So that's the story of our little canal expedition of 2003.

I spend ten or eleven weeks aboard, Dot had about a month, and neither of us would want to go back to the canals in the foreseeable future. I found the experience hard work and a bit boring in between the bouts of graft, and Dot found rather it boring overall, although we both liked some aspects, like the people and the wildlife. As someone who can gossip for England, I had many enjoyable natters on the bank with really nice folk, some of whom we are still lucky enough to be in touch with.

A quiet bit of bank on the Oxford Canal.

The actual boating bit was quite odd. I found the whole environment rather strange, especially when so many people had huge and heavy boats (many of the larger narrowboats weigh in at around 20 tons), combined with so little in the way of conventional boat-handling skills. Watching some of the hire crews come alongside without attempting to slow down was an interesting experience, and even people in very solid steel narrowboats winced at times! Driving a plastic boat like Catcho was not a reassuring scenario - if we ever do go canal-crawling again, it'll be in something seriously solid.

One for the ladies!
Alright - he did the cooking, and "he who cooketh shall not washeth up . . ."

Our own little boat was much more of a riverboat than a canal boat, although it is worth noting that canal narrowboats seem to be taking over the inland waterways environment. The newer ones can be very expensive, of course, and even older one cost a lot more than comparable cruisers. The entry cost with narrowboats is probably helping to make canal boating an increasingly middle-class activity; a few people, driving narrowboats down the centre of the cut, neither acknowledge nor notice mere cruisers . . .

Interestingly, while my more nautical adventures have taken me in smaller boats into larger and possibly classier environments on the coast and on the continent, I have rarely come across this kind of snobbishness. Such is life - I think I'll stick with going to sea in smallish boats, where skill and ability still counts for something, rather than how "traditional" your brand new boat is!

Still, if you enjoy canal boating, I wish you well with it - enjoy! Best wishes, Chris and Dot