We had a quiet night at Campbell Park, and this morning was much better than forecast.  We set off just before 9, and crawled past all the moored boats most of the way home!  There was an unintended pause at New Bradwell, where there are boats moored on the offside and there was a boat coming the other way, and we got stuck on a rock or something, a meter or so from the towpath.  It took quite an effort to get us moving again.  The house with the tower by the next bridge now has a huge hole in the garden and another extension going up. At Cosgrove Lock, Walhalla, the big ..read more

We both slept really well, and woke to bright sunshine.  We had a pretty relaxed start to the day, and set off about 9.30.  Lots of people have said there seem to be very few boats about, but they must all be in Milton Keynes, because we passed loads.  At one point, the Jules Fuels boats were serving a customer, so there wasn’t much room to get by. We continued past Campbell Park Marina, where the flats and townhouses on the other side are progressing.  There are shops and businesses open now. We turned round at the winding hole before Bridge 83, and returned to the Cam ..read more

We left home at 7am, and drove up to Brinklow Marina, to attend the Electrika electric boat show.  We listened to some of the talks and spoke to a lot of people, and I’ll be writing a piece for Canal Boat.  It was good to hear from electric boat owners, and see some of the latest tech.  We left about 2pm, made a stop at Tesco in Rugby, and headed for Briar Rose.  We were soon unpacked and setting off, heading for Cosgrove. Before the lock we passed a couple of boats going the other way, and then at the lock a boat was about to come up.  As the lock landing is a bit a ..read more

The June Canal Boat is out and includes my boat test on Twitchy Feet by Smithwood Narrowboats ..read more

Twelve years of Briar Rose ownership completed.  This year's usage went back up again as we had a long autumn cruise, and our Crick trip had a few extra days at the start too. During the year we travelled on the following waterways: BCN New Main Line BCN Old Main Line BCN Titford Canal Birmingham and Fazeley Canal B&F Digbeth Branch Coventry Canal Grand Union Digbeth Branch Grand Union Leicester Line Grand Union Mainline Llangollen Canal Middlewich Arm Montgomery Canal North Oxford Canal Prees Arm Shropshire Union main line  Trent and Mersey Canal Whitchurch Arm ..read more

The May Canal Boat is out, and includes my boat test on Curiosity, by Boating Leisure Services.  This boat will also be at the Crick Boat Show at the end of May ..read more

I came up to the boat after work yesterday.  The Eberspacher took a couple of goes to get running, but everything else was fine.  I was woken several times in the night by torrential rain, and this morning the marina road was more like a lake. I had to go to Dunchurch Pools for a boat test, but I was ready early so I stopped at the little car park by the penultimate Stoke Bruerne lock and walked along to see how the Tove was doing.  The overflow entry of the river was running, showing how much water there is about. The boat test went well, and despite there being some rain ..read more

The April Canal Boat is out, and includes my boat test on a spec boat by Andy Dence ..read more

The March Canal Boat is in the shops, and includes my boat test on Halewick, by MGM ..read more

The February Canal Boat is out, and has my boat test on a stock boat by Russell Narrowboats.  ..read more