Back to where it all began

Finding fame through filming his journeys, Robbie Cumming discusses cruising the waterways of the South East for his new series of Canal Boat Diaries

Robbie on the Regent’s Canal at Camden.

It was in the cold winter of 2012/13 that I got my first taste of liveaboard life. Residing afloat was not something I ever planned; it was just a means to an end. At that time I had a girlfriend in London and, not having a job, my friend Sam said I could live on her narrowboat for free as long as I kept it moving and in a tidy, well-maintained condition (she was planning on selling it).

I was aboard for a total of three months and I never did get a job. I was completely distracted by this lovely parallel world where everything happens in a different timescale and utterly absorbed in exploring the capital in this way.

I remember arriving at the boat at Hackney on my first day. Sam opened it up for me to unpack my things and make myself at home before she headed off to talk to a friend. In the bathroom there was a Porta Potti, which I didn’t have a clue how to work. Essentially there are two levers and I quickly realised I’d selected the wrong one. …