Category: Other Canal Topics

Vlog 302: They Think It’s All Over

Posted on July 3, 2023February 24, 2024 by David Johns

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.

Vlog 301: Challenge Accepted!

Posted on June 25, 2023February 24, 2024 by David Johns

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.

Vlog 300: The Full Monty

Posted on June 16, 2023February 24, 2024 by David Johns

The Montgomery canal which runs from Shropshire into north Wales is absolutely beautiful but only parts of it are in water and useable by boats. Efforts are underway to connect the whole length and this video covers the latest developments.

Vlog 298: Mr Fusion

Posted on June 2, 2023February 24, 2024 by David Johns

This video profiles the incredible Edwin Fasham and his two custom-built canal boats, both of them unlike anything I’ve ever seen before and mostly hand-built by him in his back garden!

Vlog 297: A Wynn, Wynn Situation

Posted on May 21, 2023February 24, 2024 by David Johns

If you’re a fan of boating on YouTube you surely must know Nikki and Jason Wynn, ex-RVers turned global sailors. Now having a brand new boat built, they decided to take a little time out to visit Britain and have a go at narrowboating. So I sorted them a 10-day trip on the Llangollen Canal.

Vlog 296: I Like To Move It, Move It

Posted on May 7, 2023February 24, 2024 by David Johns

I spend a day with Connor Warner, a professional boat mover who takes customers’ narrowboats, cruisers, Dutch barges … you name it …. around the rivers and canals of Britain.

Vlog 295: Garbage in, garbage out

Posted on April 28, 2023February 24, 2024 by David Johns

Every year, the IWA in Milton Keynes organises a massive clean-up of the local stretch of the Grand Union canal, which a team of eager volunteers undertake. The garbage they pull from the waters is quite staggering, as this video shows.

Vlog 294: Ship’s Getting Real

Posted on April 15, 2023February 24, 2024 by David Johns

A return visit to ML1392 Sarinda on the Wirral to see how Simon and Gemma are getting on with their painstaking restoration of this historic ship.

Vlog 293: Amped Up

Posted on April 4, 2023February 24, 2024 by David Johns

An all-electric narrowboat is now available for hire by the day so it’s a low-cost way to test the waters of near-silent narrowboating and leave no air pollution in your wake.

Vlog 292: Q & A

Posted on March 26, 2023February 24, 2024 by David Johns

This is a much-requested fireside chat video where I sit and chat for nearly half an hour, answering questions posed to me by viewers.

Canal Life