Shangri La - back to blogging

Shangri La – April 2026 – K and A Canal

I have not posted anything here for ages! Mainly because we have not been going anywhere.

Shangri La, our 58 x 11 ft widebeam barge, has been moored up here on the Foxhangers private moorings since August 2021, while my wife Karen is doing carework …

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Shangri La Drydocking 2023

Shangri La at Semington

Shangri La Drydocking 2023. So in August we made the huge trip from Foxhangers down to Semington to give her a much needed drydocking.

5 Swing Bridges and 6 locks. We set out on the Sunday late morning, and arrived there mid afternoon.

Overnighted aboard, and th…

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Into Dry Dock

On the Midland Waterways

Normally my posts are about trips on our own boat, but recently I did a boat moving trip, mostly on the midland waterways, from Eynsham to Tardebigge. Purpose of the trip was repositioning some hire boats – so a bit of a free holiday.

The 2 boats we moved

The route took us down the Thames, v…

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The Three Magpies

Why a trip to The Three Magpies?

Several reason for the trip to The Three Magpies: Since I moved the boat to our mooring here at Foxhangers near Devizes, (Read about that trip here) the boat has hardly moved, other than across to the pump out. Since we bought the boat, Karen has done very little…

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Newbury to Devizes - Part 4 - The Caen Hill Flight

View from the bottom of the Caen Hill Flight!

The title of this post is probably a bit incorrect, as we had already past the actual town of Devizes, but the Foxhangers moorings at the bottom of the Caen Hill Flight is still technically in Devizes.

The team

My friends Wyn and Donna continue…

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Newbury to Devizes - Part 3

This part of the journey from Newbury to Devizes takes us from Pewsey, along about 10 miles of canal with no locks, but many narrow and overgrown sections, till we reach Devizes and start the descent of Caen Hill. We did the first three locks going down and moored up at the Black Horse pub – a brea…

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“There is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” … as the Water Rat said to the Mole in “Wind in the Willows”. And how right he was! I hope I can share the pleasures of boating by recording the trips myself and my wife Karen have taken on the journey to actually buying our boat, and now on our very own Dutch Steel Motor Cruiser, Shangri-La 2.

This blog is an online journal of my various boating activities that have happened over the last few years, from the numerous boating holidays we have taken, some interesting work related events and the journey to buying our own boat

Latest Adventures

2015 European waterway cruise – Belgium – Ghent

2015 European waterway cruise – Belgium – Ghent

2015 European waterway cruise - Belgium - Ghent Inner canals of Ghent The town of Ghent is well worth a visit. As it was way off our planned route through Belgium, we made a day trip there by train. Buildings of Ghent Time was limited so we did the tourist thing and...

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2015 European waterway cruise – Belgium – Antwerp

2015 European waterway cruise – Belgium – Antwerp

2015 European waterway cruise - Belgium - Antwerp Antwerp - Town Hall At the end of the last post we'd just crossed the border into Belgium at the Port of Antwerp. My first impressions of Belgium were somewhat marred by continuing communication problems I tried to...

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2015 European Waterway cruise – planning update

2015 European Waterway cruise – planning update

2015 European Waterway cruise - planning update Shangri La at mooring in Zwartsluis again Time flies! Just over a month to go and we should be starting the southbound trip to St-Jean-de-Losne. When I left Zwartsluis a while ago, Shangri-La was back in the water,...

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Trips by Date

About Me

My love of boats goes back to my early years when I went on holiday with my parents to Knysna in the Cape. We stayed at a hotel on stilts, and I played in rowing boats and little motor boats on the lagoon.

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