Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes

We are pleased to have Valerie Poore, author of ‘Watery Ways’ and ‘The Skipper’s Child’ on the blog today with a guest post about life on her barge during the summer months. If you’ve ever fantasised about spending the summer on the water or want to find out what it’s like, read on!

Summers in Europe are generally a mixed bag, aren’t they? Living in South Africa for so many years, I got used to being able to make plans for things in the summer months and be more or less certain I’d be able to do them. If I wanted to work in the garden, paint the house or have a barbecue (known as a braai there), it wasn’t often I had to cancel these activities because of the weather.

Well, I’ve now been back in northern Europe for getting on fifteen years and I’m still not…