1963 - A Holiday on the Llangollen Canal

During the 1950s the Chapman family had lived in Morden, Surrey (It's now a London Borough) and boating a been limited to hiring punts or canoes on the Wey at Godalming or Guildford or Henley on the Thames.

In 1963, after moving to Sussex, the family take to the water for a week in a 24ft plywood cruiser.

1970 - A Holiday on the Llangollen Canal

Friend, Graham, my brother Mike and I take a holiday on the Llangollen Canal with Mike's girlfriend and one of her friends from college.

2001-02 - Thoughts on Shared Ownership of a Narrowboat

This page contains an article that was written in 2010. It reflects what I thought at the time about being a part-owner of a narrowboat when undertaken with a group of strangers through one of the popular shared owner schemes.

12-17 July 2003 - Cruising with the Tuesday Night Club

Spread across 10 pages and with some 160 images, I relate a week long cruise from Lancaster, via the Ribble Link and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal,to the Bingley Five-Rise that I took aboard nb Earnest with a collection of honorary member's of Neil Arlidge's Tuesday Night Club.

25 April 2011 - Canal Walking

It's a glorious Easter Monday and it sees Diana, her sister, and I taking walks on the towpaths of the Grand Union and Stratford-On-Avon Canals at the Hatton and Lapworth flights.

1 May 2011 - Canal Boat Brokers

I persuaded Diana to view some narrowboats for sale at Whilton Marina and the Andy Burnett brokerage. The idea stemmed from one of my fantasy thoughts... When she gets round to semi-retirement wouldn't it be a great to have a boat in the Midlands that she could use as a "crash pad" rather than her flat. It could also be used for holidays and weekends when we're not in Norfolk.

30 May 2011 - The Hunt for Nb Harnser

It's a wet bank holiday weekend and Diana and I attempt to hunt down my friend Brian aboard his narrowboat Harnser, somewhere on the Oxford Canal.

4 October 2011 - Banbury Canal Day

Sylvia, Diana's sister, suggested a trip to Banbury Canal Day as a friend of hers had booked a coach trip from London to visit the event. So, on the hottest October day on record, Diana and I took Sylvia to meet up with Hilary and enjoy a day by the canal.

15 February 2012 - Concerning Canals and the Broads

When this site included blogging software comments were occasionally posted. More commonly I received emails. Here's a response to one that I received from Colin Grant.

I had a debate with myself about where to post it on the site now that the Blog has gone. I've opted for the Canals section on the grounds that most of the photographs fit this section.

24 March 2012 - Walking the Lapworth Flight

Eleven months after our Easter Monday walk on the Lapworth Flight, Diana and I do it again with friends Kevin and Elizabeth and it produces a rather different set of photographs.

17 March 2014 - Walking Around Central Birmingham's Canals

Diana travels to Birmingham to attend a conference, I tag along and use the time while she's at work to see a part of the canal network I always wanted to visit and walk the Aston and Farmer's Bridge Flights and see Gas Street Basin. (With almost 60 photos this report is split over three pages.)

24 January 2015 - Viewing Narrowboats

After spending New year at my brother's and hearing he'd given up on the idea of buying a share in a boat, Diana suggests we should buy one jointly. So we travel to Cheshire to view some narrowboats and end up making an offer.