July 2024 issue
On the cover of the July issue…Boating past the Clock Warehouse at Shardlow on the Trent & Mersey Canal.
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Built for Solo Cruising
Boat Review
Mac is a 45ft bespoke narrowboat designed with single-handed operation in mind. What’s more, it’s from a fairly new builder. Mark Langley finds more….
Back to Reality
Waterways TV
Narrow Escapes is Channel 4's latest foray into canal-centric television. Amelia Saxena meets some of its liveaboard stars
Current Event
Event Report
In early May Rupert Smedley attended Electrika, a brand-new show dedicated to electric boating
Cruising in the Shadow of War
Looking Back
May marked the 50th anniversary of the death of canal campaigner and author Tom Rolt. In this extract from a new biography, The Life of LTC Rolt: Where Engineering Met Literature, we relive his 1939 honeymoon cruise
Rolt's Ireland Adventure
Looking Back
Andy Tidy looks at the author’s 1946 trip on the waterways of the Emerald Isle
WW Guide to the Leicester Ring
Cruising Guide
Peaceful and rural in parts, lively and urban in others, this blend of canal and river navigations boasts a full array of Midlands cities, towns and attractions. Steve Elliott takes us on a round trip
Fifty at 50
Boat-Builder Profile
After half a century of boat-building, Dave Harris is about to retire having just completed his 50th narrowboat. Andrew Denny tells his story…
Polishing Paintwork
Boat-Ownership
Shiny new boats are fabulous to behold but what happens when the gloss starts to fade? Here’s how Tony Jones restored a tired paint job to its former glory
Catching up with Robbie Cumming
Profile
Robbie Cumming is about to return to our TV screens with a much-extended fifth series of Canal Boat Diaries. He’s also been touring a live show, as he discusses with Bobby Cowling
All Aboard
Accessible Boating
In the final part of our series on accessible boating, Alison Cannon looks at some of the specially designed trip-boats operating around the network
Stratford-Upon-Avon
Waterways Hotspot
James Francis Fox explains why the Warwickshire town can be considered the cradle of waterways restoration
Discovering the Newport Pagnell Canal
Looking Back
Roger Butler tells the story of this lost Buckinghamshire canal and explores its remains
Affordable 'Fat Narrowboats'
Buying Used
James Francis Fox looks at some of the narrowboat-style wide-beams available to secondhand buyers on a budget
Mum's the Word
Reader's Boat
Photographer and single parent Hannah Bodsworth describes how renovating a 42ft narrowboat to live on with her son has changed her work/life balance for the better
What would Tom Rolt think?
Last Word
David Cheetham ponders what the celebrated waterways writer and campaigner would make of the contemporary canal and river scene
