buying a narrowboat, downie live, great canal journeys, canal boat diaries, travels by boat, narrow boats, boat life, narrow boats living on canals, narrow boat tour, narrowboat life, narrow boats england, narrow boats uk canals, canals, uk canals, kara and nate, travel, travel vlog, kara and nate england, kara and nate wales, wales, england, what to do in the uk, how to travel the uk, narrowboat review, vlog

Id: KQPgaXmDieI

Length: 35min 45sec (2145 seconds)

Published: Sat May 27 2023