We broke down – again

By Heather Bell, Posted on February 3, 2026

What could possibly go wrong this time? We’d been cruising for a few hours and moored up for a late lunch, I’m in the galley and I realise I can smell paint stripper-but I’m chopping garlic, so I’m wondering if my sense of smell is playing up so, I ask Ian. He wanders around, yep he can smell something too… eventually his curiosity gets him hunting under the floor boards of the engine room and he finds it. The fuel pipe has split, and diesel is seeping into the bilge and the smell is only rising up from the hull in the galley.

Ian turns off the feed from the fuel tank and we’re stuck where we are, it’s a Friday night and we’re not sure who to call (Ghostbusters???!!). Ian does his best to mop up the spillage and do a temporary fix on the fuel pipe. As luck would have it, we realise that we’ve moored up on the same stretch of canal that our favourite engineer lives on, so we call Scott! We limp the boat down towards where Scott has his mooring and by Wednesday we’re back in action. This poor boat is showing a bit of wear and tear bless her socks.

After a restock at the local marina and shops we headed on to the docks at Sharpness. As you approach this end of the navigation the views up and down the estuary are fantastic. Here the old sea wall borders the canal towpath, but it’s been many years since the saltwater lapped against its structure as there’s a significant sand bank in the way now. The landscape of the estuary is punctuated with the tragic remnants of what was once a railway bridge that spanned across it. The round tower that traverses the sea wall used to hold a steam engine for revolving the last span to allow tall ships to pass along the canal, but the foundations of the bridge caissons are now broken stumps, like gigantic stepping stones stretching across the sound.

The last remaining span and the revolving span tower

Built in the late 1870’s the bridge had 21 spans and stretched 1,268m (3/4 mile), joining Sharpness to Lydney and the coal mines of the Forest of Dean. The construction was challenging and the cost of around £225,000, (about £35 million in today’s dosh) put the original company into liquidation.

Today’s view of the caisson footings and wrecks

The bridge had a chequered history up to October 1960 when, minutes after the last passenger train had crossed, in dense fog, two fuel tanker barges, having missed the bells and lights of the Sharpness Lock, were swept out of control by the incoming tide and collided with the bridge. Two spans broke, rupturing a gas main and severing an electrical cable. There was a huge explosion, the spans fell onto the boats igniting the cargo of petrol and oil, killing all but three of the crews and spreading burning fuel across the waters and for a mile upstream. At low tide the remains of the boats can still be seen just upstream from where they hit the bridge. In the following years there was a catalogue of disasters during the efforts to repair the broken spans and three further crews lost their lives during flood tides. Seven years later the decision was made to demolish the entire structure. No one really wanted the job and the first company to attempt it went bankrupt. You’d think it was cursed!

The old Sharpness Dock is now one of the bases for SARA, Severn Area Rescue Association. An independent, marine and land-based, search and rescue organisation covering the Severn Estuary and upper reaches of the River Severn. It’s run by 200 volunteers across its six stations which are all members of the Mountain Rescue England & Wales. Typical callouts usually involve boats or persons in difficulty, but they also help with searches for missing persons, animal rescue and flood relief.

View across the working side of Sharpness Dock

Now when I look along the this picturesque estuary at low tide, soaking up it’s calm serenity and watching the playful swirls of water where the tide and river meet, it’s unsettling to learn of these tragedies. A stark reminder of the colossal unforgiving power of tidal waters.

A fiery sunset over the old Sharpness Dock

Back on the boat

By Heather Bell, Posted on January 18, 2026

After celebrating Christmas and New Year with family in Cheshire we’ve moved the boat out of the marina and hunkered down to recover from catching the winter lurgies. The peaceful waters are being rocked by either Storm Goretti or the dredger operating in the quays at Gloucester!

Video of failing drive plate (click to play)

Our first shock has been to recognise how close we’ve been to having a disaster with the drive plate and the starter cable. That drive plate had only one functioning spring left (see link to video above) and the starter cable was almost completely chewed through. We cannot speak highly enough of the engineer Scott Lashbrook from GWD Marine for his excellent work, he spent four days sorting it all out.

Paired traditional boats moored on the cut

While we wait for another break in the weather, we’ve been reviewing our plans for 2026 (but we’re not telling you them in case we jinx ’em!) What I will say is that we’re spending Spring here on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal (G&S). We’ve been trying to get here since 2009 when we were living in Swindon, Wiltshire, so it’s a joy to finally get here and do some exploring.

On a cold sunny morning, we did a wander to what is sometimes referred to as the Purton Boat Graveyard or Purton Hulks. That sounds very ghoulish but is an accurate description of the sight of 80 rotting wrecks protruding from the banks of the River Severn. From 1909 to the 1960s, these barges, ketches, schooners and concrete lighters were purposefully beached here to strengthen the riverbank against high tides, reduce erosion and protect the embankment of the canal. Each boat has a story to tell, and together they span over 180 years of maritime history. “Harriett” is rather special, she was built at Honey Street, Pewsey in 1905 and is the last remaining example of a wooden Kennet barge. She used to work between the river and the docks in Bristol and is now a scheduled monument.

What I’m particularly loving about this canal are the views across the Severn Estuary, the largest estuary in the UK and famous for having Europe’s highest tidal range (up to 14.5m). When the conditions are right (about 260 times a year); higher tide, lower air pressure and low water levels in the river, the longest wave in the UK is created, the Severn Bore. Popular with kayakers and surfers, a 4-star wave can be up to 2.8m in height and travels at between 10-13 miles per hour. In the past it has wiped out boats but thankfully it hasn’t got a reputation for causing major injuries, just washing the legs of spectators, so as long as we stand well back, we should be safe watching the 1 and 2 star waves which are predicted while we’re here Severn Bore Timetable 2026.

From A Little Boat to a Big Ship

By Heather Bell, Posted on December 23, 2025

The breach near Whitchurch on Llangollen Canal 22/12/2025

As I type this our thoughts are with those poor boaters on the Llangollen Canal who experienced the terror of losing their boats when the canal breached close to Whitchurch in the early hours of the morning. It is only by sheer luck that, when we were hunting for a marina mooring for December, we turned down one on this very canal. It is a relief to know that everyone is safe.

Following our close encounter with that big boat at the start of November we spent the rest of the month recuperating on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal before putting the boat into the marina for December.

We were off on another adventure, this time it was a fly cruise to the Caribbean to celebrate Heather’s significant birthday (I know, I only look 40!!). This time we were sailing on P&O ship Arvia one of the biggest cruise ships in the world with a capacity of over 6000 passengers and a crew of about 2000. This is the biggest ship we have ever been on and as she is 19 x the length of our boat and we weren’t sure if we’d enjoy it. In the end we were both surprised that, despite being at full capacity, it didn’t feel crowded and there was always somewhere quiet to relax and enjoy the scenery. But yes, we did decide it was too big for us.

The main atrium all decked out for Christmas!

We had a fabulous time. Highlights included beaches on Virgin Gorda (yes that does mean fat virgin!), in the British Virgin Islands, where Ian walked through caves formed by massive granite boulders and then we snorkelled with fish of all shapes and sizes. There was even an octopus who gave me a very dirty look (don’t blame him) before slipping back under his shelf.

At the Balata Botanical Gardens on Martinique we saw hummingbirds flitting between feeders and flowers before we braved a tree top rope walk which had the most staggering views across the rainforests down to the coast.

At Laura’s Herb and Spice Garden on Grenada, crushed leaves were passed out to play guess the spice. My tongue was tingling after nibbling a fresh green peppercorn. I got to taste the pulp off a fresh cocoa seed (weird) but for me the biggest surprise was to discover that vanilla is an orchid – I had no idea!

The most bizarre experience had to be listening to Christmas carols whilst we played crazy golf on deck 19 of a huge ship moored in the Caribbean (we drew this game but probably should have had a rematch when the boat was sailing!)

Whilst we were having some downtime on the cruise, our little narrowboat was also getting some much needed TLC. NB Heron had her drive plate replaced; it was discovered to be wobbly and bits of it had broken off, apparently it was close to a catastrophic failure! The broken oil cooler (that had been patched in October when we broke down) and the diesel lift pump both got replaced

AND the engine electrics got checked over and sorted (there were some spare cables that really didn’t seem to be doing anything!) It took four days of work, some people say that BOAT stands for “Bring Out Another Thousand”, this turned out to be a bit more than that, but well worth it and will give the boat a new lease of life for 2026.

Right now, we just want to say a big thank you for reading our blogs this year, we hope you’ve found them interesting and fun.

Season’s Greetings to you all and here’s to a Happy and Healthy 2026!

There was no where to go!

By Heather Bell, Posted on November 10, 2025

We’ve finally made it south of Tixall Wide on the Staffordshire & Worcester Canal (S&W) and it is simply stunning. The canal meanders through wooded valleys beside a curtain of red sandstone and we’ve already planned to come back this way to spend time in the picturesque mooring spots that we’ve now pencilled into our 14 year old (but still looks brand new) Nicholson Guide book.

We’re heading to the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal, it’s one that we haven’t been able to reach before so we intend to explore it over next six months or so. The boat is already in winter mode, the cratch cover is down and the bow is has been turned into a store room; full of coal and scavenged wood. The coal cage is being kept lit in the multifuel stove keeping the boat warm, and even the barefoot boater has got his shoes and socks on! Cruising along the canal in the autumn is like drifting in a pot of leaf soup, the floating leaves stick to the propeller smothering the blades, reducing power and steerage, so the odd little bump is inevitable as you try to steer into locks.

The autumn colours are set against moody skies bringing sudden bouts of heavy rain and gusts of wind. We‘ve really enjoyed being on the S&W, the trip down has been peaceful and gentle, that is until we joined the River Severn. Oh boy, that was a rude awaking.

We thought we were experienced and competent river cruisers having spent a lot of time on the Thames over the years, in a range of craft and in a variety of conditions. But the River Severn has a completely different character and attitude. Although the water levels were back down to green, after running high following a couple of weeks of rain, the flow was faster than normal (we were told this by a local boater) and we were heading downstream fast. This was in our favour except for on the two occasions when we very nearly came a cropper.

On rivers it is always advisable to moor with your bow facing upstream, so when leaving our mooring we needed to turn the boat downstream again. We were on the pontoon mooring above Diglis Lock at Worcester, which is opposite the channel to the weir and foolishly didn’t realise (it is very deceptive) how strong the flow was. You’ve guessed it, we didn’t reposition away from this channel before attempting to turn the boat around and got pulled sideways rather violently onto the floating bouys that stop boats from being dragged onto the weir itself. It was frightening and a real rookie error, our little engine did its best but in those few moments of pulling away from the pontoon, the prop had got stuck with leaves so there wasn’t a lot of action happening. But we survived. It was, we thought, probably the scariest moment we’d ever had in our boating careers. Unfortunately there was another incident to follow;

A couple of days later we were booked into Gloucester Lock, all of the locks on the River Severn are huge and manned, but this was the only one that was restricted to weekend opening hours and had to be prebooked. About 3 km from the lock, the river splits and the channel to the lock is narrower, shallower and a bit bendy. We’d previously been warned that a big boat would be coming upstream and would be leaving the Gloucester Lock just after 9am, it was now approaching 11am and as instructed we’d phoned ahead to confirm our arrival. During the call no one mentioned the big boat, we were just told that a second narrowboat was following us and would join us in the lock. We hadn’t seen the bigger boat on the main river so assumed it had either cancelled or had already completed its transit and was moored in one of the boat yards that we’d passed earlier. This was not so.

We were already in the channel when we met the little pilot boat that was travelling ahead of it, advice was shouted to us to keep across to the side as much as we could, which we did. I dashed down to the bow to keep a look out and you can tell from the pictures what happened next.

The boat appeared around the next bend, it was huge and travelling at full throttle, the water was really too shallow for it and its prop was partially out of the water. As it started to pass us we got pulled side on to it, with our boat bouncing along its fenders until we came level with it’s stern. At this point the force of the water from the big boat’s propeller forced the bow of our boat into the trees, the flow of the river and wake from the big boat then threw our stern across the channel. We were left side on to the current and fending off the trees and branches that were crashing through the cockpit of the bow. How we didn’t lose the cratch, aerials, chimney and me, I’ve no idea. I just remember frantically trying to unhook the bow from the vegetation, grabbing and pushing the branches away. I really did think we’d had it. The boat was almost completely across the river and soon it would be tilting over, with the boat that was following us crashing into us. But suddenly, the bow was freed and swung out back into the river and Ian, bless his toe socks, managed to regain control.

You can imagine how relieved we were to see the lock gates opening ahead of us. We later found out that the captain of the big boat had been strongly advised not to proceed, he’d refused to listen, but as he’d left the lock just after 9am, the lock keeper had assumed he would be well clear of the channel before we turned into it, which is why we weren’t given any warning when we phoned.

Waiting for Llanthony Bridge to rise in Gloucester Docks

So following our close encounter of the “weir” kind and nearly being washed out by a big boat in a narrow channel, we are hugely relieved to be tied up on the canal side of Gloucester Docks. Incidents like that really make you appreciate the joy of being still on calm waters!

Bye Bye Hollie!

By Heather Bell, Posted on October 17, 2025

After our last motorhome trip to the Outer Hebrides we made the decision to change our motorhome to a campervan. It’s shorter and narrower and more suited to the type of adventures we wanted to go on. August then became a rather stressful month as we got Hollie ready for sale and then finally sold her whilst also trying to agree the purchase of a campervan. On the third attempt to spend lots of money, we were successful! So please give a warm welcome to “Donut” our brand-new campervan, (long story on the name – just accept it’s a bit wacky). Donut is just under 6m long and just over 2m wide. It’s full of gadgets and feels much more comfortable than our previous 14 year-old motorhome.

It took us the best part of a week to get Donut kitted out and us moved in. As it’s smaller, there is less storage, so we had to downsize some of our gear and reduce our wardrobe (as there isn’t one on this vehicle). For our inaugural trip, we went to Wales starting with a long weekend on Shell Island a much-loved campsite on Cardigan Bay, near Llanbedr. This coincided with a Bavarian themed Oktoberfest so we joined in for a couple of nights of Omperstomping, frankfurters, schnitzels and beers. Great fun but we’ll avoid that weekend next time as we’re not up to dancing on tables!

We headed inland through Machynlleth and Dolgellau and then stopped to explore the ruins of Castell y Bere, one of Llewellyn the Great’s castles. It oversees rich pasturelands and has a view across to the Cambrian Mountain of Cadair Idris. This triggered a trip down memory lane for Ian of a Scout summer camp when, at the tender age of 12, he’d climbed that very mountain. It hadn’t looked that high (893m or 2,930 ft) when they’d started out, so it seems to have made a lasting impression on the poor boy.

Elan valley was our next park up; it’s a series of valleys that were dammed in 1893 to create a chain of 4 reservoirs to supply Birmingham with fresh water. Tree-lined with rocky outcrops; this stunning scenery is riddled with trails. Ian went on a wander and discovered the remains of a fifth smaller dam which had originally been erected to supply water to the builders of the dams. During WWII this dam was used to test out the deployment of the Dam Busters bomb. As the project was a success, there is hardly anything left to see and nature has done a lot to reclaim the ruins!

After a couple of nights in the Brecon Beacons; where we saw (and heard) training jets practise low altitude flying through the valleys, we headed to an old family favourite, a campsite close to St Davids in Pembrokeshire. It was a Friday and it was blowing a hooley, I’m so glad we weren’t in a tent. Storm Amy was rocking the van, but we were snug as bugs in the warmth of Donut’s embrace. This idyllic calm was somewhat shattered when Ian got a phone call from the campervan dealership telling us that we had the wrong registration for the van and they needed to put new number plates on immediately! Not so easy to do when you’re halfway through a trip around Wales and a 5 hour drive away. A solution was agreed; they would post the new plates to the campsite for Ian to swap over. We couldn’t leave until we’d got them and I’m so relieved that we hadn’t been pulled over by the police for driving a vehicle with false number plates (we do have a receipt for the van with us). Over the weekend the weather calmed and as the sun returned, we went exploring, catching glimpses of seals feeding their cubs on the beaches and fishing with cormorants in the bays.

View from Pencarnan Farm to Whitesands Bay

Monday came and midday passed with no sign of the new van number plates. So we booked to stay an extra night and tried to relax. It was creeping towards teatime before our guaranteed “next day by 1pm” delivery arrived. This wasn’t a complete surprise as the campsite is quite remote. After huge sighs of relief, we were able to set off the next day and head around the coast to Haverfordwest for groceries before driving past the town and oil refineries of Milford Haven. This is one of the few natural deep water ports in the world, so there are some rather large tankers heading past St Annes Point. During WWII it was considered to be a potential target so the coastline around here is dotted with forts and lookouts from that era. The refinery and the remains of the outposts make a stark contrast to the beauty of this wild and rugged coastline.

View across Milford Haven to the Valero Oil Refinery

We headed on to Camarthenshire and a fabulous campsite on a headland with views stretching from the Gower Peninsula to Tenby. At low tide Ian discovered the remains of Rover, a 71ft schooner transporting a cargo of culm (coal dust) to Wexford, that ran aground during a gale force 11 storm in 1886.

It’s been a lovely getaway with Donut the campervan despite the issues with the number plates and being battered by Storm Amy. Wales has a spectacular coastline and it never disappoints, I’m sure we’ll be back very soon especially now that we can fit along the narrower lanes, squeeze over tighter bridges and get into campsites with length restrictions of 6m max! It was particularly fun to see the “Cheshire Cat” grin on Ian’s face on that very first day when a fellow camper said she had “van envy”. I think we got the right one, we certainly like it and we’ve only blown one fuse so far!

Another break down!

By Heather Bell, Posted on September 28, 2025

What can I say, this year is becoming rather too eventful for my liking!

At the start of September we spent a few days in Barlaston and then stayed in Stone for a week. Finally we headed off for a bit of peace and quiet in the countryside….. except …. Ian soon discovered that we had a problem, he spotted, what he thought was, oil in the engine coolant. So instead of relaxing we ended up limping the boat gently to a spot closer to a main road. After several phone calls, he managed to find an engineer to come and assess the damage. The resulting temporary fix added pipe work to prevent the gearbox oil from leaking into the coolant and several plans were suggested for a permanent fix. Our Beta Marine engine is now 28 years old and the later models have had a redesign to prevent this problem from happening. So it was going to be a bit of a “bodge job” as those parts won’t fit our engine. Ian later worked out that there wasn’t oil in the coolant or water in the gearbox. It looks like there is some corrosion of the oil cooler but it’s ok right now. The 28 year old oil cooler pipes are now stiff and brittle and with all the messing about, one developed a small leak. So we now have some new oil cooler pipes.

Happy with our fix, we moved off to Great Haywood to use the service point and then onto Tixall Wide. This is a busy junction, it’s the meeting of the Trent & Mersersy and the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canals but there’s also a hire boat company, a service point and popular moorings for the nearby cafe and farm shop. So there was absolute chaos with boats going every which way trying to hold their position and wait their turn to either pull in for water, make the turn at the junction or to get past everyone who was waiting. It was a huge relief to get on to Tixall Wide and find plenty of space to moor up.

It’s always a bit of fun here. There’s normally plenty of friendly boaters and towpath users as it’s quite picturesque and close to Shugborough Hall. This time there was a bit of a buzz with numerous twitchers wandering around pointing big lenses into the meadow beside us looking for a Marsh Harrier. There’d been a reported sighting of one the previous day, we’d seen Hen Harriers on Uist a few months earlier, so it would be nice to spy a different Harrier. Sadly, it wasn’t to be, but I was chuffed with watching Kingfishers and Kestrels.

We did get our relaxing week, and started to feel quite chilled out. That was until we started phoning around to find a marina to leave the boat in during a trip we have planned for December. Unfortunately for us, due to the water shortages, a large majority of boaters had opted not to do any cruising this summer and retained their mooring or had got stranded in this area, so all the marinas were already full for the winter. Then out of the blue, a stroke of luck (makes a change!). CRT announced that the lock at Gloucester that had been shut all summer due to low water on the Severn was going to be opened every weekend from the middle of September. We made a quick call to a marina on the Gloucester and Sharpness who have promised to squeeze us in…if we can get there before the River Severn goes into flood it’s only 97 miles, 48 locks and 9 moveable bridges away!

After all the low-water driven changes to our plans this year, it’s remarkable that our original plan for the coming winter is back on the cards.

But that mission will have to wait, right now there are other plans afoot, the boat is tied up in a different marina and we’ve headed off on a new adventure…more of that to follow!

The Great Escape!

By Heather Bell, Posted on August 22, 2025

It might have been a great idea, but it was probably the slowest escape on record! Our original plan was to stay moored up in the vicinity of Congleton until Heather had completed the rehab for her new knee. Then, hopefully by the end of September, start heading south for the winter. A list of jobs had been compiled to keep Ian happy, one of which was to sort out why the engine had become so noisy. Ian arranged for an engineer to come out and assess the engine mounts, rubber blocks which support and cushion the engine against the keel. It turns out they were the original mounts; one had completely failed and the other three were on their way out which explained why the engine was so noisy. With new ones fitted the engine is so quiet, we keep thinking there’s something wrong with it!

Lowering water levels on Macclesfield Canal

Unfortunately, (or as usual!) the rest of our original plan fell through. With the continuing dry weather and lack of water, we received the inevitable text alert and email from CRT advising us to stock up on supplies, use any nearby facilities and move the boat off this lower end of the Macclesfield Canal before the end of the week. After that they were going to allow the water level to drop until it equalised to the height of the Trent and Mersey which it joins on to at Hardingswood Junction.

This was not good news. The previous day we’d taken a short cruise to refill the water tank and had already discovered that the current drop in the water level, of about 10 inches, was making it tricky to get through some of the bridge holes, (the canal is narrower and shallower under bridges) the loss of another 6 inches would have the boat stuck, sitting on the canal bed and probably tilted at some ridiculous angle making it impossible to either move or live on. We’d be stuck until sufficient rain had fallen to refill the canal and feeder reservoirs, probably around October or November time.

We needed to move the boat ASAP but we waited a couple of days for Heather to attend her first physio appointment. Then we were off, it was slow going and it took us 3 hours to crawl the 5 miles down to Hall Green Stop Lock. Ian had to put the boat into neutral as we passed under the bridges to stop the stern dragging on the bottom. We came past one boater who was well and truly aground and asked us to put some revs on as we went past in the hope that the drag of our wake would free his boat. Sadly, it didn’t work, and we left him scratching his head. If we’d tried to tow him free we’d probably have damaged his propeller and that’s not an expense you want.

Mooring up just before the junction we were now on the summit level of the T&M and, without many water reserves, this section could also, eventually become too shallow to navigate. The next morning, we made an early start and were the only boat heading south through the Harecastle Tunnel. Needing some respite from the stress of the last week, we pulled over for a couple of nights at Westport Lake.

With various rumours of the whole system being shut down, we decided to keep going and made our way through the Stoke Locks and were happily moored up near to Barlaston village. We’re now hearing news of marinas, such as Lyme View on the Peak Forest Canal, blocking up their entrances with stop planks in an attempt to preserve their water and keep their moored boats floating. As I type this, notifications are coming in of more closures, so the buzz on the towpath telegraph might not be wrong and the whole system could end up grinding to a halt. I wonder how far we’ll get!

Online map from CRT of stoppages and advisories 22/08/2025

Running out of time and water!

By Heather Bell, Posted on July 28, 2025

July has been a bit of a battle. Having made the decision to head back up to the Macclesfield Canal, we had 21 days to tackle 189 miles and 132 locks. There were also planned stoppages and time restrictions on some of those locks, so we had to “get a wiggle on!”. But we did have some fun along the way too.

Even at full speed (3mph) there’s always time to enjoy the surroundings and watch the water, occasionally seeing long, streams of large clear bubbles rising up from the bottom of the canal. So we pondered this phenomena, we each proposed a theory of it’s origin.

H: (Boring sciencey idea) There are oxygenating plants with long tendrils growing on the canal bed, the bubbles of oxygen produced are trapped by the fronds of the plant, as the boat passes by, it disturbs the plants and the bubbles are released, rising to the surface.

I: (Bonkers idea) There are shoals of fearful farting fish (Please don’t choke on your coffee). The fish are swimming gently in the water and are scared by the passing boat and fart (jet propulsion?)

So do fish fart?-According to Do Fish Fart? (And More Must-Know Fish Facts) – Scuba.com, herring and sand sharks do. There have also been sightings of air escaping from the nether region of a fish after they’ve gulped air at the surface, but this isn’t really a product of digestion, so can’t it be termed as a fart and may have more to do with their swim bladders (now you’re just taking the p***)

One day, the boat decided to go for a little ride on its own. We’d pulled in at the bottom of a lock. Ian jumped off to go and sort the lock out and Heather hopped off, assuming that Ian had taken the midline (long rope tied to the middle of the roof and used as a quick temporary mooring rope) with him and was tying it to a bollard to secure the boat. As often happens with Heather, she was distracted by a nice long branch hiding in the hedgerow, that would be a great addition to our store of firewood. On turning around with the branch in hand, Heather discovered that Ian had already disappeared up to the lock and the boat was now halfway across the canal with a rather bemused Sammy dog staring from the stern. Dog’s aren’t the best at steering boats or throwing ropes. Luckily, that lovely branch happened to have a nice little hook on the end of it; so as the boat slowly drifted across the canal and the bow twisted lazily towards us, we hooked up the bow line and pulled the boat back. Amazingly nobody had to get wet (makes a change – says Heather!!!), the dog hadn’t panicked, and the boat didn’t come to any grief. Lesson learnt – never assume!

Blocked towpath Bolbeck Park, Milton Keynes

Whilst we did our best not to flag in the heatwave, the same cannot be said for the canalside trees. With their roots weakened by the dry soil, it became a daily occurrence to discover a tree toppled across the canal leaving it “passible with care” or evidence of where a bigger tree had recently been cleared. On passing one of these, we were told by a local that it had only been cleared the previous night with a crew turning up at 5pm and working solidly for 5 hours. There’s going to be plenty of firewood this winter.

Almost at the same lock that we’d met them on our way down to London, we pulled in alongside the fuel boat, “Bordesley” Jules Fuels Southern, which was looking particularly gorgeous having just won first prize at the Braunston Historic Boat show.

Bridge over original line of Oxford Canal, Rugby

Another obstacle was discovering the pounds (short stretches of canal between locks) being empty. This happened on several of the flights of locks and despite Ian’s best efforts to refill these sections, the boat still got stuck and we just had to wait until we were floating again. We actually think that our boat has a draft of about two foot, so that kind of shows how low these water levels have got. The worst flight by far was the eleven locks at Atherstone which took us twice as long to get through. Mainly because the bywash at the top lock was out of use and feeder from the reservoir was stopped, so there was no extra water to maintain the levels.

We shared a few locks with a young couple whose boat was positively festooned with raspberries and loganberries overhanging the sides. It was so tempting to reach across and nab one but having complimented them on the display, they gave us a tub of fruit. As exchange is no robbery, I returned the favour with a slice of my rich fruit cake and some Cheshire cheese to nibble with it (originally it would have been Wensleydale as it’s one of Ian’s family’s Yorkshire’isms)

We even shared a lock with the current owner of a boat we’d previously seen in a bit of a state on the Leeds & Liverpool. In July 2023 it was a brand new boat that had sunk in a lock and been refloated. It was lovely to see it on the move again, but sadly, this owner had no idea that it had previously been an insurance write off. He had found watermarks and damp smells inside the boat, which had made him wonder as to the cause, but he knew nothing of the unfortunate event and it seems that there is no legal obligation to inform a purchaser of any previous incidents, which I find quite concerning.

You tend to be extra careful in locks when you see and hear about such situations. I don’t know what it is about this trip, but we saw least one wreck near every town we passed through.

We did have to keep moving at quite a pace and we thought our mission to get on to the Macclesfield Canal was going to fail when we heard that Aston Lock (near Stone in Staffordshire), which already had a planned stoppage on it in a few days time, had been closed early due to low water levels. Well we honestly felt like that was it. But then, thankfully, the levels recovered enough and the lock reopened and the boat got through …just! But not so lucky at the Meaford flight, when Ian was actually solo boating for a few days and got stuck.

As I type this, we have had a few rain showers but unfortunately it’s not enough and a lot of the northern end of the canal system has got planned closures within a few weeks. It does mean that they will lift some mooring restrictions, so at least we won’t have to keep trying to move around. Just to be on the safe side, we have asked for a mooring overstay, as we need to stay put for at least a few weeks while Heather recovers from yet another surgery – yep, she’s finally getting that right knee replaced.

We still have plenty of plans for this year both with the boat (water levels permitting), the van and a very, very big ship!

London here we go

By Heather Bell, Posted on July 16, 2025

Despite all the warnings we did spot lots of mooring opportunities on the way into London. It’s not always as bad as it sounds. When we cruise through towns and cities, we often see footballs floating around, the odd terrapin too, but coconuts were a bit of a surprise. These started to appear as we passed through an area with a large number of Hindu temples, between Ealing and Bull’s Bridge. In the Hindu religion, coconuts are seen as being very pure and a symbol of good luck. They are offered to rivers and, by extension canals, as a blessing, often following weddings or other significant life events, which explains their presence in the waterway.

As we got closer to the city, so did the heatwave and we had to put our “Hot Weather Protocols” into action
1. Early rise and start cruising straight after breakfast
2. Minimal clothing and maximum suncream
3. Do any cooking or bread making early
4. Head for a shady spot by mid-day and collapse in the afternoon heat
5. Enjoy an iced drink in the shade and daydream of swimming in cool (clean) waters – or just have a cold shower

When we did get to Paddington Basin it was much quieter and cleaner than we’d expected. We’d booked ahead and paid £25 per night for a pontoon mooring. It was an ideal location to access the underground and buses but dangerously close to shops selling fresh pastries, salted caramel iced lattes (naughty but very, very nice) and favourite restaurants like Wagamamas (twice!!)

Impressive displays in the Imperial War Museum

We both had places we wanted to go; Ian headed to the Imperial War Museum and the Science Museum. Heather opted for a Double Decker bus ride to find the Charles Dickens Museum and Campden Market (great for expanding the hippie boho wardrobe!). Dickens was a bit of a surprise, his books weren’t as innocent as they appeared but were written to inform Victorian society of the deprivation that was hiding in the back streets of the city. While his stories influenced change and reform he was a significant financial supporter of the Foundling Hospital (now called Corams), a place of safety for children whose mothers were unable to care for them due to poverty or discrimination. The Foundling Hospital is now a museum and well worth a trip on the underground to Kings Cross if you’re in the area!

Even the dog had a ride on the underground! Ian did a trip with her to Regents Park and went for a barefoot wander up the iconic Primrose Hill. This hill has been included in numerous pop songs (including ones by Blur, Madness, and Girls Aloud) and as a film location for Bridget Jones, Paddington Bear and One Hundred and One Dalmatians, so I asked if there was anything special about it and he said, “it’s just a hill with a view!”, mildly disappointing but true.

We splashed out on the Tutankhamun Immersive Experience, this included two VR headset experiences, one of flying over the Valley of the Kings and then a second one where you could walk around and explore Carter’s camp and Tut’s tomb, both were incredible. Then we tried something completely different and went on a Mystery Guide Book tour, “The Hunt for the Holy Grail”, which was based around the Temple area. It took us to some amazing places, caused a fair bit of head scratching and put a huge bump on our step counts. (Think we were the oldest ones doing this – by about three decades!!).

Clue finding on “The World Turned Upside Down”

By sheer chance we spotted some narrowboats that we’d shared locks with on our way into London gliding swiftly down the Thames as part of the St Pancras Boating Club Flotilla. It would be nice to do that one day, but only in a boat with a bigger engine to cope with the tidal flow of that river!

Narrowboats passing under London Bridge on the River Thames

You can’t go to London without a trip to the West End, so with a ringing endorsement from Fynn, we went to see Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre. It was a fabulous performance both by the actors and the musicians and even the stage design was incredible. I do love a rotating platform. The downside is that I got an ear worm stuck in my head from George III singing ”Dah, dah, dah, da, dahhh” you know the one.

All too soon we had run out of time (and money) and our next destination should have been a marina in Newbury, but we’d been hearing about issues getting on to the River Thames. The updates for the broken Clitheroes Lock didn’t sound good, but there was an alternative route via the Regents Canal. Then the night before we were due to leave, we heard that a lock on that canal had been damaged and was now closed to navigation. This meant we couldn’t get on to the Thames without a massive detour, so it’s time for plan C, turn around and head back up to Cheshire. We’ve got 320 lock/miles to do in 22 days so wish us luck as, due to the lower levels in the reservoirs, they are bringing in restrictions to conserve water.

A Grand Journey

By Heather Bell, Posted on June 18, 2025

We’re back on the water and have spent the last month meandering south on the Grand (Junction) Union Canal; it’s a wider canal with big double locks, so pairing up with another boat is always welcome. It’s been concerning to hear about the water shortages that have already started to affect the northern canals, preventing navigation on the Leeds and Liverpool, Huddersfield and Ripon Canals. To be honest, we’re quite relieved that we decided to head south this year.

We stayed for a few days in Milton Keynes, moored up alongside one of the many parklands included in the grid system of its design. We were both surprised by how lush and green the landscape is, there are miles of cycleways and footpaths to explore; it makes quite a contrast to the more traditional towns that we pass through.

Campbell Park, in the urban area of Milton Keynes

Light Pyramid sculpture in Campbell Park

This “new town” was founded in 1967 to relieve some of the housing congestion in London and is situated in the heart of the country, being equidistant from Birmingham, Leicester, Oxford and Cambridge. Building it swallowed up four towns and fifteen villages to create an urban area that grew its population from 40 to 250 thousand people. Today, its Borough is one of the most productive cities in the UK.

Red valerian aka Kiss me quick or Jupiter’s Beard

Green Alkanet, used for dyeing and wound healing

Whilst we’ve been travelling, Spring has transformed into Summer and we’ve been treated to a floral highway that has set both of our hay fever allergies off. There are persistant chirps from fluffy chicks and quacks from parent ducks trying to find them, drowning out the melodies of the blackbird and the shrieks from a red kite being hassled by crows. One mooring just south of Marsworth junction at Tring reservoirs was particularly good for a bit of a twitching and an impressive sunset.

A mandarin duck with her speedy ducklings

We’ve been moored up for a time near to Kings Langley. The nearby railway station gives us easy access south to the Big Smoke or north to visit family. Thankfully during our travels the boat hasn’t had any great issues, but that’s probably more because of Ian’s tinkering, like fixing the main ignition cable that fell off the back of the control panel and servicing the bilge pump that decided to do its own thing (if that packed up we would sink, bum first!) His latest project, which has been sitting in a plastic bag for a while, is to run a mains cable down the port side of the boat, it’s part one of his plan to get an automatic washing machine installed, as we currently use a pull out and plug-in twin tub, which is a bit of a pain to use.

Sammy, our dog is still very much enjoying life on the cut, but she’s beginning to show her age, slowing down and spending more time sleeping. Having said that, she’s still as cute as ever and continues in her self-appointed role as a towpath therapy dog. Walkers often stop to ask if they can stroke her and have a hug.

Ian walking the plank as we get refuelled

Ian’s just done his shortest main line rail journey ever, a three minute ride back up the line to Aspley to do a biggish food shop and then back to Kings Langley and the boat. The return train fare was only £3, mind you, that’s with the discount from his old person’s railcard tee tee! Having stocked up, we are cautiously heading towards Central London where we’ve booked a mooring for a few days. We met a fuel boat as we came out of a lock, so we pulled alongside for a top-up of diesel and to catch up on the latest gossip. We’ve been warned numerous times by other boaters and lock-keepers that the further south we go from here, the less chance there is of finding anywhere to moor up and that’s not a pleasant thought. But then again, it’s the reality of canal life in a city and I don’t blame the liveaboards who work in the city for needing a good spot to stay. After all, we’re just sightseeing and passing through, so fingers crossed we time it right and find spaces to pull in for a night or two along the way..