UK narrowboaters whistful for the USA

[Sheppardess15]

Hope you don’t mind us keeping up with your Great American Adventures. We live the nomad life on the canals and waterways in England and Wales. Hoping to spend time on the road too, in our Autosleeper Amethyst. Can’t get to the Western Isles of Scotland or Norway in a narrowboat ! If anyone enjoys snailmail- I’d love an American pen pal! Or SEVERAL!

 

[Gr8ful]

Welcome to the forum & very nice pics!

 

[WanderingRose]

Oh, hi there, and welcome!!!

How fun, kindred spirits from across the pond.

I’m widowed almost 10 years, getting ready to head south in an older ClassB, looking to be gone about 2 months…about a half-timer, on a good year.

One of my late husbands and my dreams was to ship our ClassB to Europe and spend some time “caravanning” there, in the UK and maybe Ireland.

Didn’t happen, and won’t in this life, but maybe the next.

We’re most all wanderers at heart here, is the truth.

 

[Sheppardess15]

Oh, hi there, and welcome!!!

How fun, kindred spirits from across the pond.

I’m widowed almost 10 years, getting ready to head south in an older ClassB, looking to be gone about 2 months…about a half-timer, on a good year.

One of my late husbands and my dreams was to ship our ClassB to Europe and spend some time “caravanning” there, in the UK and maybe Ireland.

Didn’t happen, and won’t in this life, but maybe the next.

We’re most all wanderers at heart here, is the truth.

Great to here from you! I will share with you the UK/EUROPE experiences if you’ll share your USA. We were looking forward to living the everyday-America-life. Countrylife for us. Farms, ranches, canyons, National parks. The only city I was really keen to see in real life was Sioux Falls, ND. I think the rock falls would be stunning, any time of year. Have you been there? What is your dream location on this side of the pond? We also like to use trips to different racecourses (horses, not cars) as a good excuse to get out and about in the Autosleeper and see new places. We now live in Ripon Racecourse Marina so looking forward to Spring! We are spoilt with beautiful bird life here. Everyday sightings include Kingfishers, Swans, Cormorants, buzzards, red kites and a daily murmuration of starlings. Ripon is the third smallest city in the UK and has a beautiful cathedral. You will find it on YouTube if you have a fancy to see it.
The National Trust is another wonderful source of short-trip venue. Again, Yorkshire has a wealth of historic sites and buildings. We are close to Fountains Abbey not to mention James Herriot country.
I subscribe to Steve Marsh on YouTube. He’s a Scot who produces the BEST vlogs. This week he posted Salamanca in Spain. Wonderful! Let me know what you think of it if you see it. Best Wishes!

 

[Sheppardess15]

Great to here from you! I will share with you the UK/EUROPE experiences if you’ll share your USA. We were looking forward to living the everyday-America-life. Countrylife for us. Farms, ranches, canyons, National parks. The only city I was really keen to see in real life was Sioux Falls, ND. I think the rock falls would be stunning, any time of year. Have you been there? What is your dream location on this side of the pond? We also like to use trips to different racecourses (horses, not cars) as a good excuse to get out and about in the Autosleeper and see new places. We now live in Ripon Racecourse Marina so looking forward to Spring! We are spoilt with beautiful bird life here. Everyday sightings include Kingfishers, Swans, Cormorants, buzzards, red kites and a daily murmuration of starlings. Ripon is the third smallest city in the UK and has a beautiful cathedral. You will find it on YouTube if you have a fancy to see it.
The National Trust is another wonderful source of short-trip venue. Again, Yorkshire has a wealth of historic sites and buildings. We are close to Fountains Abbey not to mention James Herriot country.
I subscribe to Steve Marsh on YouTube. He’s a Scot who produces the BEST vlogs. This week he posted Salamanca in Spain. Wonderful! Let me know what you think of it if you see it. Best Wishes!

Oops! Sioux Falls, SOUTH DAKOTA! What was I thinking?

 

[Frood]

Welcome!

I added spending a few seasons in the UK on the canals to my bucket list after watching the first season of Cruising the Cut.
Wish we had more boat travel opportunities here, maybe on the east coast it would be possible? Unfortunately in the west
there was never a large (and not enough water to support) waterway transport industry. Perhaps it would be better to call
it a daydream instead of a bucket list?

Would love to see more of your adventures and travels!

 

[WanderingRose]

The only city I was really keen to see in real life was Sioux Falls, ND. I think the rock falls would be stunning, any time of year. Have you been there?

What is your dream location on this side of the pond?

I have been thru Sioux Falls, and it is beautiful, and one of many gorgeous spots around our fair country.

If you get here with your RV, you could spend several months roaming around and still not see everything of interest, but it’s all interesting, in my opinion. Every part of the country has its own charm.

I have spent time in all of our lower 48 states over the past 20+ years, now later in life tending to return to favorite areas.

I can’t say I have a dream location in England, tho I have been a couple of times I was in strictly tourist mode so didn’t spent any time just roaming.

I’ve not been to Scotland or Wales, tho, so if I could teleport myself in a future life that might be where I would start.

You will find a lot of interesting reading here, a very eclectic group, and many of the tips and tricks we use will apply to you, as well.

Enjoy.

 

[Sheppardess15]

Welcome!

I added spending a few seasons in the UK on the canals to my bucket list after watching the first season of Cruising the Cut.
Wish we had more boat travel opportunities here, maybe on the east coast it would be possible? Unfortunately in the west
there was never a large (and not enough water to support) waterway transport industry. Perhaps it would be better to call
it a daydream instead of a bucket list?

Would love to see more of your adventures and travels!

Yes, Davy Johns on Cruising the Cut was our ‘keep-us-sane’ vlogger whilst our boat was being built and fitted between March2016 and June 2017. Since then we spent our first couple of years on the Trent and Mersey Canal then took the opportunity in the Covid year, when no hire-boat holidays were operating, to travel to the Pontysyllte Aqueduct on the LLANGOLLEN Canal in Wales. I’m sure you can find Cruising the Cut’s journey on YouTube and he gives such a good account of it all.
We loved the LLANGOLLEN so much we stayed for the next three years cruising between Whitchurch and Ellesmere.
We are not getting any younger and our grandchildren live in North Yorkshire so we set off from Ellesmere on August 29th, 2023 and cruised 200 miles (opening and closing 169 locks along the way) to bring us to our forever -mooring, here in Ripon. What a journey! We travelled through Manchester, up the Huddersfield Narrow through the Standedge Tunnel and down the other side, then the Huddersfield Broad before the Rivers Hebble, Aire, Ouse and Ure! Phew! We arrived the day before the Storm Babet hit and have thanked God everyday as the Rivers have been in Spate ever since.
So, do tell us about your experiences in the wonderful USA.
Looking forward to hearing from you again and thanks for getting in touch!

 

[WanderingRose]

Wow, what unique adventures.

Y’all are going to add an entirely new dimension to this forum.

 

[user 22017]

Welcome Sheppardess

If you haven't read up about The Great Loop, I think you would enjoy researching it... Or doing it. Used boats are very inexpensive in the U.S. if you consider doing the Loop.

Carla

 

[Sheppardess15]

Excellent! Thank you!

 

[Frood]

Welcome Sheppardess

If you haven't read up about The Great Loop, I think you would enjoy researching it... Or doing it. Used boats are very inexpensive in the U.S. if you consider doing the Loop.

Carla

Dang-it. Yet another thing to add to my bucket list.

 

[Malamute]

Welcome! Its nice to have some different perspective joining the group.

Id love to see much of the UK, I have distant family connections in many places there, including Scotland, Ireland and Wales. The sense of time and history are much different. Its been said that in American they think 100 years is a long time and in the UK they think 100 miles is a long distance. Theres some truth in that. If you come visit the States the driving can be pretty vast, especially in the West and Southwest. Also quite different is the sense of awe many feel when looking at historical things that are unimaginably old, like 500 to 1000 year old Indian Ruins.

Thanks for the tip about Steve Marsh, I saved his channel to watch some of his videos later.

Billy Connolly did a series of videos about driving across the US on the old Route 66 on a 3 wheel motorcycle, it was pretty interesting, he definitely had huge amount of fun wherever he went. It was fun seeing his perspective on the things he saw and people he met. It may give you some ideas on things you may like to see.

 

[RonDean]

Hope you don’t mind us keeping up with your Great American Adventures. We live the nomad life on the canals and waterways in England and Wales. Hoping to spend time on the road too, in our Autosleeper Amethyst. Can’t get to the Western Isles of Scotland or Norway in a narrowboat ! If anyone enjoys snailmail- I’d love an American pen pal! Or SEVERAL!

Welcome, I enjoy watching narrowboat travels on YouTube. I once worked for a computer gaming company located in Southam, which was close to the Union canal. But I never got a chance to take a cruse. I regret that now.

 

[eDJ_]

Welcome to the Van & RV living forum.

I live right on the Ohio River where Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia come together. In this realm narrow boats were never common as the waters were too big and flooding too common, but "Shanty Boats" were popular here up until the earlier 20th century. Some still build them today. These boats generally drifted downstream without propulsion unless they could pay a Steamboat Captain to tow them back up river. The owners keep them on small rivers where there is little or no commercial Tow Boat traffic.

These website may give you a window on that:

Shanty Boat Town

Steamboat Museum Steamboats & Shanty Boats

This video is about a couple of Kentucky Bluegrass Musicians known as the "Moron Brothers". A music & comedy act you may enjoy. They use an outboard powered tender to push the House Boat on their river.

Moron Brothers Shanty Boat



As for snail mail penpals most of us just chat in chatrooms or email. Cos that way we can read what each others keymanship