Watery Ways (The Living Aboard series Book 1)

In this account of her first year of living on a barge in Rotterdam's Oude Haven, Valerie Poore’s overriding impression is that “one of the first things you learn about living on a barge is that an awful lot of stuff is going to end up in the water”.

The year in question is 2001, and at forty something, the author takes the plunge to exchange her life in the corporate fast lane of Johannesburg, for life on a historic Dutch barge. Every month brings new challenges, obstacles and experiences. She meets a whole world of fascinating people, not least of whom are an endlessly smiling, but absent minded ‘landlord’, an intellectual, but quirky friend and confidante and an old world charmer whose mastery at the helm wins more than just her respect. She also learns how to cope with the sometimes strenuous demands of casting ropes and negotiating locks when acting as skipper’s mate during numerous nail-biting watery adventures.

If you’ve ever wondered what it was like to live on a barge, this book may be the bait that hooks you; whatever your reaction, it will certainly give you an off beat and amusing insight into the ways of living on the water.

• African Ways Again: More recollections of life in South Africa
• African Ways
• Harbour Ways
• Highveld Ways: Recollections of life in Johannesburg in the 1990s
• Walloon Ways: Three years as a weekend Belgian
• Faring to France on a Shoe
• Don't Come Back: a funny travel adventure of bad-tempered baboons, black magic, and breakups. (Weird Travel Book 2)
• The Reluctant Expat: Part Two - Finding my Feet
• The Reluctant Expat: Part Three - Getting Ahead
• The Reluctant Hotelkeeper: A Memoir