The people of the canals

Nicki Schiessel Harvey learned about the wonderful world of canals in her childhood.

She was born in South London, but her family is from New Zealand and during holidays her parents would always hire boats to explore the UK's hinterland by water.

It was a magical time.

"Every time we went on a boat, my little designer head wondered if we could do this or that. I wondered what it would be like to actually live on a boat," recalls Nicki, a 55-year-old senior lecturer at Birmingham City University.

Now she knows exactly what that life is all about. She has been living on boats for more than twenty years, has been involved in several canal restoration projects and as if that wasn't enough, she married John, "the boat next door."

The wedding was on board, of course, she says, laughing heartily. A convoy of 15 friendly boats, decorated for the occasion, set up on the water roundabout at Birmingham's Old Turn Junction and then had a big barbecue.

"There was me in my wedding dress checking the oil and water under my old boat engine," she says. "You just don't get that in a normal house."

For Nicky, it all started in the late 90s, when she was working in tourism and spent most of her life "living out of a suitcase and paying stupid London rents for a shared house."

She wanted her own space and, following perhaps her childhood memories, decided to buy a boat.

Aldana cost her £20,000 and took some work to get her into condition. But it remains her favourite, says Nicki, who today lives aboard Peckham Poppy, a typical 68-foot narrow boat moored in Hockley Port, in the outskirts of Birmingham.

Peckham Poppy is much bigger than it looks from the outside. It has a full kitchen, double bedroom, a living room with a comfortable armchair, a work desk and a bathroom with a bathtub.

The wooden floor and walls, the various potted plants, the fish tank in the corner where a small orange fish swims and, above all, the warmth of the coal cooker that a small fan spreads around make it extremely cosy.

What Nicki likes best, however, is something else.

The waters in Hockley Port extend in an F-shape from the Birmingham Canal Old Line and there are 30 other boats moored there. Many have bicycles, tables, chairs, neatly landscaped gardens and even the occasional shed alongside their moorings.

"It's like a small village, everybody will help everybody else," says Nicki.

It's all about the community

When John became seriously ill, they were forced to rent Beatrice, a disabled adapted boat that was in another city. The canals are not designed for travelling long distances in a short time.

You can't travel faster than 4 mph and you often have to open and close the big, heavy locks, which requires a lot of physical effort.

But the situation was urgent and all the neighbours organised themselves to sail the Beatrice in shifts. In just three days, they managed to reach their destination.

"The greatest thing about living on a boat is the community," says Nicki.

In Hockley Port there is a lady who is in her eighties and still standing firm on her houseboat. "She's got her sticks to hold on to and she still gets in and out. And you know there's no way she's moving off her boat," Nicki says.

"I think I will be like her."

Britain has around 5,000 miles of navigable canals and rivers, of which some 2,700 are connected to each other. Over 50,000 licensed boats operate on this huge inland network, licensed by the competent authority in each area:

• The charity Canal & River Trust (CRT), on most of the canals in England and Wales
• The Environment Agency (EA), on the River Thames, the River Medway, and the rivers in East Anglia
• The Broads Authority, in Norfolk and Suffolk
• The Scottish Canals, in Scotland

According to a survey carried out this year by the CRT, 23% of boat owners use them as a permanent home. In London, the percentage is much higher, at around 58%, according to 2016 data.

Cheaper, but it depends on where

All boats must pay a licence fee, whose price depends on their size. In the case of the Canal & River Trust, the cheapest cost around £500 per year.

There are two ways to live aboard: permanently moored or as a continuous cruiser.

The former involves renting a long-term mooring site whose prices vary depending on the location and the services included: in London they can cost over £12,000 a year while in other cities you can get a nice place for less than £2,000.

Most long-term mooring sites generally offer water and electricity hook-ups, but others also include parking, showers, toilets and even laundry facilities.

On the other hand, those who choose the exciting adventure of being continuous cruisers must abide by one rule: they cannot moor in the same place for more than 14 days in a row.

Songs in the middle of nowhere

"When I was a student, I was a continuous cruiser, which works very well for a student because every Friday afternoon you can go sailing," says Harry.

"Some of the best places I've moored have been half a mile from a small town, in the middle of nowhere. You just wake up and you hear the birds singing and you think: 'This is lovely'."

At 32 feet long, Multum in Parvo is rather more modest than Nicki's neighbouring Peckham Poppy, but it has what Harry needs to enjoy his "fairly basic lifestyle."

He only regrets that there is no room for a bigger bed. He estimates he spends about £3500 a year on licence, insurance, mooring, electricity, gas and coal.

Then he got a permanent job in Birmingham and found it too stressful to have to move all the time. That's how he became Hockley Port's youngest neighbour.

At 23, today he is also probably one of the youngest people in the UK to live alone on a houseboat.

"If you can't change a light bulb, you're going to have a hard time on a boat, because most of the things you have to do yourself”

"You have to take care of every element of your life. But even that I enjoy."

"Everyone on boats is very friendly. I know all my neighbours, and I got on really well with all of them but we also have respect for others privacy as well".

For the past 13 years they have been keeping a daily record of their adventures on the blog NBFReeSpirit.

Among their favourite memories are the trips down the Thames, Irene says: "When you're moored up and you've got the sunset and you've got the view across the river. To me, it's just the most magical part of all the cruising life".

Although they usually go on trips during the summer, this year they left in early October for a winter adventure. A few days ago the channel they were on froze over and they were stranded there for three nights, a situation that would have put anyone less experienced in trouble.

But Ian takes it easy.

"Winter? What's that?" he jokes. "We would recommend for people thinking about this wildlife to hire a boat in the summer and hire a boat in the winter, so they get to see both sides of it. Because we know a lot of people who've loved the canal system in summer, then bought their own boat and sold it within a month".

Irene adds: "This is the most fantastic life, but I guess it's not for everyone."