Imagine waking up every morning to the gentle sway of your floating home, surrounded by the peaceful waters of Lough Erne on the Irish Inland Waterways.
For us, this dream became a reality in August 2021 when we embarked on our journey as a narrowboat couple, embracing the off-grid lifestyle amidst the breathtaking landscapes of Lough Erne. In this blog, we’ll share our story, the challenges, and the joys of living aboard our narrowboat while immersing ourselves in the natural beauty of this enchanting way of life.
Our story about Qisma started just before Covid. We were both students in Staffordshire University and loved watching the narrowboats slowly drift past in the canals in Stoke-On-Trent. Before we were going to graduate, we decided that this unique style of living was for us, with no mortgage and no rent tying us down.
So we viewed narrowboats around the country and even went on a narrowboat holiday, just to double-check that living in a 6ft (182.88cm) wide space was something we wanted to do. And thankfully, it was! Unfortunately though in March 2020, our dreams of wanting to live on a narrowboat soon diminished. As COVID-19 spread viciously and a lockdown was fast approaching also, we made the hard decision to pack 3 years’ worth of our uni life and head back to Northern Ireland.
With one lockdown to the next, we didn’t think we would be going back to England anytime soon.
So we made new dreams of tiny living, planning out what it would be like to buy an old chassis and create an off-grid tiny house on land.
It was only because of Josh’s curiosity one day that Qisma came into the picture.
Josh’s family often went on holidays around Co. Fermanagh, which is where we found our love of the beautiful Lough Erne. From water sports to boating, Lough Erne was always part of our lives. That is why one day, Josh wanted to see if there were any liveaboards in barges or narrowboats in the Lough Erne. A simple Google search then brought us to Qisma, a 60ft narrowboat for sale in Upper Lough Erne.
Initially, we thought that this boat (and the price) was too good to be true. But curiosity got the better of us and so, we called up the owner to ask more questions. One thing led to another, and we were signing sale papers for our new floating home in August 2021.
Fast forward to early 2024, we have been loving our small and simple life on Qisma. We have learnt many things along the way, like how easy it is to fall into the Lough, how to deal with the cold during the Winter and how to operate locks in the system! We hope to share all of this and more in our new blog for Cruising Qisma.
If you would like to find out more about our life on Qisma, give us a follow over on Instagram here, Tiktok here, and even Youtube here!
