'I swapped London life for 'freedom' on narrowboat - then it caught fire'

After years of struggling to make ends meet in London, 33-year-old Kyrie Morris found freedom in one of the most - by swapping for a rundown narrowboat and a life on the water with her Labrador, Snoop.

A freelance writer originally from Middlesbrough, Kyrie was paying £1,600 a month to while completing her Master’s degree in International Music Marketing and working part-time at The Blues Kitchen in Camden.

Between rent, bills, and day-to-day costs, the pressure was mounting. Often drawn to the tranquillity of , she’d sit by the water and think, “Wow, what a life.”

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When her grandfather passed away, her grandmother gave her a share of the inheritance. Instead of renewing her tenancy, Kyrie took a leap and bought the cheapest narrowboat she could find on Marketplace - a £21,000 fixer-upper with no running water, electricity, or toilet.

“When I first bought it, it was essentially a floating shed,” she recalled.

She used a gym for showers, charged devices at work, wore a head torch at night, and heated the boat with a log burner.

Gradually, she transformed the space - installing solar panels, a diesel heater for hot water, a cassette toilet, and a small kitchen area.

For 15 months, Kyrie cruised London’s canals, embracing the off-grid lifestyle and documenting her experiences.

Then, in July 2023, reeling from the sudden death of a close friend, she set off on a 357-mile solo journey to Leeds.

The trip took seven weeks and passed through Oxford, Coventry, Birmingham, and Lancashire.

But just as she reached Leeds in September, her boat’s engine failed. The boat was eventually towed to a yard in Goole, where she’s been based since, while extensive repairs - including a new engine and propeller - were carried out.

Then, in January 2025, disaster struck again: a candle fell, igniting a curtain and starting a fire onboard.

“Within 30 seconds, the whole side of the boat was on fire,” she said. Armed with extinguishers and buckets of canal water, Kyrie managed to douse the flames before fire services arrived.

A third of the boat was damaged, but luckily, she and Snoop escaped unharmed.

Since moving aboard, Kyrie has spent over £12,000 on renovations. Her expenses now hover around £800 a month, significantly lower than her former city lifestyle.

In March 2024, she began sharing her journey on TikTok as @canalboatkiz, quickly gaining more than 19,500 followers. One video documenting her trip to Leeds surpassed a million views.

Despite the setbacks, Kyrie insists she is happy with boat life. “There are extreme lows, but the highs are unmatched,” she said. “There’s a sense of freedom and adrenaline I’ve never experienced anywhere else.”

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