36 November 2017 Canal Boat canalboat.co.uk
LIVEABOARD
Fit to travel?
With all the physical demands of narrowboat life, David Johns
should be like an athlete but there’s the call of canalside cafésA
n occasional but recurring
theme of comments put to
me about boat life is surely
all that constant travelling on
the canals must make you fit. All that
lock-opening, paddle-winding, coal-lifting
and so on?
I’d love to claim that this is so – and
perhaps it is in some respects true – but
must also confess that, at least in my case,
any calorific benefits from said exercise is
more than cancelled out by the greater
consumption of treats handed to myself
as reward for all that hard work;
doughnuts and lemon drizzle cake being
particular favourites.
What to do about this conundrum, if
you can summon the energy to tackle it?
One set of suggestions comes from the
narrowboat-dweller, circus performer and
YouTuber Myles McDowell who posted a
video recently about how to keep fit while
living on a boat.
His ingenious examples included lifting
a full coal scuttle repeatedly to build arm
muscle, and pushing yourself up (legs
outstretched) on the galley kitchen units.
To this I would add opening and closing
the eight locks of the Droitwich Barge
Canal which are, without a doubt, the
heaviest lock gates I’ve yet encountered.
Quite why this should be I have no ideabut my, oh my, they are stiff and
substantial. It was with great relief then,
having gone through the first two such
locks after the trip down the Severn from
Stourport, that I found space available on
the short stretch of visitor moorings lying
immediately above and could break my
journey for a quick rest and a cake-shapedAn unusual tunnel at Droitwich