Rescuing hundreds of thousands of stranded Allied troops in World War 2, the Little Ships of Dunkirk are little miracles. Several of these historic vessels were on display at the Thames Traditional Boat Festival at Henley-on-Thames. I went along to have a look at all the spectacle and to hitch a ride on Little Ship “Aquabelle”.
Opened originally in 1811, the Standedge (pronounced “Stannedge”, apparently) canal tunnel is a legendary boating experience at 5km (3.5m) long and hundreds of feet underground. I was lucky enough to join narrowboaters on a Pennine Cruise organised by the Huddersfield Canal Society as they went through this amazing tunnel.
On Saturday 25th June 2022, around 80 narrowboats took part in a colourful and noisy parade through Birmingham to mark the city hosting this year’s Commonwealth Games. This is my record of that day.
On a sunny day at the Anderton Boat Lift, I was delighted to have the opportunity to chat with Katherine Hutchinson who operates the steam-powered narrowboat Emily Anne.
Every year, the Canal & River Trust replace a load of worn-out lock gates across the 200+ year-old canals of England and Wales. But how do you lift a 4-tonne chunk of wood out of its bindings, on waterway, often with limited room to manoeuvre? With a crane on a boat, that’s how.
Throughout 2022, Scottish Canals is holding a series of events to mark the 200th anniversary of the Union Canal which links Edinburgh to Falkirk, and I went along for a two-day flotilla cruise to mark the occasion. This is Part 1 (of 2) of that trip.
What would a narrowboat look like if you were able to start with a blank sheet of paper and design it so that the boat was still very usable in later life or with limits on your physical agility? A couple from Hampshire have done just that so I went along to see the finishing touches being put to the boat ahead of it going on display at the Crick Waterways show in June.
My first broadcasting love was (and still is) radio, long before I got sidetracked into TV or YouTube. These days, anyone can become an audio broadcaster via podcasting, and my interviewee in this video has done just that, telling tales about his life on a narrowboat on the UK canals.
After a hiatus due to “global events” (!), the annual historic canalboat festival came back to the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port. Spread over the Easter weekend, it began with a convoy of narrowboats coming up the Shropshire Union Canal from Chester to Ellesmere, and I went along to document the event.
A sit-down chat about how the new 540W solar panel helped over winter, and mention of the lead carbon batteries I installed in summer 2019.