Tales from the Riverbank

It was a daunting sight. An armada of narrowboats faced me, waiting their turn to go into the lock I was exiting, some of the skippers clearly as novice as me and desperately trying to get out of my way.

So having successfully avoided them, I enjoyed a brief few moments of smugness as I navigated a right hand bend only to find a boat heading straight towards me on the wrong side of the canal. I put my boat into reverse to slow and stop her, but the woman steering the other narrowboat frantically waved at me to pass her on the wrong side. Cursing under my breath I did so, only to then over-steer back to the right hand side and get the long suffering Amelia spread-eagled across the canal.

‘We started to relax and made cooing noises at the sight of baby moorhens, ducklings and cygnets’

The next few minutes were a blur as I straightened the boat and headed for the next lock where my partner, Simon, was waiting, having walked