Vlog 271: Fun and Games
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.
Continue readingStories about boats and waterways
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.
Continue readingOn 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.
Continue readingEvery 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.
Continue readingThroughout 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.
Continue readingWhat 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.
Continue readingMy 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.
Continue readingAfter 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.
Continue readingA 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.
Continue readingA new boat show has launched in 2022, held at the NEC in Birmingham. Boat Life Live aims to be the “pre-season” (the organisers are clearly not liveaboards!) show for posh yachties but also includes a solid inland waterways contingent. Here’s my record of my day there.
Continue readingIn October last year, I produced a video documenting the restoration efforts of the Cotswold Canals Trust. One of the major projects they were facing was the need for a tunnel / bridge to let their canal go under a railway line at Stonehouse near Stroud. That was done over Christmas so I popped back for a quick update.
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