winter is the most challenging time to be living of grid our choice of Home floats in
the water which this winter is living and breathing River as opposed to Canal adding
that extra something to think about the flood [Music]
our first winter was in London when we try to balance our full-time jobs with learning
how to live on a narrowboat figuring out how this stove and inverter work and how to keep
warm without killing the batteries which we still did by the way but that's another story
[Music] our second and third Winters were spent on the gorgeous Canal continuously cruising
mostly between kinderbury and going as far as bath the fourth Code season is well and
truly here and we are doing things differently we're in a permanent location for a few months
so we don't need to move much but and there is a big but the water is on the rise and
it's about to flood any day [Music]
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foreign [Music]
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the river is very high today it's higher than we've ever seen it and across the river on
the other Bank in the garden of one of the houses it's now paddle so when I woke up this
morning I saw the Ducks playing in the water on their on their lawn they used to be long
so I'm gonna come outside and show you where the boats are in hotel looking foreign [Music]
high but we still haven't broken the bank on this side where we are and we obviously
have poles already in so we're fine we're not worried at all but further down the situation
is quite different
I also planted our Christmas tree as we do every year so we hope that it will survive
for it it's very discreet so I'm going to show you guys how it looks in the wild [Music]
it looks really healthy and hopefully I'll keep on growing
foreign
foreign [Music] to see some people taking advantage of this [Music]
[Music] so yeah over the last couple of days it's the first time we've seen all eight wear
paddles open I was chatting someone yesterday and apparently all up the river all of the
Weirs are at full capacity so it was not a great deal or that the lock Keepers can do
but um today looks dry and on the whole the rest of next week looks pretty pretty dry
very cold so I think it goes down to like minus five next week um but yeah very little
rain so hopefully today tomorrow is the last Peak I'll give it a chance to go down because
it's been raining pretty constantly for the last three weeks four weeks would you say
[Music] we went for a walk along the path to see how everything is looking the river
is bursting not only the banks are transformed The Meadows are slowly turning into a lake
the island in the middle of the river is also disappearing
good for you swan
had this last night glad I filled up with water when we did who's getting to the point
where the boat was going to be higher than the tank so it wouldn't have gravity fed in
ducks are loving access to the new grass [Music]
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[Applause]
so interesting to see how the mash Meadow turned into actual Lakes there is a poster
about marshmallows that were red and a hundred or so years ago there used to be a lake actually
here that was filled in so I guess that's what happens when Nature turns back to a lake
is it alive
Save the Fish got cold hands now
the river spilled on the pavement I haven't been outside yet so I'm really excited to
see but yes it is still going higher and higher you can see even from here that this used
to be pavement and now it is a part of the Henley Lake the Sea of Henley yeah it's still
going up which is unsettling very slowly yeah I think we're the turn of the tide it's funny
isn't it all these figures of speech when you actually have a boat um you start realizing
they're all about yeah showing the ropes changing of the tide even Keel oh let's go look let's
get it yeah foreign [Music]
if you'd like to yeah yep
um our Stern is now above the bank right
a little bit of wiggle room in there but that's fine don't want it too loose doing it too
tight
we're talking with the where's who are a few Villages down um the river um and they are
on a different Mooring and they told us to stay that a Bogue a narrowboat sunk this morning
or last night and that was on visit to Moorings that apparently had its um a robes too tight
which is possible so this is it's exciting to see the real flood but also very real it's
very real yeah
I'm not sure
all right
this is why you need postings otherwise they end up on the bank
it's amazing so much sand and sediment is in the water I mean all of the grass here's
got Sandy the pavement you can see the Lions sediment it even looks like
coming in where are we going everywhere see if anyone needs help
I can't believe it I'm like this much water thank God we've got Wendy's this is a valid
excuse not to go for a run that is fine I can accept so I didn't
I guess uh today is really the day that we've been planning for we've spent all summer thinking
oh where should we mow we'd love to more in pamphorn it's our favorite spot but I just
we just didn't think that if it flooded having pegs in would be and the right thing to do
so this is why we came to Henley proper Banks fairly High Banks Mooring rings and solid
footing as well so this is what we've been waiting for and I'm glad we're here to be
honest I'm glad it's not raining for another week um as well because it could get a bit
squeaky bummy with another three inches in depth I reckon all right
this is a spot where I can't actually see where the edges where the water stop where
the river begins the actual drop so I'm walking closer to the bins and at the benches
you enjoying your gears having fun well it was raining on Saturday and we were getting
about an inch or two from breaching and I said to Marina you've got to get water today
we might not be able to get water again so I filled up with water pretty much to the
top so we've got a couple of weeks now but uh yeah you could I mean you probably could
bring the trolley through here but you wouldn't want to I feel like we're stepping into be
a bit not quite sure as long as it feels like concrete Under Foot which will be fine
the adventure that we sign up for this winter there are all sorts of Adventures surprises
cruising and traveling and sorts and we decided that we're gonna try something different and
here it is here it is
yeah yeah yeah yeah wow wow it's quite strong actually yeah but bizarrely it's pulling back
into the river maybe maybe that means it's coming off it's going down foreign
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here is the water in the middle of the water we can't use it anyway so
it looks like our neighbors don't have a plank which makes it really awkward to get on and
off so Miles offered them our spare one
we are about to enter this dream area
I'm currently
well this is a little river here we caught fish in here because no fishing
oh I'd say it's a lake miles not a river look at it no but there is a river coming down
here and it comes into there this is mad absolutely mad it's I'm glad it's kind of a peaceful
Madness where nothing is going wrong and hopefully it won't go wrong but it's incredible to see
the landscape transform so much within a few days the water has been coming up for about
two weeks so it's kind of been a slow come up and we were ready for it but if it would
have happened overnight over a couple of days it would have been much more stressful
the geese are so unhappy probably they'll be like wildest humans walking in my territory
now [Music] otherwise I wouldn't know where to walk and in point she can't see the bottom
either it's like the boat version of a snow day you know the world stops
imagine if it froze over
you can see this week though
this is how the river goes wild turning a field into ponds and flocks of birds settle
into New Habitat it's fascinating to see nature change so quickly and it gives me hope that
Mother Nature's intelligence will one day erase the signs of what our species are doing
to the planet she surely knows how to transform herself [Music] thank you all so much for
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