We are in fact now in Nantwich on the Shropshire Union Canal heading south but here is our experience of visiting Chester by boat. The cruise down into Chester from the junction at Barbridge, where most boats turn south towards Nantwich and Audlem is full of variety with double staircase locks at Bunbury, an iron lock and fine views over the Cheshire countryside. This is Beeston Iron Lock. The two locks at Beeston are called the Iron and the Stone locks because of their construction. Stone built locks are fairly conventional but this one was made of iron because the sand it was bui ..read more

 We are now in the docks in Liverpool and have been since we came down the Liverpool Canal Link on Monday. We're here for a few days enjoying the sights but I thought it might be useful to show the approach into Liverpool Docks for those that haven't made this journey. The Liverpool Canal Link was opened in 2009 as part of an initiative to revitalise the docks in Liverpool to encourage more visitors. It is now possible to take a narrowboat down from the Leeds and Liverpool Canal to moor in Salthouse Dock (next to the famous Albert Dock). So this is the story of our trip down here: W ..read more

 We are now down 50 feet from the Trent and Mersey on the River Weaver after coming down the Anderton Lift this afternoon. So I thought it would be interesting to share some photos of our descent. Normally the lift has two caissons each capable of holding a wide beam boat or two narrowboats. Usually one caisson goes up as the other goes down. However at present only one caisson is working so passage is restricted and you need to book passage rather than just turning up and waiting your turn. However we booked our passage only yesterday so there didn't seem to be much problem, indeed a pho ..read more

 We've now explored as much of the Caldon Canal as a narrowboat can. People often ask us which is our favourite canal? Well the Caldon Canal must certainly be in the top three. It has so much variety - a staircase lock, two tunnels (one barely navigable), an intriguing junction, beautiful contryside and places of interest nearby. It is however quite a challenging canal and should not be cruised if you are expecting an easy time. It is often narrow and shallow and the offside is badly overgrown (or at least that has been so in 2022). So here are some photos of its key features with informa ..read more

 I have been remiss in not updating this blog before. We are now home having left Leo for the winter. I was planning on doing two more updates to our blog, but time has marched on so you have a bumper edition covering our last couple of weeks boating for 2021. This update then covers our cruising to and then through Leicester to Trent Junction and down the river Trent. It is always a bit sad coming to the end of cruising for the year, but nights are closing in, leaves are falling and it is time for us to go back to being landlubbers for the winter. In the meantime here is the last update ..read more

 We have given some thought to how often we update this blog and what we put on it. Over the years we have been boating and now that we have covered nearly all the inland waterways in England and Wales updating the blog is not always the pleasurable occupation it once was. So this year we will be trying some new approaches. Mainly we will focus any blogs on significant days on the canals particularly on less frequented waterways. For instance later this summer we hope to cross onto the Lancaster Canal using the tidal Ribble Link and that will certainly feature on the blog. But on more rou ..read more

 After two and a half months of cruising the East Anglian rivers we have finally come up the Northampton locks and back onto the Grand Union Canal. Here are some highlights from our last few days on the Nene and of our climb up the 17 narrow locks from Northampton: On Monday (30th August) we moored on a delightful grassy mooring (FOTRN - Friends of the River Nene) at Woodford and walked up to the village. This photo of the church though was taken as we cruised past on the river. One thatched house in the village had some wonderful animals also made out of thatch ..read more

 Having turned right at Napton Junction we are now heading north on the Leicester branch of the Grand Union so here are some highlights particularly of the delights of the summit section from Watford to Foxton Locks: First I promised in our last update to give more information about Weedon where we arrived last Sunday (5 September). Here you can see Helen standing outside a lovely old thatched building in the village. This used to be a pub but is now a private house. In the early 1800s we were at war with France and the government took the decision to find a place to store ..read more

 On our way back down the Great Ouse we have explored three waterways: the Cam, the Little Ouse (or Brandon Creek) and the Relief Channel, and this is the story of those trips. First we swallowed our pride and paid the extortionate licence fee to visit Cambridge, though we are in correspondence with the Cam Commissioners about this. The River Cam joins the Great Ouse at Pope's Corner and the first 7 miles upstream are covered by either a Gold Licence or an EA licence. However for the six and a half miles further up from Bottisham Lock to just below Jesus Lock in the centre of Cambridge, t ..read more

 As I type this we are once more on the River Nene heading back upstream towards the canals. Here are some highlights of our journey over the last week: Last Sunday morning (22 August) we crossed the tidal section of the Ouse from Denver to Salter's Lode to join the Middle Level Navigations. It was a dismal drizzly morning and here we are leaving Denver Lock onto the tidal river. This photo taken by Helen at the bow looking back, shows us passing another narrowboat as we cross the short half mile of tidal water. After passing the 'Slow Down' notice for boats tear ..read more