When Jane, a licensed skipper, said, 'How about you put your "Dragon Cap" on, and I teach you to drive the boat!' I smiled, enamoured with the idea, and I felt a surge of butterflies in my stomach that night. Still, I got up bright and early and gathered up my 'dragon fang' hair and took control.
I felt calm and relaxed, and at first, I was oversteering and undercompensating with the tiller, until I got the hang of how it works.
You see, although I'm confident at the wheel, I haven't driven for many years, and driving a boat is a different kettle of fish from driving a car. The concept of steering the tiller in the opposite direction of where you need the boat to go is not natural, but with practice and observation, I quickly got the hang of it.
This is our fourth year living on a narrowboat, and it's more common than you might imagine for the man to drive the boat while the woman does the lock handling. However, we both must know how to drive the boat in case of an emergency, and it turned out that hubby was unavailable to do so, and we were lucky to have developed a lovely friendship with Jane over the prior weeks.
We'd stop by our mate John at North Kilbworth Wharf to fill up with diesel for our long cruise that we would do in stages to Fazeley, in Tamworth. He was pleased to see me driving.
Although it's a slow pace of movement along the canals, there's a fast pace of learning several aspects of driving, so safety checks of lights, rope handling, slowing down and stopping, reversing, and an understanding of the wind effect and how the boat operates in water were some pertinent lessons in preparation for navigating small bridges, tunnels, and canal locks.
While cruising, a few boaters went by and shouted, 'We just watched your vlog.' ... referring to this video courtesy of hubby 
Talk about pressure, eh?
Generally, boaters and volunteers at the locks are accommodating of new drivers because we all have to learn at some point. So even though there's no L-plate, it's a 'big little' boating community, and boaters recognise my boat from our channel, and they know exactly what's going on. Therefore, it's even more important that I observe all the canal rules of slowing down while passing moored boats and not driving like a lunatic on the cut.
In this short clip below, it's Day 3 of learning.
... and completing the Braunston tunnel as my first tunnel was a big achievement, because it's the longest tunnel I've been through as both a crew member and driver. There are several kinks in that tunnel, and it so happened that I encountered two oncoming boaters—the first one with novice day boaters who appeared to be clueless about tunnel rules and the etiquette of a rubbing strip on one side of the tunnel for when two boats are passing each other.
Jane was pleased with how quickly I took everything on board, and that I remained calm when faced with unexpected situations, so I got an ice lolly as a reward, while we moored up waiting for another boat to join me through the double locks down the Braunston locks, as it makes sense to save water and time.
This new venture of driving the boat will change the way we live on the canals, and for the next few months, I might find myself cruising Cygnet behind hubby in our other new boat, Second Chance. :)
Thank you for tuning in!
Images and video footage are my property.
My blog frequently features my minimalist lifestyle and adventures while living on my narrowboat.”
Irie love,
Milly
