followtheboat | Site-Wide Activity

Liz wrote a new post

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 07:00:00 +0000

Can We Reach Boston in Four Days? We have to get to Boston in four days to make our window to cross The Wash, so we need to push on down the River Witham through the … Read More »

Jamie wrote a new post

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 11:16:29 +0000

FTBMates: Four Days To Go… Ahoy! As you know we are planning to cross The Wash, but we can only do this when the conditions are right. We received a message from our pilot to […]

Liz wrote a new post

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 19:00:00 +0000

How Can We Make It Past This Thick Weed? Is this year’s weed crisis worse than ever? It looked, at first, that a cruise along the River Witham would be a gentle journey … Read More »

Liz wrote a new post

Thu, 27 Aug 2026 10:47:26 +0000

Will The Weed Crisis On The Witham Scupper our Plans? We met boaters who tried and failed to get through the weed. It was so bad this year that the crisis even appeared on the tv. Other cruisers gave up, […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:43:02 +0000

For FTBMates: Our Most Challenging Leg Yet Canal boating is pretty relaxing, especially compared with sailing. There was one hurdle we were not looking forward to, however, and that time has […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:36:46 +0000

Squeezing A Widebeam Canal Boat Through The Glory Hole The Glory Hole is the colloquial name given to an ancient bridge that spans the River Witham in Lincoln. When you see it in person, you’re left […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 10:34:03 +0000

Why Lincoln Is A Must-Visit: From Steep Hill to the Cathedral Roof Lincoln Cathedral is one of the most impressive buildings we’ve ever seen, so if Lincolnshire conjures up images of endless flat farmlands and boring […]

Liz wrote a new post

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 18:36:33 +0000

FTB Mates: We're cruising on a Roman canal?! Arriving at the historic village of Saxilby along the Fossdyke Canal, we discovered the influence of Roman, Viking and medieval history, as well as an intimate connection to the lives of Jamie’s grandparents in WWII.

Liz wrote a new post

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 18:28:46 +0000

Is the Foss Dyke the oldest canal in England? After an adrenaline-ridden cruise along the River Trent, it was a welcome change to enter the sedate and secluded Fossdyke Navigation. Or is it “Foss D […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 11:25:19 +0000

Gainsborough to Torksey: Stills From The Trent It may be a bit disingenuous to have a post of video stills in our photography section, but we thought these were good enough to post up and give you […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 11:13:40 +0000

From Historic Gainsborough to Torksey Lock: Our Tidal Trent Continuation Last week, we successfully navigated the first challenging leg of our journey down the River Trent, arriving at Gainsborough with the turning tide. […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 11:07:58 +0000

Our Email Is Now Coming To You On Saturdays Ahoy! Just a quick one to let you know our emails will now come to you on Saturday, not Sunday. This is because we are moving our YouTube videos […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 12:59:25 +0000

FTBMates: We Complete The River Trent! Part 2 of our River Trent experience is complete! We made the trip from Gainsborough to Torksey Lock and were surprised at the amount of history on our […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 03:00:00 +0000

Tidal Trent Triumph: Our Journey from Keadby to Gainsborough What an adventure we’ve had this week, as we finally kicked off our ambitious journey from Yorkshire to Cambridgeshire via The Wash. For those of you […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 16:12:33 +0000

FTBMates: Is Our Hydraulic Steering Going To Be A Problem? Ahoy, friends! We are ready to slip the lines and make that bold step onto the tidal River Trent. While we’ve been looking forward to it, we’re also […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Sun, 07 Jun 2026 02:30:00 +0000

Calculating Tides For Successful Navigation of the River Trent Navigating the River Trent by canal boat requires accurate tidal calculations, and getting through Keadby Lock… The River … Read More »

Jamie wrote a new post

Thu, 04 Jun 2026 16:08:02 +0000

FTBMATES: We're Back To Calculating The Tides It’s been over two years since we last had to worry about tides, but as we prepare for our trip down the Trent, we’re back in the classroom!

Jamie wrote a new post

Sun, 31 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Problems With Vazon Bridge and Keadby Lock The weather recently has been glorious and you won’t hear us complain about that. However, it’s going to cause problems with the … Read More »

Jamie wrote a new post

Thu, 28 May 2026 12:28:47 +0000

FTBMates: Everything's Conspiring Against Us! Ahoy, friends! If you’re in the UK, we hope you’ve been basking in this glorious sun. If you’re elsewhere, we trust you are well. We’re doing just […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Sun, 24 May 2026 01:01:00 +0000

We've Achieved Complete Independence It took a year, but we think we can now call ourselves completely independent. It was a lifestyle we’d got used to aboard our … Read More »

Jamie wrote a new post

Fri, 22 May 2026 08:28:06 +0000

FTBMates: True OffGrid Living In Nature Now that we have commissioned the water filter system and are seeing excessive amps coming in via solar, this is the first time we can call ourselves […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Sun, 17 May 2026 08:35:09 +0000

FTBMates: 150 Mile Journey Begins We feel we’re back to our old style of vlogging with this latest episode. We’re interested to know what our FTBMates think of it! Despite only […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Sun, 17 May 2026 05:34:21 +0000

Our 150 Mile Canal Adventure Begins We’ve left the marina, we’ve refuelled, and filled with water. Now it is time to begin our journey! Our last mooring This week’s episode returns […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Sun, 10 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

We Are Now Continuous Cruisers Would you believe it? We’ve only gone and slipped the lines to become continuous cruisers! This means we have finished the book, … Read More »

Jamie wrote a new post

Thu, 07 May 2026 16:03:00 +0000

"Spider T" Humber Sloop: Pride of the Fleet Spider T is an historic barge, which turned up at our marina just a few days before we left. She’s an iron-hulled Humber sloop, built one hundred years […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Thu, 07 May 2026 11:28:08 +0000

FTBMates Early Access To Our Latest Episode Ahoy! Before we introduce our latest video, we would like to thank every one of you for sticking around. We’ve been tied up with our book for […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 11:09:04 +0000

Labuan Bajo Old Town – Komodo District, Flores Labuan Bajo is the fishing port on the west end of Flores, the large Indonesian island that’s home to the Komodo National Park. Most people come here […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 09:48:28 +0000

Free Photo Download – Lombok Morning Fishermen Having gone through thousands of photos for our new book, I thought a few of the unused ones were worthy of seeing the light of day! This photo was […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:53:40 +0000

Where Have We Been? (Hint: It Involves 100,000 Words and Two Thousand Photos) No, the bilge hasn’t flooded, and no, we haven’t been boarded by Yorkshire canal pirates! We’ve had our heads down working on our cruising guide, […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +0000

One Year On and Liz's Book It’s been a year to the day that we moved onto Happidaze. When we look back over the last 12 months we realise just how many projects we have […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 17:43:34 +0000

Podcast: A Year Later – Looking Fowards and Looking Back We’ve just published our first podcast of 2026. Did you know it has been exactly a year to the day that we moved onto Happidaze? Although we’ve not […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 13:23:57 +0000

One Year On The Canals It’s been exactly a year since we swapped our sailing boat for a widebeam canal boat, after nearly 20 years living afloat. How has it been — and do we […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Sun, 07 Dec 2025 01:06:00 +0000

Boat Life Game Changer – Installing A SEPARATING / COMPOSTING Toilet We decommission our electric pump-out toilet and replace it with a separating toilet, often called a composting toilet. Why would … Read More »

Jamie wrote a new post

Sat, 06 Dec 2025 11:04:52 +0000

We Got Rid Of Our Pump-Out Toilet A new post for our FTBMates, in which we finally replace our pump-out toilet for a new separating toilet. This involved drilling some pretty big holes […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Sun, 09 Nov 2025 00:09:00 +0000

No Wonder Our Diesel Generator Wasn't Working! There is just one job left before we can become continual cruisers. Well, I say ‘one job’, but we all know boat maintenance never … Read More »

Jamie wrote a new post

Sat, 08 Nov 2025 11:54:51 +0000

Recommissioning Our Diesel Generator Just look at the state of our generator’s cooling system. No wonder it wasn’t running properly! It was like someone had poured a cup of mud into […]

Jamie Furlong wrote a new post

Sun, 02 Nov 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Onum Harvest Festival In Cochin In our look at the People of Madurai, we timed our visit for their havest festival, Pongal. Meanwhile, in the neighbouring state, … Read More »

Jamie wrote a new post

Sun, 26 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Repairing Our Webasto Heater, Our Generator… And Our Dog! When we took Marley, our Buladore dog, from the kennels, he came with a report stating he was ‘giddy’. You wouldn’t think it when … Read More »

Jamie wrote a new post

Sat, 25 Oct 2025 10:54:58 +0000

Free Desktop Image Download This image was taken from The Suites, a boutique hotel on the west coast of Lombok. It was one of our favourite anchorages (you can catch a glimpse of […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 21:57:50 +0000

There's Just One Thing Left Before We Leave… Ahoy! There’s one thing left to sort out on our boat before we can leave and call ourselves ‘continual cruisers’. It’s been plagueing us since May, […]

Jamie Furlong wrote a new post

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 10:13:31 +0000

The People Of Madurai – Street Photography Madurai is the ‘cultural capital’ of the state of Tamil Nadu, SE India. We visited in January 2011, around the time the local people were […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Sun, 05 Oct 2025 01:15:00 +0000

Testing Our OffGridWater Filtration System on Our Canal Boat – Part 3 Introduction It feels like a long while since we’ve been out on the canal, but we chose a glorious day to test our new water m … Read More »

Jamie wrote a new post

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 13:18:46 +0000

The End of Water Rationing: Our Best Upgrade Yet Finalised Is this the ultimate off-grid water solution for boat life? We’ve finally solved the biggest problem every boater faces: running out of fresh water. […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Sat, 27 Sep 2025 22:33:47 +0000

How We’re Installing an OffGridWater Water Filtration System on Our Canal Boat: Part 2 Welcome back to our project of creating a completely self-sufficient water purification system aboard our wide beam canal boat! In … Read More »

Jamie wrote a new post

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 09:27:04 +0000

Boat Water Filtration Part 2… and new T-Shirts! Ahoy! Welcome back to our project of creating a completely self-sufficient water purification system aboard our wide beam canal boat! In the first […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 11:45:10 +0000

How We're Installing a 6-Stage Water Filtration System on Our Canal Boat: Part 1 Embarking on Our Water Filtration Journey In the first of a two-part series, we embarked on the installation of a comprehensive OffGridWater water […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Sun, 07 Sep 2025 15:05:11 +0000

Installing an OffGridWater Purification System for Safe Drinking Water on Our Canal Boat Can we make canal water drinkable? We begin our installation of the OffGridWater purification system for our widebeam canal boat and we know you have […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Sun, 31 Aug 2025 07:53:50 +0000

Cromer in Black & White – August Bank Holiday at the Seaside An August Bank Holiday is more than just a trip to the seaside; it’s a snapshot of Britishness: ice cream and chips, wind and rain, chaos and myths, a […]

Jamie wrote a new post

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 17:00:00 +0000

From Green to Clean: Our Quest for True Water Independence on the Canals Introduction To Water Independence Is it possible to turn murky canal water into safe drinking water on a narrowboat? We’re on a … Read More »

Jamie wrote a new post

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 11:07:30 +0000

Plannning Our Water Filtration System Is it possible to turn murky canal water into safe drinking water on a narrowboat? If you caught our comprehensive post on water filtration, you’ll […]