Life on a boat during a heatwave: ‘It’s like an oven’

As the UK continues to experience one of the warmest summers in living memory, those who live on the water are feeling the heat more than most.

The Canal and River Trust estimates that as many as a third of the 35,000 boats on England’s waterways are occupied as permanent homes.

Among those water dwellers is Wayne, who lives on his boat – permanently moored on the Oxford Canal – with his baby daughter, Elinor.

At certain points this summer, he says the internal temperature on his 60ft (18 m) long houseboat has risen as high as 35C.

“That is just insanely hot,” he says.

“[Elinor] obviously struggles to sleep when it’s ridiculously hot.

“Trying to keep her cool and keep her happy, it’s all part of the joy and the challenge of the life.”