Earlier today I walked past Toni’s narrowboat which has a large white canoe strapped and padlocked securely to its roof. This canoe was bought by Toni earlier this year to do a bit of recreational paddling. During what was supposed to be our summer I had promised Toni that we would go out for a splash around with me on my kayak and Toni in his canoe. Due to adverse weather (yes it can be dangerous in a kayak or canoe on any form of water if you are not an accomplished paddler) for beginners and a lack of time from my view point on the days the sun was shinning the trip never happened. But with the shortest day being on Sunday it’s all down hill to the summer from here on in so look out for Toni and I on this stretch of the Grand Union from here to Weedon in the months to come.

We have just had another high speed narrow boat arrive on the back of a truck, Narrowboat Kataynka. We are expecting another three boats next week including a new East West Marine 57’ boat. These are probably the most well travelled narrowboats currently on the system as they start their journey to us from Liuyang in the Peoples republic of China, according to Google this is a distance of 5893.58 Miles. You would have to do some serious cruising up and down the inland waterways to achieve that sort of mileage. The old working narrowboats would soon clock up these sort of distances, but they are few and far between these days.

I’m sure someone with a little more time than I have could do the maths to work out how long it would take a narrow boat to cruise that distance…

Some food for thought perhaps.

Until Next Time

Andy Robinson