I was invited to join Burghfield Island Boat Club on the Kennet & Avon canal at Reading to see what they get up to. It’s a not for profit, member-run organisation that provides moorings and boater facilities as well as a big social environment.
The Narrowboat Trust operates a motor boat and butty pair, taking them to events around the country to promote how the canals were once used. You too can have a go as they’re keen to hear from anyone who would like to learn or just support their endeavours.
Very much a quick bonus video, this is a compilation of shots taken at the bi-annual Huddlesford Heritage event, a fundraiser for the Lichfield & Hatherton Canal Trust, to give you the flavour of the day.
My visit to the huge Southampton Boat Show 2023 and a snapshot of boats that took my fancy.
In 2019, I made a video about the restoration of the Lichfield canal, which had been ongoing for several decades, powered largely by volunteers and donations. So many people asked me for an update that I’ve now gone back to see what’s changed and whether the pandemic brought things to a halt.
In July 2019, Toddbrook reservoir nearly breached which would have flooded the town of Whaley Bridge. Today, repairs and reconstruction are well underway so I went along to have a look.
Part 3 of my trip through London (including going along the Regent’s Canal and down to the Thames Flood Barrier) this episode sees a convoy of up to 34 boats heading up the River Thames, under Tower Bridge and along to Teddington.
The Canal & River Trust, the charitable organisation tasked with maintaining the navigations of England & Wales, gets a quarter of its budget from a government grant. It’s just been announced that grant is going to be cut from 2027 onwards, leaving the CRT with a huge hole in its finances, that needs to be plugged. I sat down with the boss of the CRT and asked what the practical effects of the cut will be and what they – and we – can do to stave it off.
Welcome to the edge-of-your-seat finale of the marathon BCN Challenge 2023, where narrowboaters compete to see who can cover most of the Birmingham Canal Network in 24 hours.
Every year, the Birmingham Canal Navigations Society hosts the 24-hour BCN Challenge with the aim to cover as much of the 100-mile BCN as possible. This is my account of being a passenger on the 2023 Challenge.