Woman reveals ‘extreme highs and lows' of swapping London rent for a narrowboat

Independent

19-05-2025

A 33-year-old writer from Middlesbrough found "freedom" after trading London rent for life on a narrowboat, despite facing challenges like an exploding engine and a boat fire.
Kyrie Morris purchased a £21,000 narrowboat in April 2022 using inheritance money, escaping the £1,600 monthly costs of London living.
Initially, the boat lacked basic amenities like running water and electricity, resembling a "floating shed." However, Morris gradually transformed it, adding a kitchen cupboard, toilet, and a fold-down sofa bed.
Accompanied by her Labrador, Snoop, she spent 15 months navigating London's canals while working as a bartender and completing her Master's degree.
In July 2023, following the sudden death of a close friend and a failed attempt to get on Big Brother, she set off on a 357-mile journey to Leeds – but, upon arrival, her engine blew up, forcing her to stay put, and her boat later caught fire.
Since moving onto the boat, Kyrie has spent around £12,000 on renovations and now spends around £800 a month, sharing her journey with 19,500 followers on TikTok under the handle @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 said.
While studying for a Master's degree in International Music Marketing in London, Kyrie was working at The Blues Kitchen in Camden to help make ends meet and make music industry connections.
Her rent and bills for her one-bed flat in London came to £1,300 a month.
She would often sit by the canals and think, 'Wow, what a life', and gradually began looking into the canal boat lifestyle.
When it came time to renew her tenancy, Kyrie knew she wanted to stay in London, but without paying so much, living with others, or giving up a place that accepted dogs.
At the end of her Master's, her granddad passed away, and her grandmother gave her some money.
Kyrie used it to buy the cheapest boat she could find on Facebook Marketplace for £21,000 and moved in April 2022.
Her family were very supportive of her decision, as she has always made 'mad decisions'.
When she first bought the boat, it was like a 'floating shed', with no running water, toilet, or electricity.
She had a gym membership to shower, charged her phone at work, and when she got home, had to wear a head torch and light a fire.
Over time, she got solar panels connected to 12-volt batteries for electricity, a diesel heater for hot water and a cassette toilet she empties manually.
Until recently, she didn't have a fridge and lived off a lot of tinned food, warmed on a gas camping stove.
She said: '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 essentials, such as her canal licence, insurance and food, compared to the £1,600 she used to spend in London on bills, rent and food.
She lived on the boat in London for 15 months, cruising canals like Regent's Canal and the Grand Union Canal, but then felt a sudden need to change things 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 explained.
'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 through Oxford, Coventry, Birmingham, Stoke-on-Trent and Lancashire.
She planned to settle in Leeds for a few months and make progress with her music and freelance writing.
But when she arrived, in September 2023, her engine blew up, and she had to stay moored in a marina while searching for a 'reliable engineer'.
After finally finding an engineer, her boat was towed to a boatyard in Goole in October 2024.
Both she and her boat have remained in Goole since while repairs are carried out, including the installation of a new engine, a new propeller, and work on the bottom of the boat.
In January 2025, the boat even caught fire after she accidentally 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 called 999, but by the time the fire service arrived, the blaze was already out.
A third of the boat was damaged – the ceiling needed replacing, and all the woodwork and paint had to be redone.
Fortunately, the fire did not hit the electricity, and she did not lose anything valuable.
She said: '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 owning the boat, she has spent about £12,000 on renovations.
She has been documenting her progress on TikTok, under the handle @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 explained.
'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 more than one million views.
Looking ahead, Kyrie plans to continue living on the boat and exploring the UK for the foreseeable future.