This entertaining talk 

is richly illustrated with modern and archive pictures, bringing the waterways vividly to life.

Follow the rapid growth of the canal system, which made the Industrial Revoltion possible;

Enjoy the unique folk art created by the people of the waterways;

And savour the pleasure of travelling, at a comfortable walking pace, in your own home though your own country.

 Join me for a journey by narrowboat around the English waterways.

Follow the tidal River Trent to Nottingham.  Explore the Midlands canals and the Fens by canal and river.  Cruise the Thames tideway through the centre of London, and follow the river all the way to Oxford.  Take the lovely Oxford Canal north, pass through the heart of the canal system in Birmingham, and end your journey on the biggest Meccano set in England!

And who was a very naughty boy in this lovely cottage [RIGHT] on the River Thames?

Find out when you hear the talk!

Into Yorkshire by the back door.

The Chesterfield Canal at the county boundary with Nottinghamshire, near Worksop

Here we are [LEFT] going down Delph Nine locks on the Stourbridge Canal in the West Midlands. 

There is something unusual about the Delph Nine -- there are only eight of them!  There were originally nine locks, but at some point in the 19th century two  of them were replaced by one deeper lock. By that time the boatmen had got used to calling them the Delph Nine, so why change it?