This Is Why We Travel by Narrowboat | Our Life on the UK Canals

Off grid narrowboat living on the UK canal network comes with one of the great alternative lifestyle privileges: you can tie up somewhere new, walk into a village, become part of the community for a morning, and cast off again by evening. This week on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal we do exactly that: mooring at Penkridge, one of the best canal villages on the network. We spend the morning at Russells butchers, the local bakery, and Penkridge market before sitting down in a canal-side tea room that has barely changed in decades. Penkridge is Domesday Book old and its Wednesday market is one of the biggest in Staffordshire. It is also just minutes walk from the towpath, which is the whole point. Then we return to the boat, cast off, and somewhere between Penkridge and the chandlery two locks away, discover our narrowboat barge pole is rotten. We source a replacement eight-foot ash barge pole from Park Gate chandlery on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, and spend the next morning painting it to match the boat on a quiet rural mooring. The evening mooring comes with a double full rainbow, goslings, geese, hares in the field, and cattle drinking from the canal. This is what a good day on the UK canal network actually looks like. The next morning we cook a full narrowboat breakfast from everything we bought in Penkridge. That part is for Nomads Club members only. If you are researching narrowboat life UK, life on the UK canals, Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, Penkridge canal walk, narrowboat village mooring, living aboard a narrowboat, canal boat lifestyle UK, narrowboat mooring Staffordshire, barge pole replacement narrowboat, narrowboat chandlery UK, off grid narrowboat living, narrowboat running costs UK, slow travel UK, UK waterways lifestyle, or alternative lifestyle UK, this is an honest account from two people who live it full time. Episode Facts: Canal: Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Village: Penkridge Market days: Wednesday and Saturday Penkridge market: one of the biggest outdoor markets in Staffordshire Distance from towpath to village: approximately 15 minutes walk Pork pie: made fresh that morning at Russells Butchers 🎵 Original soundtrack composed and produced by Adam (PhD in audio-visual composition, University of Leeds) Who are The Floating Nomads? We are Rick and Adam, The Floating Nomads. We sold the house and now split our time between our UK narrowboat Serenissima and months of slow travel abroad by train, ferry and water. Whether spending winters in Malta and the Mediterranean or travelling from the Caribbean to Southampton on a repositioning cruise, we share the honest reality of life on the move. Our films combine Rick's marketing background with Adam's music PhD to capture the authentic atmosphere of every place we visit. Support the Journey New films: Every Friday evening (UK time). Channel members: Early access every Thursday, starting at just £2.99 per month. Members also unlock exclusive B-Side videos including this week's canal-side breakfast, cooked entirely from what we bought in Penkridge. Click Join under any video to support our work. Joining on a browser rather than the YouTube app means more of your support reaches us directly. Apple take a 30% cut from all in-app purchases. If you can, please join via a browser on your phone or computer. Chapters 0:00:00 This Is Why We Travel by Narrowboat 0:00:46 Walking Into Penkridge 0:03:39 Russells Butchers Penkridge 0:04:53 Penkridge Bakery and Tea Room 0:07:08 Penkridge Wednesday Market 0:10:37 Casting Off the Noisy Mooring 0:12:22 The Barge Pole Has a Fungal Infection 0:13:38 Park Gate Chandlery Staffs and Worcs Canal 0:19:22 Our Favourite Mooring on the Canal 0:22:38 Good Morning: Double Rainbow 0:23:01 Painting the New Barge Pole 0:26:00 Why We Love Life on the Canals #NarrowboatLife #UKCanals #NarrowboatUK #LifeOnTheCanals #CanalLife #StaffordshireAndWorcestershireCanal #Penkridge #NarrowboatLiving #LiveAboard #OffGridLiving #CanalsOfEngland #NarrowboatHoliday #BoatLife #SlowTravel #AlternativeLifestyle #FloatingNomads #BargePole #NarrowboatMooring #CanalBoat #UKWaterways #NarrowboatTravel #SlowTravelUK