2025 has been been a dramatic year living afloat on the inland waterways. It started on New Year’s Day with a large breach of the Bridgewater canal at Little Bollington in Cheshire, a breach which is still being repaired.
It ends with a dramatic breach on the Llangollen Canal near Whitchurch.
Luckily neither of these led to injuries although the most recent has damaged boats and left some boaters homeless. It has also seen the significant raising of funds to support them by boaters and others, hire boating companies rapidly stepped in and offered temporary floating homes, other people came forward with clothes, Christmas gifts and support.
Crises such as these bring out the best in people, and in the floating community we know just how strong that supportive, helping, positive spirit is. We haven’t been hit by breaches this year but our thoughts go out to all who have.
Two major canal breaches this year, along with some other less severe ones, makes it highly likely that these issues will be something we all need to navigate or at least anticipate over the coming months and years.
This year we have faced unprecedented flooding that led to an emergency evacuation around us – we survived better than those around, staying safe and checking, loosening ropes every few hours as the waters rose. We also had to contend with drought leading to low water levels – just as discombobulating to be honest, albeit drier underfoot.
It has led us to think differently about our year ahead, as continuous cruisers we need to keep moving to stay within the terms of our licence. This year though, we have found ourselves not moving as much because of the conditions brought about by excessive water and crippling drought.
We experienced flooding at the start of the year and now at the end of the year has resulted in river levels being too high to safely navigate. We are ending 2025 as we began 2026, back on the River Soar in flood, so we are once again unable to move. We also had several months when we were unable to move in the summer because locks were locked to stop navigation due to a lack of water. We joined queues for locks about to open and experienced the anxiety of wondering if we would get through before they were closed again. We made it through 5 storms without incident – Eowyn (January), Florian (August), Amy (October), Claudia (November) and Bran in December.
Next year we are likely to experience the same issues of floods, storms and the network is likely to face more breaches because of conditions, so we shall manage what we can, pray the damage during those incidents we cannot manage is minimal, and ensure our insurance is up to date.
Whatever happens we anticipate an exciting and memorable 2026. We are back on the River Soar waiting for the arrival of our second grandson in a matter of a few weeks. Once he is safely here we shall be cruising for a while before returning to Leicestershire for the arrival of grandchild no. 3 at the end of May! Our daughters have very conveniently arranged things for us that this can be the year of babies!
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All this means we can be volunteering for CRT in areas and with teams we have got to know which will be a delight. This year took us (volunteering en route) from the River Soar along the Leicester Line, the Grand Union, down the Aylesbury Arm, onto the now closed (breached) Wendover Arm, then a lock outage sent us back along the GU to the Oxford canal, onto the River Thames, the Kennet and Avon to Bath, back along the Thames and tidal Thames to rejoin the GU at Brentford, and up onto the Leicester Line. For those who love stats (and I know there are many who do) that was 794 miles, through 598 locks (one of which – Grants Lock -we were towed through by CRT staff and volunteers due to lock damage).
Next year we anticipate low mileage again as we explore nearer to the family, heading into and around the Birmingham Canal Navigation. This year because of stoppages, detours and navigation issues we have met many delightful new people on and off boats, so we now look forward to halts and dramas with delighted anticipation.
This year we’ve had a gorgeous solid wood kitchen with ingenious storage and beautiful finishes – thanks Ben at Holm Oak Trading, and a new well deck – thanks Kev Kyte.
I think our mantra for 2026 has to be – expect and enjoy the unexpected, and always leave phones, shoes and a bank card within reach for handy grabbing in case we have to leave the boat in a hurry. We don’t have to worry about Boatdog being left behind anywhere – where I go she goes with alacrity!
Being on a boat does have its risks, but it has immense rewards that still outweigh the drawbacks of bricks and mortar for us so we shall keep cruising as and when we can. That’s our goal, oh and to at last get hot water on board that doesn’t come from boiling a kettle! It’s good to have dreams.
All that really matters is a happy and healthy year – and that is what we wish for all you wonderful people who have travelled with us via this blog. We look forward to travelling together for another eventful year.
Pickingupducks 