Page updated 25 January 2021

The English canal network was developed in the early days of the industrial revolution. My introduction to it was in back in 1963. I've returned to boating on the network from time to time.

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1963 - Llangollen Holiday 1963 - A Holiday on the Llangollen Canal

The Chapman family take to the water for a week in a 24ft plywood cruiser.

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1970 - Llangollen Holiday 1970 - A Holiday on the Llangollen Canal

Friend, Graham, my brother Mike and I take a holiday on the Llangollen Canal with Mike's girlfriend and one of her friends from college.

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2001 - Stolen Time 2001-02 - Thoughts on Shared Ownership of a Narrowboat

This page contains an article that was written in 2010. It reflects what I thought at the time about being a part-owner of a narrowboat when undertaken with a group of strangers through one of the popular shared owner schemes.

2003 - nb Earnest 12-17 July 2003 - Cruising with the Tuesday Night Club

Spread across 10 pages and with some 160 images, I relate a week long cruise from Lancaster, via the Ribble Link and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal,to the Bingley Five-Rise that I took aboard nb Earnest with a collection of honorary member's of Neil Arlidge's Tuesday Night Club.

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2011 - Hatton & Lapworth Flights 25 April 2011 - Canal Walking

It's a glorious Easter Monday and it sees Diana, her sister, and I taking walks on the towpaths of the Grand Union and Stratford-On-Avon Canals at the Hatton and Lapworth flights.

2011 - Narrowboat Brokers 1 May 2011 - Canal Boat Brokers

Diana and I went to view narrowboats for sale at Whilton Marina and the Andy Burnett brokerage. I thought I'd add a link to this blog post here as, within the blog it is rather lost in amongst reports of the refurbishment of my little SeaHawk yacht, Just 17!

2011 - The Hunt for Harnser 30 May 2011 - The Hunt for Nb Harnser

It's a wet bank holiday weekend and Diana and I attempt to hunt down my friend Brian aboard his narrowboat Harnser, somewhere on the Oxford Canal.

2011 - Banbury Canal Day 4 October 2011 - Banbury Canal Day

Sylvia, Diana's sister, suggested a trip to Banbury Canal Day as a friend of hers had booked a coach trip from London to visit the event. So, on the hottest October day on record, Diana and I took Sylvia to meet up with Hilary and enjoy a day by the canal.

Thoughts On Canals and Broads 15 February 2012 - Concerning Canals and the Broads

When this site included blogging software comments were occasionally posted. More commonly I received emails. Here's a response to one that I received from Colin Grant.

I had a debate with myself about where to post it on the site now that the Blog has gone. I've opted for the Canals section on the grounds that most of the photographs fit this section.

2012 - Lapworth Flight Walk 24 March 2012 - Walking the Lapworth Flight

Eleven months after our Easter Monday walk on the Lapworth Flight, Diana and I do it again with friends Kevin and Elizabeth and it produces a rather different set of photographs.

2014 - Birmingham 17 March 2014 - Walking Around Central Birmingham's Canals

Diana travels to Birmingham to attend a conference, I tag along and use the time while she's at work to see a part of the canal network I always wanted to visit and walk the Aston and Farmer's Bridge Flights and see Gas Street Basin. (With almost 60 photos this report is split over three pages.)

2015 - Viewing Adderbury 24 January 2015 - Viewing Narrowboats

After spending New year at my brother's and hearing he'd given up on the idea of buying a share in a boat, Diana suggests we should buy one jointly. So we travel to Cheshire to view some narrowboats and end up making an offer.

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