Narrowboat AREandARE

From the 2009 & 2010 tantalising tales, traumas and stunning photographs of Barry (photographer) and Sandra (writer) from New Zealand aboard NB 'Northern Pride', to the stories of their 2013 return journey, purchase of 'AREandARE', progress on sustaining their live aboard continuous cruiser lifestyle, and Barry's quest to gain residency and 'Indefinite Leave to Remain' in UK ...

Thursday 8 May 2014

Come and visit us on Wordpress - our new blog!

We had an email recently from a blog follower saying he hadn't realised we'd moved our blog somewhere else - he'd been wondering why we hadn't posted on this one for a while.

So, in case you're also wondering where we've gone - you can now find us at www.barryandsandra.com

From that site, you can also purchase Barry's gorgeous waterways-related Greeting Cards and Digital Jigsaws - https://barryandsandra.com/greetings-cards-and-photography-shop/

Barry and The Home Brew Boat last weekend at St Richard's Festival, Droitwich



Thursday 10 April 2014

We've finally moved!

Whilst blogging is important to us, we're aware of the need to be very mindful of our time - prioritising our energy towards our boating businesses. It's imperative we start to earn a sustainable income over the next 12 months or we'll be heading back down to the Southern Hemisphere in 2015 with our tails between our legs.

We're both extremely grateful to have you all watching in expectation to see how we progress!

One of the changes we've finally decided to make, after almost five years of allegiance to 'Blogspot', is to change to a new blog on 'Wordpress' specifically for 'Areandare' (and our continuing commitment to the canals of England and Wales).

This blog will remain active, and on the 'Waterways Ranking' site, but we're unlikely to write any more posts once we start there ...

Which is actually from today!

In anticipation of our first trading event at the Spring Market on Saturday, at The Bond, Digbeth, Birmingham, we've 'launched' the new blog.

There's a number of differences and similarities to Blogspot, and it's going to be a learning curve so bear with us and do feel free to comment on the change or anything we post about. It's always good to hear from you all.


Click here for the first post.

Barry steps across the Wolverhampton 21

These photos, from my iPhone, aren't up to Barry's quality, but they tell the story nonetheless.

On Tuesday I took a turn driving through the Wolverhampton 21, giving Barry the opportunity for some fresh air and exercise working the locks.

We were blessed to encounter every single lock in our favour, a rare occurrence! So though we weren't rushing, we did manage to get up the flight very swiftly - especially with Barry confidently stepping across every lock gate without fear or hesitation.

Someone commented about always having a foot or hand on one thing as you do it - Barry can manage it with a foot on each gate - he must have a wide reach!

The bottom of the flight ... 

Intermittent sun and showers during the day - and a mostly straight run

 No problem at all - look at the focus in his face!

 It gets very industrial around here ...

… ducking under the railway lines

The top lock - two hours and forty minutes later

A very pretty BW sign to offset the busy cityscape

My younger daughter Kim and her friend Sean travelled from Brighton and joined us at Cosely, just one train stop from Wolverhampton, for a couple of nights.

More family times - marvellous.

Cosely station - very convenient thank you!