Tonight, we celebrate and enjoy a special August evening at the moorings, filled with golden light, gentle chatter, a rolling wind, duck call and church bells. A rare ‘August-coloured’ evening.  Journal entry: 15th August, Tuesday “Chasing clouds and sunshine.  The ground still wet from yesterday's rain  We walk the loop, Maggie reacquainting herself  With familiar places.  Me too. It seems a while.  It's good to be out again.  The air smells green and fresh." Episode Information: In this...

Life afloat can throw up some rather singular challenges from being frozen in to sinking, running aground, being attacked by wild kittens and the dangers of runaway working boats!! Join us tonight as we ride out Storm Antoni (apologies for some background rain patter) for the concluding reading of The Kathy Chronicles, where the decision is made to leave life on the canal and embrace new adventures.       Episode Information: You can see some family photographs from this time by going to the...

What was it like to give birth on small 30 ft boat in the 1960s? Mum continues her account of her life afloat on the Kathy in this week’s instalment of ‘The Kathy Chronicles’. We hear about the some of the challenges and joys of bringing up two very small children on a boat as well as Dad’s battle with the Pithers stove and a strange event that remains a mystery.      Episode Information: You can hear earlier episodes of 'The Kathy' Chronicles here: One, Two.   You can see some family...

What was it really like to live on board a 30ft canal boat in the late 1950s before there were such things as service points and fully equipped marinas? This week we continue with ‘The Kathy Chronicles’ where Mum describes how they began to settle into life afloat, whilst making extensive alterations, as well their plans for the arrival of a new baby. She provides a fascinating picture of the realities of what it was like to live-aboard a canal boat in the late 1950s and early 1960s.   ...

It’s a wild and wet July night of wind and rain. So why not step aboard for a while as we meander down some fox trails and contemplate the pleasure of sunshine and dark skies. Journal entry: 11th July, Tuesday “A quarter to midnight.  Lying in bed and listening  To the drum of rain  On the cabin roof. All day I have watched the dark  Clouds boil in the cauldron  Of the west.  Storm heads tower  In castle greys. Maggie and I stood  On the hill with no name  Watching the ragged veils  Of...

Join us tonight on a hot sticky night of lingering light and stubborn twilight. With the summer’s tilt shifting wider and deeper changes are felt. "Life is a motion. Life is growth. It is never static," says the corner of a field. Journal entry:  4th July, Tuesday "Goldfinch carnival   Among the teasel heads  And early sun. Dark clouds to the west  Bringing rain.  Spindrift of fine drizzle  Freewheels on the breeze. The cows are in no hurry  Neither am I."   Episode Information: In this...

This has been rather an unexpected and eventful week. This is a special episode where we welcome a board a new fellow traveller (along the canals and through life). Journal entry:  30th June, Friday “Endless motorways. Endless traffic.  Red lights all the way.  A frightened face and soulful eyes.  I sit on the stairs out of sight; out of the way. A short drizzle of rain.  The smell of hay in fields.  Sitting as darkness falls,  My arm is licked by a new friend." Episode...

Watching the sun sink below the horizon, particularly after long sunny days such as these, can evoke a mass of mental and emotional responses that seem to tap into something deep within us. Join us this week as week count down a setting sun and reflect on the rich culture it created.   Journal entry:  23rd June, Friday. “The alder saplings are growing thick at the water’s edge  Vying with the green spears of teasel  And purple knapweed plumes. This time last year  Some of them were forming as...

These are the days when the nights are short and the days are long. On the cusp of the summer solstice, the year's turning reaches its zenith, join me tonight in celebrating the unique joys (and challenges) of the long days with a special visit to Windmill Hill (Grid reference SP 33 42). Journal entry: 14th June, Wednesday “Sun down.  A lone swan swims up the canal.  Serene strokes from strong feet.  Each ripple she makes catches fire.  The goldcrests’ chatter falls silent  And the bank-side...

Travel back in time to the scorching summer of 1959. Although the canals were still mainly used by working boats, leisure cruising was growing in popularity and so too the idea of living on a canal boat. Tonight, I take us back to that world as I read Mum’s reminiscences of the decision to live on a boat with a young baby, eventually finding their future home, the Kathy, and their nail-biting journey taking her to their home mooring. Some of which could sound all too familiar to modern canal...

There’s something almost indefinably special about canal and river locks. Tonight, I relate my struggle to outwit the ghost of Odd Lock as well as take time to celebrate the lock-keepers of old and their newer iteration – the volunteer lockie (I’m guessing at the spelling!)  Journal entry:  2nd June, Friday “North easterly winds  Grey skies.  But there are five ducklings  Braving the bluster  And a swallow scissors low over  A meadow of buttercups.  This light makes the yellow Irises...

Come with me for a walk by the canal and I will show you something wonderful! This week we explore how names and memories have the power to root and reinforce our connections with home and tell us something very important about ourselves.  Journal entry:  27th May, Saturday “Late afternoon sun slants into  The tobacco-coloured waters.  Fifteen or more carp weightless  Among the cow pastures of weed-drift. With a flick of a tail, they all glide as one  In a lithe piscine murmuration  Look!...

This week marked the anniversary of what has been considered by many to be one of the most important cultural events of the twentieth century. Tonight, we try to recapture that moment and explore why its power to move still remains today.  Journal entry: 18th May, Thursday, “Is there anything more beautiful  Than the softness  Of April and May light  While the clouds scramble  For height  Amid a sky of towering blue?” Episode Information: In this episode I read from: Charlie Connelly (2020)...

We are back! Spring sunshine and showers are transforming the fields and the canal and it is wonderful to be behind the microphone once again! The roof of a narrowboat can acts as a special extra room offering you panoramic views of a world of thee worlds. Why not climb up here and join us up on the roof of the Erica to enjoy rook play and the approach of a thunderstorm. This episode is dedicated especially to Stu and Vania.     Journal entry: 10th May, Wednesday “A game of Pooh-sticks and...

Tonight, the clouds are racing and the young moon has already dipped below the horizon. Spring comes roaring on the back of a raging southwesterly. Join the Erica on a windy March night as, with the help of Rory's favourite book, we explore the significance of the conclave of oaks on the hill top.  Journal entry: 21st March, Tuesday. “Long day.  Darkness has long since fallen.  On the bank, the two swans emerge,  Glowing ghostly white.  Their beaks quietly nibbling the grass.  Night-time...

After a blustery week of wild, mad, March weather, why not join us tonight as we enjoy a sunny moment beside the canal and contemplate on the powerful word-play of some very old Celtic bards.  Journal entry:  17th March, Friday “The sun is warm  To the west the clouds are Prussian blue  Like mountains of the imagination.  A woodpecker laughs  From somewhere across the fields  Which fill with lambs  And the sound of young  Calling to old.  A branch hangs whose scars are unhidden.” Episode...

Curl up with us tonight as we enjoy the warmth of a cosy cabin as snow gives way to sweeping rain and our stove glows brightly in the gathering darkness. Journal entry: 10th March, Friday “The convocation of oaks rises to my view  From a swirling mist of snow and blown spindrift.  Their trunks wrapped white.  Icicles hang from their branches. I want to say,  “Don’t worry,  Spring is on its way.” But they know that.  They have known that before I was born  They have known that for...

This episode is dedicated to my pair of walking boots who has shared life with me for nearly 45 years (and both of us are still going strong). We have walked miles together. Where have they taken me and to what (and to whom) will they take me in the future?  Journal entry: 24th February, Friday “The jackdaws' chant hangs  Among the eaves of the ancient wood.  Aconite, anemones, and ransoms,  Green spears among rich leaf mould. A church on a hill  Swims among deep drifts  Of snowdrops  A...

Blustery late winter nights are perfect for retelling old stories. Tonight we listen again with new ears to the ancient story told in the 'hymn of the pearl' and explore how old myths and folktales can weave such powerful tales if we just allow them tell their own stories.   Journal entry: 15th February, Wednesday “An old moon leans back against the dawn.  Gulls scythe and cry  Between street lamps and traffic noise. Chaos above and chaos below.  But between the concrete  There is...

Any boater who is faced with the prospect of numerous locks ahead will know how wonderful it is to find someone who is prepared to take on ‘lock-wheeling’ duties. This episode takes some time out to reflect on the podcast as well as explore the many listeners who have become tireless lock-wheelers for it.  Journal entry:  10th February, Friday “Ice skates lines across the water.  A thin brittle veneer that cannot hold  The oak’s reflection. The morning sun sets fire to the reeds.  I am...

All along the canal side, the wintery tees and hedgerows are filling with spring song and life. Subtle shifts and changes, the play of light through the trees, the shimmering reflection of an old oak, auger new seasons awaiting us. It might still be winter and cold weather is on the way, but why not join me tonight in a ‘secret’ spot, canal-side, where we can listen together to February dawning?  Journal entry:  1st February, Wednesday. "The conclave of oaks at the top of the hill  Bask in...

Canals and railways are often very close near neighbours and so trains can be a frequent part of the canal soundscapes. This week we explore why the sound of a train in the distance (thanks to Paul Simon) can be so evocative which gives me the opportunity to reminisce about my childhood and revisit some wonderful poems.  Journal entry:   24th January, Tuesday. “Racing head. Not much sleep.  So I am out here, trying to walk it out. The ground crunches and splinters into Icy shards.  The...

Join us around the warmth of a glowing stove tonight as ice once more grips the boat and freezing fog thickly mantles the winter-naked trees. On nights like these, it is good to remember summer days and so, tonight’s episode takes us back to one particular day late last summer.  Journal entry:  16th January, Monday “A westering sun paints the opposite bank in amber,  Soil and bark glow warm with gold.  A tangle of twisted roots, bramble brush and rabbit holes. Eight ducks emerge from the...

Rain and mud are all around us at the moment, but there is wonder there too. The ancient myth of ‘The Voyage of Bran’ helps us to find the extraordinary within the ordinary and (with apologies to Simon and Garfunkel) the beauty of Tuesday Morning, 5.30am. Journal entry:  13th January, Friday “Boggy ground, although I am high on the hill.  Standing in the cluster of four oaks waiting.  Waiting for I don’t know what. I turn, and behind me, the sunrises in red and gold  Through the dense brush...

Happy New Year! New Years can be exciting times, marking new beginnings, a clean page, awakening dormant dreams and ambitions. However, sometimes it is not always like that. This year, in particular, many face the new year with trepidation, filled with anxieties, a sense of being overwhelmed and unable to cope.  What do we do when the future looks dark? *Please note that this episode candidly discusses issues of mental health*   Journal entry: 4th January, Wednesday. "Silver light on Cotswold...