Harbour Ways

Ages ago I reviewed a book called Watery Ways by my lovely blogging pal, Valerie Poore.  It was about how she came to be living on a barge in Rotterdam and the adventures that she had as she fell in love with the way of life of the liggers (we call ourselves liveaboards here in the UK).  Val had a dream to own and go faring in her own barge and Harbour Ways is how Val worked so hard to realise that dream.  I have been eagerly awaiting this sequel and I can honestly say, with my hand on my heart, that I was not disappointed.  As soon as my copy arrived last Saturday, I sat in the armchair in front of the woodburner and that was where I stayed until I finished it.  I am absolutely amazed and completely in awe of the amount of hard work and all the skill that Val put into renovating her barge.  She took on jobs that I would not even consider doing, such as woodwork, plumbing and many other really hard traditionally 'male' jobs.  I laughed out loud in many places.  Whenever boat owners get together, eventually the conversation always turns to plumbing and toilets.  Boat plumbing is a whole new world and involves seacocks, macerators and lots of twists and turns in very awkward places.  Val describes her antics with Vereeniging's bathroom with a real tongue in cheek sense of humour, which I am sure covers up a lot of the swearing that probably took place!!! I also loved the various characters that Val introduces us to and all their quirky ways.  If you want to get a flavour of the work that goes in to living afloat and get a taste of living in Rotterdam I urge you to read this book as it comes with my top notch recommendation.  You can get a copy at www.lulu.com or Amazon.  Thanks Val for such a good read x