Woman reveals ‘extreme highs and lows’ of swapping London hire for a narrowboat | EUROtoday

A 33-year-old author from Middlesbrough discovered “freedom” after buying and selling London hire for all times on a narrowboat, regardless of dealing with challenges like an exploding engine and a ship fireplace.

Kyrie Morris bought a £21,000 narrowboat in April 2022 utilizing inheritance cash, escaping the £1,600 month-to-month prices of London dwelling.

Initially, the boat lacked primary facilities like operating water and electrical energy, resembling a “floating shed.” However, Morris regularly remodeled it, including a kitchen cabinet, rest room, and a fold-down couch mattress.

Accompanied by her Labrador, Snoop, she spent 15 months navigating London’s canals whereas working as a bartender and finishing her Master’s diploma.

In July 2023, following the sudden demise of an in depth pal and a failed try to get on Big Brother, she set off on a 357-mile journey to Leeds – however, upon arrival, her engine blew up, forcing her to remain put, and her boat later caught fireplace.

Since transferring onto the boat, Kyrie has spent round £12,000 on renovations and now spends round £800 a month, sharing her journey with 19,500 followers on TikTok underneath the deal with @canalboatkiz.

“I would describe it as you get these extreme lows, but the highs are extreme as well and there’s a feeling of freedom and adrenaline I’ve never personally found anywhere else, and I absolutely love it,” she stated.

While learning for a Master’s diploma in International Music Marketing in London, Kyrie was working at The Blues Kitchen in Camden to assist make ends meet and make music business connections.

Her hire and payments for her one-bed flat in London got here to £1,300 a month.

She would typically sit by the canals and assume, “Wow, what a life”, and regularly started wanting into the canal boat life-style.

When it got here time to resume her tenancy, Kyrie knew she needed to remain in London, however with out paying a lot, dwelling with others, or giving up a spot that accepted canines.

At the top of her Master’s, her granddad handed away, and her grandmother gave her some cash.

Kyrie used it to purchase the most affordable boat she might discover on Facebook Marketplace for £21,000 and moved in April 2022.

Her household have been very supportive of her resolution, as she has at all times made “mad decisions”.

When she first purchased the boat, it was like a “floating shed”, with no operating water, rest room, or electrical energy.

She had a fitness center membership to bathe, charged her cellphone at work, and when she received residence, needed to put on a head torch and light-weight a hearth.

Over time, she received photo voltaic panels linked to 12-volt batteries for electrical energy, a diesel heater for warm water and a cassette rest room she empties manually.

Until just lately, she didn’t have a fridge and lived off a number of tinned meals, warmed on a fuel tenting range.

She stated: “I’ve got floors and nice painted walls and the rest of it, but I have one kitchen cupboard that I’m living out of.

“And bit by bit, I’m rebuilding the kitchen at the back.

“In the next month or two, the bathroom is going to get moved around.

“So the inside is, at the moment, very, very basic – I sleep on a sofa bed that I fold down.”

Kyrie now spends about £800 a month on necessities, reminiscent of her canal licence, insurance coverage and meals, in comparison with the £1,600 she used to spend in London on payments, hire and meals.

She lived on the boat in London for 15 months, cruising canals like Regent’s Canal and the Grand Union Canal, however then felt a sudden want to vary issues up.

“One of my best friends passed away really unexpectedly and I’d also applied for Big Brother at the time and got far through the audition process but did not get accepted onto the show,” Kyrie defined.

“I needed something different, so I decided to leave my job and wrap everything up.”

So, in July 2023, she set off on a 357-mile journey from London to Leeds, which took seven weeks, travelling via Oxford, Coventry, Birmingham, Stoke-on-Trent and Lancashire.

She deliberate to settle in Leeds for just a few months and make progress along with her music and freelance writing.

But when she arrived, in September 2023, her engine blew up, and she or he needed to keep moored in a marina whereas looking for a “reliable engineer”.

After lastly discovering an engineer, her boat was towed to a boatyard in Goole in October 2024.

Both she and her boat have remained in Goole since whereas repairs are carried out, together with the set up of a brand new engine, a brand new propeller, and work on the underside of the boat.

In January 2025, the boat even caught fireplace after she unintentionally knocked over a candle, which made her curtain go up in flames.

“Within 30 seconds, the whole side of my boat was on fire,” Kyrie added.

“I got the dog off and… I used the first extinguisher, the whole wall was engulfed at this stage.

“I thought, ‘This is it’.

“I got the second fire extinguisher, then that ran out, and…I just thought, ‘I can’t give up’.

“I got one last extinguisher, and then I started throwing buckets of canal water over it, and I managed to get it out.”

A passerby referred to as 999, however by the point the fireplace service arrived, the blaze was already out.

A 3rd of the boat was broken – the ceiling wanted changing, and all of the woodwork and paint needed to be redone.

Fortunately, the fireplace didn’t hit the electrical energy, and she or he didn’t lose something helpful.

She stated: “I came out thanking my lucky stars… it messed me up for a little while – when I saw the flames on my stove, my heart started to go.

“I think it must be some kind of PTSD but over time, that’s worn away, and I’m alright again now, but I’ve just got a new mentality about candles.

“I just don’t bother with them and if I go to someone’s house and they have candles, I’ll secretly blow them all out.”

Since proudly owning the boat, she has spent about £12,000 on renovations.

She has been documenting her progress on TikTok, underneath the deal with @canalboatkiz, since March 2024.

“I was in a bad place at the time – it was around the time my engine broke and I was grieving and I was just stagnant,” Kyrie defined.

“So I started posting to get me to reach my goals with storytelling and using my skills and give me an audience.”

She now has 19,500 followers, with a video about her journey to Leeds receiving a couple of million views.

Looking forward, Kyrie plans to proceed dwelling on the boat and exploring the UK for the foreseeable future.