My Nan was a bargee, and spent her first thirty years of her life on a narrowboat. All her brothers and uncles were narrowboat captains. She was born in Gloucester, and told me she had travelled on pretty much all the canals in England at one time or another, carrying anything and everything. She had some amazing stories to tell, but one thing stood out, and that was the fact that it was a bloody hard life, but a happy one.