Characters of the Cut
Wandering as a way of life
Our very own Characters of the Cut column writer, Alice Griffin, introduces herself!
I HAVE always had wandering feet. From a young age I would pack a little bag and run off to the woods, imagining they were the portal to far-off countries. I longed to seek out magic, adventure; the meaning of life.
For me, whenever and wherever I am, I can’t help but believe there is more of that good stuff just around the next corner. Staying rooted in one place – while on occasion envying those who can do this – has never been on my radar, which is why boat life is the perfect fit for me and my family.
Me and my husband, Scott, bought our current narrowboat, Melody – a 65ft cruiser stern – in November 2021 and continuously cruise the waterways, currently the Grand Union. However, we have lived on and off the water since selling our house back in 2008 when our daughter was a baby, to go in search of a way of living that would enable us to spend more time together as a family.
When we took those tentative first steps, filled only with hopes of a new lifestyle, we could never have imagined the directions our life would take. Flitting between a number of boats here in the UK and a travelling life that has seen us wander by van, as well as live for spells in Greece, France, Spain, Portugal, and even a yurt in the Scottish Highlands, has certainly kept us on our toes!
It has also propelled us into a new way of living, one centred around time spent in nature, with family and friends, exploring
Alice Griffin is an author and poet with a gypsy soul. She leads seasonal e-courses to bring us back to nature, and ourselves. Sign up on her website for her FREE! A Sense for Summer course starting June 20. ways to sustain ourselves independently. Despite the stampede of modern life and all its pressures, we have been able to carve out a fairly simple existence on the fringes, which suits us perfectly.
Home schooling
One of the major steps we took back when our daughter was four, was to not send her to school. We had initially thought to travel when she was a baby before returning in time for her to begin this traditional way of learning in our hometown, but on our travels we met a home educating family that inspired us into new ways of thinking. This chance meeting spurred me on to seek out our local community in the UK and the rest is history.
Our now 15-year-old has never been to school and has thrived in the travelling environment where her passions have been nurtured. She is now taking the first formative steps on her chosen career path and in fact, it was her recent work experience placement – along with the desire to be closer to family – that brought us back to boat life in England.
For us, living on a boat offers a way of life that allows us to slow down and feel more in tune with the seasons. I love how we are aware of each incremental rise or drop of temperature, how we can truly hibernate in winter before emerging in the spring. There is a real energy to each season when you live within it.
When you have spent winter lugging washing up and down a freezing towpath, or bringing your dogs in and out of the boat caked in mud, those first spring buds spied on morning walks and the long light nights of summer spent on the bow with a beer, are that much sweeter.
We’ve been lucky enough to travel large chunks of the system during our years afloat and in particular we enjoy the Shropshire Union and the Leeds & Liverpool. A favourite trip was travelling down from Skipton towards London during 2016.
It’s such a wonderful way to meet people from all walks of life – both boaters and locals walking the towpaths – and I constantly extol the merits of life on the canals. One minute we can be moored up in the bright lights and hubbub of a city, the next nestled in the countryside with deer and owls, snug beneath dark skies.
As a writer, this movement and variety fuels my creativity and has most recently inspired my latest venture: writing and leading seasonal e-courses. I provide students with a series of short recordings and optional journalling assignments that encourage us all to stop, absorb, and reset our bodies in tune with nature. The world has become so fast-paced that connecting with slow is evermore important and for me, it is the peaceful adventures around the next canal corner, that keep me inspired to share its magic.
Website: www. alicegriffin.co.uk Instagram : alice_is_in_wanderland Facebook: Alice Writes
If you see Alice on her boat, Melody, make sure you stop to say hello and share your stories for future Characters of the Cut!