Bonus Video: Huddle Up!
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.
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Vlog 311: The Show Must Go On
My visit to the huge Southampton Boat Show 2023 and a snapshot of boats that took my fancy.
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Vlog 310: Routemasters
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.
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Vlog 309: Dream Team
My ‘canal wife’ Lorna and I continue our voyage down the Thames in a former Norfolk Broads hire boat, in this episode going from Reading to Windsor where the trip ended.
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Vlog 308: Living the Dream
A long-standing viewer offered me and my “canal wife” (aka good friend) Lorna the use of his boat on the upper River Thames for a few days – thanks Ed! – which we were delighted to accept. This is the first of two videos of that trip.
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Vlog 307: Reservoir Vlogs
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.
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Vlog 306: Carry On Up The Thames
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.
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Vlog 305: Left Turn, Clyde
This is Part 2 of the cruise I was invited on by the St Pancras Cruising Club. We went out onto the River Thames and east towards and through the Thames Flood Barrier, in a convoy of 16 narrowboats.
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Vlog 304: Canals in Crisis?
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.
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Vlog 303: A shark? In a London canal?
The Regent’s Canal runs through much of the middle of London and is a surprisingly peaceful oasis of calm amongst the hustle and bustle of the city. And yes, there is a shark! I joined the St Pancras Cruising Club who’d arrange for a huge convoy of boats to travel along the canal, assembling at Limehouse Basin by the end of the day.
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