“Everything you have in your house - I have on my boat" - one Leeds couple on life living on the canal

Eight years ago self employed builder, John Wilson and his wife, from west Leeds, decided to give up their comfortable bungalow in a quiet cul-de-sac and take to a life on the water.

Never in the same place for long, they casually cruise around the country’s waterways on their canal boat, and the destination depends upon where their fancy takes them.

It means that from the portholes of their barge - named ‘Freedom’ - they wake up to a different view every few days.

In day three of the Yorkshire Evening Post’s on Views of Leeds series, Emma Ryan finds out what staying at home means for this couple, as the nation follows strictly-imposed lockdown procedures following the outbreak of coronavirus.

Self-isolation

John and his wife had been on their way to Lancashire but the outbreak of coronavirus has meant they are sticking around in Leeds a little longer than planned and are moored at Woodlesford where they seemingly end up drifting back to.

Originally from the Bramley and Farsley areas of Leeds, John and his wife Sue moved near Blackpool for work when they were in their 30s but return to Woodlesford each year to visit family, and their enforced extended stay has given them opportunity to see a little more of it.

John said: “Woodlesford is a lovely spot to moor. We spend a lot of time here in winter - Castleford, Meltham Royd, Wakefield - but always seem to come back because it is a lovely spot.

“In summer, we move every three or four days but this virus has us stuck here.

“We are noticing things like blossom on the trees and Woodlesford Lock has an orchard but we have never seen it full of fruit because we are never here.

“If we come back on the same stretch you see houses going up. It might have been five years since we have been through and it was once fields.

“It is nice to come back and see familiar ground but part of owning a boat is to move it and you have got to have a bit of nomad in you to want to see different places.”

Roving Trader

John runs a wood carving business from his boat, making decorative signs and ornaments.

To do this, he has a roving traders licence that means the couple have to move around unlike boat cafes, for example, which can be static.

Last year, they sailed to London, Boston and Wales but while they are staying home, or stationary, they are taking the time to notice the seasons and wildlife changing around them.

“Things change every month on the canal”, John, 62, says.

“In summer we try to walk around and see what wildlife is around and you see things people don’t really see.

“Yesterday I was doing a bit of painting on the boat and a chap, who must have been in his 50s, asked if I had ever seen a Kingfisher as he had never seen one.

“It is when you live on a boat that you see all these things. Most people are just walking or cycling and they don’t have the time to look.

“We could be sat there five or six hours. I was fishing one day and a Kingfisher landed on my rod.”

Pace of Life

The pace of life living on a boat compared to a more conventional routine is what attracts the pair to living on the water - and a personal tragedy some years ago.

“When we had the swine flu outbreak, I lost my brother to it at 50,” John said.

“I decided if we don’t make the move now [to the boat permanently] and start to enjoy life, nobody knows what is around the corner.

“And that is more relevant now than it has ever been because this virus is killing people of all ages.”

Despite not having permanent neighbours and sailing away from family and friends, the couple have a more sociable lifestyle than they did in their three-bedroom detached bungalow in a cul-de-sac in Thornton-Cleveleys, near Blackpool.

“Because we trade, a lot of the time we talk to people, they want to see what I am doing but even before that, when people walk down the canal, they have a different mindset than walking around the centre of Leeds.

“I have people talking for an hour and I have never met them before in my life.

“Then I will pop to the shop in Woodlesford, for example, to get some milk and you will see the same person and they will walk past you and not even look at you.

“They get their head down and think about work or home or whatever but leisure time is around the canal.

“People seem to drop the pace of life and are more willing to say hello. That is one of the biggest aspects that I enjoy - that most people are in the same boat. In the bungalow, we hardly saw anybody, we enjoy this lifestyle so much better.”

Is it cold?

One of the questions that John and Sue get asked the most is: “do you get cold living on a boat?”

“Only when I let the fire go out”, he says.

Having to make sure he has enough bottled gas and coal, and should the canal freeze he has to break the ice to get water, he says they are the most challenging aspects but he says they are still not negatives - just part of boating life.

“I get asked ‘do I miss having a washing machine, how do you manage?’ I have a washing machine, we are not without. It is not a hundred years ago.

“Everything you have in your house - I have on my boat.”