Real canal stories from 1980s & later

Book - Adrift in Caledonia Ref: 2286
by Nick Thorpe.

One clear morning in May, Nick left his Edinburgh flat, ducked off the commuter route and hitched a ride aboard a little white canal boat, heading west towards the sea.

It was the first step in a delightful boat-hopping odyssey that would take him 2500 miles through Scotland's canals, lochs and coastal waters, from the industrial Clyde to the scattered islands of Viking Shetland.

A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week.

Soft back. 340 pages. 12.7cms x 19.7cms. 8 pages of colour photos.

Price: £9.99

Book - Narrow Margins Ref: 2120
by Marie Browne.

When the collapsing Rover Group took her company down with it, Marie persuaded her long suffering husband that selling up and moving on to a wreck of a houseboat was a good idea.

This amusing book follows their fortunes as they transform 'Happy Go Lucky' from what looks like a floating coffin into a home.

Soft back. 306 pages. 13cms x 19.7cms.

Price: £7.99

Book - Narrow Minds Ref: 2494
by Marie Browne.

This is the sequel to Narrow Margins above.

Having saved her family from financial ruin by moving on to a houseboat in search of a less stressful, cheaper, way of life, they find themselves sucked back into normality and pretty much back where they started.

Just when they think they will never return to canal life, the answer to their dreams lies with Minerva, a narrow boat even more run down than the first.

Soft back. 357 pages. 13cms x 19.7cms.

Price: £7.99

Book - No Place To Moor Ref: 2018
by Joan McAdam.

Having previously cruised the Thames from Limehouse to Reading, this is an account of a later trip from Reading to Lechlade in 2007.

This proved to be a time of extreme weather, and the book tells of the pleasures, and the difficulties, along the way. It highlights the problem of finding somewhere to moor, and, when weather worsens, somewhere safe to moor.

Soft back. 90 pages. 17.1cms x 23.9cms approx. Illustrated with black & white photos.

Price: £9.95

Book - One Man and a Narrowboat Ref: 2004
by Steve Haywood.

Spurred by the arrival of a BIG birthday, Steve sets out from Oxford to explore what makes the English so English. Prepare for a generous helping of mayhem, mishaps and the staple of every English summer: torrential rain.

First published as 'Fruit Flies Like A Banana', this revised edition with new material is published to coincide with the 70-year anniversary of Tom Rolt's classic trip.

Soft back. 12.9cms x 19.9cms approx. 309 pages.

Price: £7.99

Book - Narrowboat Dreams Ref: 1892
by Steve Haywood.

Travelling by traditional narrowboat, Steve heads north from Banbury in deepest Oxfordshire, through the former industrial wastelands of the now vibrantly modern Manchester, to the trendy affluence of Hebden Bridge at the centre of West Yorkshire's ciabatta belt.

With irrepressable humour he describes the history of the canals, his encounters with characters along the way, and the magic that makes England's waterways so appealing.

Soft back. 319 pages. 13cms x 19.8cms approx.

Price: £7.99

Book - Too Narrow To Swing A Cat Ref: 2428
by Steve Haywood.

Casting aside the road maps Steve escapes to a different England on his narrowboat and cruises slowly through a landscape unchanged for centuries, visiting picturesque towns and canal festivals.

But the new member of his crew, Kit, is an untidy bundle of fur with all the attitude you would expect from a 'sarf lunnun' cat, and determined to keep him on his toes.

Soft back. 312 pages. 12.9cms x 19.8cms approx.

Price: £8.99

Book - Walking on Water Ref: 488
by Nick Corble.

Fired by memories of a canal holiday when younger, and inspired by a desire to rediscover the true values in life, Nick, in a moment of calculated madness, acquires a rather battered but much loved canal boat called 'Florrie'.

With a free summer stretching before him, Nick, aided by a rotation of very different crews, embarks on the Grand Trek South, through the canal system of England. Nick recounts the highlights and low points of his memorable and highly eventful trip with relish.

Softback. 307 pages. 13cms x 19.8cms approx. 2006 edition.

Price: £10.00

Book - The Water Road (paperback) Ref: 714
by Paul Gogarty.

The Water Road is the story of a magical journey through backdoor England. Paul Gogarty, travel writer and TV presenter, disappears for 4 months into a maze of canals linking the Thames with the Severn, Mersey and Trent.

The Water Road is both a celebration of a secret England and a powerful personal odyssey in which the author marks his own rite of passage.

Soft back. 364 pages. 12.9cms x 19.8cms approx. Some colour photos, and b/w maps.

Price: £8.99

Book - A Bit More Boating Ref: 701
by Shirley Ginger.

This is the sequel to 'Lock, Stock & Barrel', the story of a couples escape from the city rat-race to a canalside small holding and general store in Northamptonshire.

A Bit More Boating continues the twin themes of our inland waterways and self-sufficiency, and takes a light hearted look at the boating world from behind the counter and at the tiller.

Soft back. 181 pages. 14.8cms x 21cms approx. Illustrated by Shirley Ginger.

Price: £7.50

Book - Narrow Dog to Carcassonne (paper back) Ref: 1459
by Terry Darlington.

This book is a true story of high adventure as experienced by two innocent pensioners and a reluctant dog, who decided to sail their narrowboat 'Phyllis May' across the English Channel and through Belgium and France to the Mediterranean.

Highlights of their trip were shown in the Central TV programme Waterworld.

Paper back. 426 pages. 12.6cms x 19.8cms approx.

Price: £7.99

Book - Narrow Dog To Indian River (hardback) Ref: 1863
by Terry Darlington.

No-one has ever sailed an English narrowboat in the US before, for reasons that become clear during the nine month voyage of the 'Phyllis May' - including thirty mile sea crossings, blasting heat, tornadoes, hurricanes, starving alligators, killer fish, insects from hell and the walking dead.

Hard back. 354 pages. 14.2cms x 22.3cms approx.

Price: £14.99

Book - Narrow Dog To Indian River (paperback) Ref: 2006
by Terry Darlington.

Soft back. 432 pages. 12.7cms x 19.8cms approx.

Price: £7.99

Book - Tales of the Cut Ref: 1463
by Carl Leckey MBE.

Carl was a mate on the Mersey tugs and a lock keeper for British Waterways, and awarded the MBE for services to British Waterways in 1995. He is a born story teller and his hilarious 'Tales of the Cut' does for the tight-knit macho world of the Northern waterways what the writer James Heriot did for Yorkshire and country vets.

Readres will meet 'Arry, Big Al, Pudding Paul, Pontius Pilot, Hissing Syd amongst others.

Soft back. 225 pages. 14.5cms x 20.8cms approx. 2005.

Price: £9.99

Book - Tales from the Towpath Ref: 1715
by Doreen Gordon.

This book tells of Doreen's adventures and times aboard a narrow boat in Great Britain. The story starts with a holiday afloat and the decision to buy an empty hull and fit the boat out.

A couple of years later they realised that their cratch making enterprise needed more space so they ordered a bigger boat and started again. Boozy parties, cold winters, boat gatherings, and accidents all occurred over the next 12 years until the sale of the boat.

Soft back. 75 pages. 14.9cms x 21.1cms approx.

Price: £4.99