The Future of the Waterways
Waterways World publisher Peter Johns explores a key change in boat usage and how this may impact canals and rivers over the next 80 years
I think we face a pivotal time for our waterways (that goes way beyond the recent discussions of Canal & River Trust funding). This article is inspired by a presentation I gave at the 2024 Crick Boat Show - I want to encourage wider debate of radical ideas and hope that this provides some context.
Testing an accessible boat
Is the industry doing enough to make boating accessible? Wheelchair-user Nigel Lincoln reviews specially adapted hire-boat Beatrice.
For the last 30 years, I have had increasing Inclusion Body Myositis, which is a recently diagnosed condition that results in leg muscles and then arm muscles wasting away.
A helping hand
Tony Jones describes how a large marina is assisting boating newbies and wonders whether more marinas should be offering greater guidance on becoming a boater
During the winter of 2007 I was moored on the Erewash Canal. I’d been unwell for a few days, waking with a splitting headache and feeling nauseous – an affliction that, thankfully, subsided as the day drew on. At the same time I’d become rather disillusioned with boat life. I didn’t yet know anyone at my new mooring, and my boat was giving me trouble. My diesel heater had stopped working, so I was relying on my solid-fuel stove to heat my boat and that wasn’t working properly either. I was having problems lighting it, and it would belch smoke into the cabin each time I opened the door. When one of the women in the office where I worked said she could smell something burning, I wasn’t surprised when she traced the smokey smell to me.
