Features

Cheshire’s multi award-winning Lion Salt Works Museum in Northwich, Cheshire, has been filmed for Channel 4’s highly successful ‘Great Canal Journeys’ starring Timothy West and Prunella Scales (pictured). Filming also featured their son, actor Sam West, and their daughter Juliet West was also on site. The couple and their son were filmed around the museum…

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Harry Arnold of Waterway Images looks back with fondness and humour at life on the canals in decades gone by. RETURNING to Norbury Junction is always nostalgic, as this is the place where in 1965 I first gave up a ‘real job’ and moved on to the canals full-time at Shropshire Union Cruises Ltd. First…

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Review by Elizabeth Rogers MARK Rainsley is an enthusiastic paddler, by kayak, canoe boat or paddleboard, and he suggests in his book Paddle the Thames that other paddlers may not realise the potential pleasure to be enjoyed that can be found further along the ‘riverine Arcadia’ of the River Thames. Rather than being just the…

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Elizabeth Rogers talks to Alan Norris, founding chairman of the West Vale branch of the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust. BACK in 1991 Alan Norris became the first chairman of the newly formed West Vale branch of the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust. Since then he and his fellow members, who include his wife Jean…

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Still going strong, Salter’s Steamers have been carrying passengers on the Thames since the mid-19th century. Elizabeth Rogers talks to Paul Salter, the sixth generation of the family to run the business. PAUL Salter is now at the helm of Salter’s Steamers Ltd, having succeeded his father John as managing director. But although semi-retired from…

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KAYAKER Tom Hards has found a better way to cope with his daily commute between Stroud and Stonehouse by choosing to paddle to work instead of taking the bus. He is fortunate to live and work close to the towpath of the Stroudwater Navigation and recently found that the tree clearance work carried out during…

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By working towards an environmentally sustainable boating community, we can save money, avoid red tape and safeguard the waterways and habitats we enjoy for the future. Here are some tips to make caring for the environment second nature this cruising season. Kate Fortnum is campaign manager for The Green Blue, which is for everyone who…

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The most popular attraction in the Brecon Beacons National Park, the Mon & Brec Canal is totally landlocked. Janet Richardson visited South Wales to find out more about this peaceful and scenic waterway. MY WHISTLE-stop tour started at the Glandwr Cymru (Canal & River Trust in Wales) South Wales and Severn Waterway office at Govilon…

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THE Caledonian Canal is 60 miles of natural fresh water lochs and man-made canals running through the magnificently scenic Great Glen of the Scottish Highlands, from Fort William 
to Inverness, writes Cicely Oliver. It can be followed on foot or bike – the Great Glen Way – by boat with plenty of choice of hire…

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Tim Coghlan of Braunston Marina has lunch with David Suchet of Hercule Poirot fame and finds out more about the actor’s connection with Britain’s canals. IN September 2016, a London Blue Plaque was unveiled by the distinguished actor and canal enthusiast David Suchet at 11 Gower Street, in London’s Bloomsbury, where the Inland Waterways Association…

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Towpath astronomer Brian Jones searches the sky for the constellation of Boötes. Is it herdsman, ploughman or bear driver? THE prominent constellation of Boötes is located high in the sky, not far from the overhead point during the evening at this time of year. Its brightest star, the yellow-orange Arcturus, can be located by following the…

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HAVING been operating for the last five years with the boat stock that came with the business Venetian Hireboats, Phil Roberts and his wife Maxine have now embarked on a process of replacement assisted by their team based at Cholmondeston near Nantwich, writes Phil Pickin. Lady Isabella (or Issy as she’s known) is the first…

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FOURTEEN months after moving to Erewash Canal Preservation and Development Association’s Langley Mill headquarters, work boat Pentland again took to the sky on May 11 when she was lifted back into the water. Now awaiting a new ECPDA livery, the former British Waterways work boat was manoeuvred through the trees back into the canal by…

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Alison Alderton visits one of Ireland’s most famous monastic sites. ARRIVAL at a destination by boat is always special but there is one place in Ireland where, in my opinion, it cannot be bettered. After threading your way through the rich tapestry of grasslands known as the callows for nine miles south of Athlone, the…

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