How we got here

For several years Mick and I have been wanting our own narrowboat. We started hiring boats together in the autumn of 2006 when we explored part of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Hiring more and more boats we bought into a share boat NB Winding Down on which we enjoyed our four weeks a year greatly. The natural progression from here was to have our own narrowboat, so we planned on having one built to our own specification. Having been patient for several years we decided to look for a secondhand boat of the right layout to keep us going until we had our own bespoke boat built, a bit of a try before you build. We were very lucky in finding NB Lillyanne in March 2014, the right sort of layout, low engine hours. She needed a couple of alterations so we could have people to stay, but other than that and being 2 foot longer than we originally wanted, she fitted the bill very well.

In July 2014 we moved on board fulltime, renting out our home in Scarborough for a year (initially), Mick dropped out from being a telephone engineer and myself (Pip) reducing the amount of work I took on as a Theatre Designer. Sadly things with our boat build didn't go according to plan, so in May 2015 we visited the Crick Boat Show to shortlist possible boat builders. Since then we have visited four companies, asked for quotes based on our now altered spec. A year afloat has been good for us and has changed our minds on various things. With our shortlist down to two builders we paid them both a second visit last week.

That is a quick roundup of how we started this journey. This blog is intended as a diary of NB Oleanna's build for us to be able to look back on in years to come. Please feel free to follow us on our journey. Posts will be as and when things happen. Our other blog NB Lillyanne will continue about our travels aboard our yellow boat.