This morning we untied the ropes that have been stuck fast for winter in a marina and ventured back out into the world. For me, the coldest season of the year can drag on and on and has a way of making you believe there is nothing out there anymore but dreary skies and yet, once it begins to abate—albeit ever so slightly—and I nurture the resolve to get back out on the cut, I am instantly reminded of the wonder that is early spring.
The weather has been cold and yet after a short but bracing cruise this afternoon as I write, the most beautiful bands of sunlight are pouring themselves in through my windows, dancing tantalising reflections across my ceiling—a sight unseen when blocked in by other boats. I am in awe. I am content. I am lost in the simple pleasures of boating, of movement, and of changing seasons.
There are also sounds that cannot be expressed through pictures: the haunting lone call of a moorhen, the delightful tumbling song of hedgerow birds, the nasally honking of geese, the gentle slow wingbeats that belie a swan’s size. And then there is my thudding heart; bursting with happiness for the springtime that I know will now unfold at double speed before me.
I am here. I am within it. I am glad.
Fox Blog: Why an April Narrowboat Holiday is the Perfect Spring Getaway
Skies seem endless and filled with promise and I ponder the joy of keeping moving, along these watery roads, never returning to where I started. But alas, this year personal commitments mean we can’t venture too far and that’s okay because after many spells afloat throughout these past 16 years, and having travelled much of the network, I know that whatever stretch we find ourselves on, there will still be magic:
Delightful dawn choruses to wake me in the morning, ducklings darting around after mum in a cacophony of continual yet endearing quacking, grasses and wildflowers billowing along the towpath and finally—a feeling of warmth penetrating the windows. As the season progresses I know I will feel myself steadily thawing, my mind drifting to the promise of local cruises in dappled sunlight, working locks in the still silence of lighter evenings.
Fox Blog: Fearful of Locks? How to work one even if you’ve never done it
Winter has felt long this year, but getting back to my narrowboat and clearing out the debris of this coldest season before untying the ropes and flinging the doors open to spring, has felt as magical as it always does. Because wherever I wander, there is nothing quite like the sights and sounds of England’s waterways in springtime.
Alice Elgie is a nature-loving writer who shares words about her wandering lifestyle through hold-in-the-hand letters and recorded reflections. aliceelgie.com
