Latest Adventures
How we fell in love with France – Part 4 – Language and lifestyle
Street in Paris The French definitely know how to enjoy life, and the language is wonderful to listen to. Not easy to speak, and even harder to understand, but certainly lovely to hear. The first picture shows a street in Paris with evocative sounding shop types -...
How we fell in love with France – Part Three – Lifestyle
The French seem to have got this right. In my post of 4th December I touched on this when writing about the French lockkeepers and their working hours. Enjoying life appears to be the important bit, and work an inconvenient necessity. Nevertheless, things...
How we fell in love with France Part 2 – food and wine
Before I continue raving about France, let me tell your where we went geographically. We started at Joigny on the River Yonne, and headed South, or upstream. Our first overnight stop was at Migennes, where the Canal de Bourgogne flows into the Yonne. Next we stayed a...
How we fell in love with France – Part one
Possibly the most enjoyable waterway holiday we have had was the trip on the Nivernaise Canal in France. The main reasons that made it so wonderful were that we were not bound to a hire boat schedule, and we discovered we ablolutely love France. As I mentioned...
More on steel and plastic
As mentioned in the previous post, the main advantage of steel construction is its strength. On the down side, steel tends to rust and thus requires regular painting. It is also relatively heavy which impacts on the required engine power and boat speed. GRP on the...
Boats – steel or plastic
Traditional steel narrowboat Sitting here in Cape Town, the canals and waterways of Europe are fast becoming a distant memory. I fear losing sight of our goal to purchase a boat, and get cruising again. A quick look back at the photos from our past boating holidays...
From the towpath again
Islington Tunnel The next day we returned to the Regents Canal, and resumed our walk towards Limehouse, only to have to leave almost right away to bypass the Islington Tunnel (first photo). This is the longest of 3 tunnels on the canal - 886 metres, and there is no...
From the towpath
LittleVenice on Regent's Canal We are back in South Africa now, but we spent a few days in London en route, and took the opportunity to do a waterway wandering with a difference - the towpath of the Regents Canal. This canal starts at 'Little Venice' at the...
Back to the start
Lime Kilns at Goytre Wharf The return journey was even more leisurely than the outward trip. If that was possible. I always allow more time than is necessary for the return, as it is a holiday and the last thing one needs is pressure to get back on time. The first...
Outward bound
Llangattock at Bridge 15 Erratic indeed!! At least we have signal for our "dongle", so now is the chance to catch up on our travels. The next couple of days we were on the outward, or southound part of our trip. Hire boats need to be returned to their...
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.