Latest Adventures
How much power?
Our boat on the Nivernais - 40 hp And the other dilemma that follows, is how much power do you need? Again, this depends on where you want to go and what you want to do. If you are going to stick to the relatively slow flowing waters of the canals in the UK and...
How many engines?
Watching the wake There is something mesmerising about watching the wake of a speedboat streaming out astern. Until you remember the fuel bill! This picture was taken from the twin engined motor cruiser we hired in Croatia a few years back. We had two weeks cruising...
Sailing in Greece
Sailing in the Sporades The first boating holiday Karen and I did together was a week's sailing in the Greek Islands. We chartered a 37 ft Sun Oddysey yacht at Skiathos in the Sporades. I have done quite a bit of boating before, as well as a few sailing holidays in...
The Journey – Where did it start?
Condor - V and A Waterfront, Cape Town Yesterday I was back on the internet looking at some of my favourite boats. Shock and horror - Most of them have now been sold! I console myself with the notion that I am not quite ready to buy our dream craft yet anyway, and the...
Boating at Cape Town
Sailing in Table Bay - Cape Town The South Easter is blowing a gale here today, about 35 knots, and the forecast is much the the same for the next couple of days. Most of my friends know I would like to buy a boat in Europe, and often ask why I dont just get a boat...
From locks to lifts
Anderton Boat Lift Cruising the waterways is not only wonderfuly relaxing, but can be fascinating. On the Trent and Mersey canal, we found the Anderton Boat Lift. One of the 'Seven Wonders of the Waterways' it is one of the only 2 working boat lifts in the UK. It was...
Locks, locks and more locks
Marple - Lock 15 As I mentioned in the previous post, the Cheshire Ring has a lot of locks - 92 to be precise. And they come in batches. We collected our narrowboat near Congleton close to the SW end of Macclesfield, and headed off in an anticlockwise direction....
Aqueducts, Tunnels and Locks
Crossing the Marple Aquaduct As promised - more delights of the Cheshire Ring. This circular waterway route is possibly one of the most scenic, covering a distance of 97 miles, through 92 locks, 5 tunnels and over many aquaducts. The first picture shows us...
Bridges, bridges and more bridges
Approaching Snake Bridge on Macclesfield Canal Despite the fact that bridges can set height restrictions for one's boat, they are a beautiful and interesting facet of the waterways. In 2007 we did a 14 day trip around the Cheshire Ring, on a hired traditional...
Boats and bridges
Narrowboat "Sextant" By now I am sure you know how we feel about France, so you can probably see where this urge to buy a boat springs from. There are more than 6000 kilometres of canals or rivers in France, and that doesnt include the Brittany area. What better way...
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.