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

Holland cruising plans

Holland cruising plans

63 Degrees North just before midnight! Back offshore, working again. At latitude 63 degrees, in the North Sea, we are almost in the land of the midnight sun, so it never gets properly dark. I have been making good use of the extra time - busy planning our first proper...

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Plans are made to change!

Plans are made to change!

Relaxing on the back deck Well, we never got to Shangri La this May as planned. Much too much to do regarding our new house back in Cape Town. So here I am back at sea, working. But not all doom and gloom. Great progress with the UK registry, and other certificate and...

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All at sea

All at sea

Sunset in the North Sea Back in the North Sea again, but working rather than messing about in boats. All part of the plan though. As someone once remarked, a boat is just a hole in the water into which you throw money! So this needs to be done. Even though we are a...

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Change of plans

Change of plans

Zwartsluis - public jetty Well, here we are in Holland. But spring has certainly not sprung, so Shangri La will stay on dry land for a few more weeks. First part of plan went okay - hired a car and came across from UK on the ferry - brought all the linen, kitchen...

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Paperwork, Paperwork and more Paperwork

Paperwork, Paperwork and more Paperwork

View from our present house in Cape Town Belated wishes for 2013. I have been pretty quiet of late, mainly because I haven't been doing any Waterway Wandering of any sort at all. What we HAVE been doing is  selling our house in Cape Town, and buying a smaller...

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Roggebaai Canal – Cape Town

Roggebaai Canal – Cape Town

Roggebaai Canal - Cape Town Most people have heard of the V and A waterfront in Cape Town, but how many know there is a navigable canal and a lock as well? It's only a small canal but it does exist. The canal was built to connect the foreshore area in Cape Town city...

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Back in South Africa

Back in South Africa

Shangri-La in shed for winter Been a bit quiet on the blog lately I am afraid. We have been furiously busy doing house repairs since we returned to Cape Town in October, and thus not much waterway wandering. Shangri-La (2nd from left in pic) is safely wintered in a...

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Getting down and dirty in Zwartsluis

Getting down and dirty in Zwartsluis

Shangri-La after a clean and polish I am back in Aberdeen at the moment, but I spent the rest of the week in Zwartluis working hard on Shangri-La. The new propellor shaft that had been supplied was rejected by the yard as it was also slightly out of true. It would...

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French recollections 5 – Clamecy

French recollections 5 – Clamecy

 Map showing Canal de Nivernaise area  Back to the French recollections. I have been somewhat pre-occupied with buying Shangri-La, as you may have noticed. This is part 5 of some recollections of our canal boat holiday on the Canal de Nivernaise in 2008. I think...

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Next stage of the journey

Next stage of the journey

 The view from Shangri-La at the repair yard in Zwartsluis Foolishly I thought that once we had bought the boat, we would simply start cruising, and I could get on blogging about our travels. The survey highlighted a lot of items that needed attending to - so the...

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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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