Wherever I go, my interest in canals seems to follow me. If I am travelling by road or train and see the black and white of a lock gate balance beam or the unique profile of a hump-backed bridge, I try to identify the canal or waterway from a mental map of the inland waterways system. This mental map helps me to navigate when driving in unfamiliar parts of the country (provided, of course, that there are canals and waterways in the area). I also get the urge to stop for a look around, to take photographs (a good photographer always carries a camera with them) and make notes, either scribbled or recorded on my smartphone's electronic note book.

Alcudia Canal in Majorca

A few years ago, my wife... Ange and I were on a holiday in Alcudia... a town located in the north of the beautiful Mediterranean island of Majorca. Whilst looking around the shops of the main street we unexpectedly came across a hump-backed bridge spanning what appeared to be a canal. On further investigation it turned out that it was a canal that connected lagoons and a marina to the open sea. Consequently, Ange and I decided to hire a pair of bicycles and explore this small canal network. Whilst cycling along the “towpath” we were very surprised to discover a  Norman 24 ft. canal cruiser tucked away in a residential area adjacent to the canal. It was on a trailer, scruffy and had no windows or engine fitted, but was readily identifiable for what it was; a British, narrow beam, fibreglass, canal cruiser. Needless to say that it was duly recorded for prosperity on my still camera and camcorder just in case some of my canal cruising friends didn't believe me! I often wonder how it got there and if the owner knows why the boat in question is only 6ft. 10 ins. beam?

The Norman 24 that we came across in Alcudia, Majorca

On another occasion, we were visiting Ange’s brother who lives on the Isle of Wight. Our visit coincided with the finish of the Round the World Yacht Race and we spent some time looking at the wonderful array of craft assembled in Cowes Harbour... J Class yachts (the “Josher” of the yachting world), tall ships and many other types and sizes of craft both classic and modern.

We also saw and photographed examples of Fairy Swordfish, Fairy Huntsman and Fairy Huntress off-shore cruisers as used in the James Bond Film “From Russia With Love” in which Bond escapes the enemy. The enemy also had Fairy Huntsman boats as well! (not surprising really as this section of the film was actually shot in the U.K.). They were of interest to me as they are also the craft on which Marlin Craft of Chester (the builders of my parents' canal cruiser... Phial) based their boat designs.

A Fairey Huntsman on the Solent off Cowes, Isle of Wight

Whilst we were on the Island we went to an open day at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway Open Day. As well as going on the steam railway and looking at and photographing the trains, traction engines, classic cars and preserved vehicles there were a number of stalls selling various items of interest. One of the stalls, located in an old railway carriage, was selling various old magazines and there were quite a few back-copies of "Waterways World" and "Canal and Riverboat" for sale. Needless to say, the boxes containing these magazines were empty after I had left and the donation box was a little bit heavier as well!

"High Jump"... the aluminium Sea Otter that we saw on our arrival in France

When we were travelling to Paris with Lymm Cruising Club in 2007 our coach pulled in for fuel and a comfort break. Whilst walking around to stretch our legs we saw High Jump... a Sea Otter, lightweight narrowboat of aluminium construction rather than the heavier and more corrosive mild steel. The boat emanated from Churt, which is near Farnham in Surrey on the River Wey and was on a trailer towed by a large 4x4. Its owner was, no doubt, emulating Terry Darlington's epic voyage to the Mediterranean ("Narrow Dog to Carcassonne") but missing out the bit where Terry, Monica and Jim the Whippet crossed the English Channel in their narrowboat Phyllis May.

Sometimes I hanker after a small, transportable (trailable) craft that can be towed to various isolated locations and launched to allow me to take photographs of them. Maybe a nice, clinker-hulled dinghy and trailer with either a classic Seagull Century outboard motor or a modern electric unit. It could also double as a tender to Squirrel. Maybe one day I will invest in such a craft.

This nice, clinker-hulled 5ft dinghy might fit the bill...

...with a classic Seagull Century outboard to go with it...

...or alternatively, a modern electric unit

James Brindley, Thomas Telford and the other "members of the band" have left us an inheritance of over two thousand miles of navigable canals and inland waterways in this country. Originally, the majority of our canals were constructed to feed the Industrial Revolution with raw materials and to distribute the resulting end products around the country. The rivers however have been made navigable since well before Roman times. Some of the schemes to make these rivers navigable were to form the foundation stones for later artificial canals or cuts. Today, only a fraction of our waterways system is used for commercial transportation but the remainder are kept alive by the ever-increasing number of leisure craft that journey along their length. In fact, the waterways system handles more boat movements per year now than it did at the height of its commercial carrying days, such is the impact that leisure boating has had.

I feel very privileged to be writing about Canals and Inland Waterways at this time, as it is a very exciting period for this subject. We are witnessing a new era with the accelerating restoration and development of Britain’s Canals and Inland Waterways as a heritage and leisure amenity. It is almost like a second Canal Mania similar to that witnessed at the birth of our canal system in the late 1700’s.There are many long-tern restoration projects that have reached fruition, such as the complete rebuilding and subsequent reopening of the Anderton Boat Lift, the restoration and re-opening of the Rochdale and Huddersfield Narrow Canals (including Standedge Tunnel... well worth a visit), the construction of completely new stretches of waterway like the extension to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal to link the Albert Dock and Liverpool’s South Docks (now owned and controlled by the Canal and River Trust) with the canal, the Millennium Ribble Link (canalisation of the Savick Brook) which connects the southern end of the Lancaster Canal at Preston with the River Ribble, enabling connection to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal via the Rivers Douglas and Ribble, the construction of the Falkirk Wheel and the Millennium Link completing a cross-country route across the Scottish Lowlands via the Forth and Clyde and Union Canals, the proposed restoration and reconnection of the northern section of the Lancaster Canal to Kendal, the continuing restoration of the Montgomery Canal (which I hope to cruise the full length of before I become too old), the possible reconstruction of the Bradford Canal, the proposed reinstatement of Runcorn Locks connecting the Bridgewater Canal to the Manchester Ship Canal. the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal's Middlewood Basin and the first fifth of a mile of the canal from the junction with the River Irwell is now completed and was officially opened on 19th September 2008, the Cotswold Canals, the reopening of the Droitwich Barge and Junction Canals and the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals in addition to many more projects too numerous to mention but nonetheless, just as important.

There has long been the need for a waterway connecting the Bedford River Ouse with the Grand Union Canal near what is today Milton Keynes and it now looks as though the Bedford-Milton Keynes Link may well be constructed. One revolutionary (literally) solution to overcoming a change of levels on this canal without resorting to locks or a boat lift is the Brogborough Whirl. Basically similar to an inclined plane such as at Foxton or Ketley with boats floating in caissons ascending the change in levels but designed as a 360° spiral rather than a straight slope. When completed this structure would be as innovative as the Falkirk Wheel and as popular as the Anderton Lift. Consequently it would attract visitors from all over the country and (hopefully) all over the world as well.

Another revolutionary device for raising and lowering boats without the need for conventional locks is the Diagonal Lock. It is a cross between an inclined plane and  a water slope (as used on the Canal du Midi) and could be the answer to canal restorers' prayers when a stretch of canal has to be realigned and a steep change of height is required. Boats would be raised or lowered through a diagonal tube that is filled or emptied of water depending upon the direction of travel. The brainchild of Terry Fogarty it has the support of British Waterways, was featured in the "Waterworld" TV series and could be an attraction on restored waterways in the future. For more information and an excellent animated demonstration go to go to  http://www.diagonallock.org.

Montech Water Slope on the Canal du Midi

(Photograph - Barging in France)

Artist's impression of how a Diagonal Lock may look

(CGI - Diagonal Lock Advisory Group)

Regarding the restoration of the Montgomery Canal... when it fell into disuse and was abandoned many road bridges were lowered when roads were widened. These lowered bridges were and still are one of the major obstacles to complete restoration. The other major obstacle being funding. The obvious solution would be to rebuild the bridges with navigable headroom but the cost and logistics implementing this would be prohibitive. One solution would be to lower the canal beneath the bridges using a drop lock and raise it back again after passing beneath the obstacle. The chamber of a drop lock is over twice the length of a conventional lock chamber allowing craft to be lowered to a suitable depth, move beneath the bridge and then raised to the normal level of the canal on the other side. A drop lock was used successfully at Dalmuir on the Forth and Clyde Canal in Scotland.

 Dalmuir Drop Lock on the Forth and Clyde Canal in Scotland

The list of restoration (and new-build) projects just goes on and on and is added to regularly. Ultimately, when completed, these projects will increase the number of canals that will be available for cruising in the (hopefully) not too distant future. Some of these projects have come about due to the success of restored canals in other areas. These restorations bring renewed prosperity to the areas concerned in the shape of tourism and passing trade increasing an area’s affluence. All these projects confirm that at last there is an awakening of both public and corporate awareness surrounding our forgotten heritage. This awareness also confirms something that canal boaters have known for many years… that the Canals and Inland Waterways of Great Britain are amenities too valuable to loose and should be cultivated not forgotten or allowed to go to waste. In the not too distant past, if a house backed onto or overlooked a canal... the location was frowned upon and the property lost value. Today, the presence of a canal adds at least twenty percent to the property's value. Now if that is not a reversal of trends I do not know what is!

Not only are our canals and inland waterways examples of “Virtual History”... providing an insight to how the transport system that fuelled the Industrial Revolution operated and demonstrate how our forbears worked and lived, but today they provide a peaceful and (mostly) beautiful sanctuary from the pace and stresses of modern day living... in fact, the ultimate chill-out. I quite often tell interested parties that I don't care where you are, whether it be in the centre of a major city or the depths of the countryside, as soon as the canal towpath is encountered... a different world is entered and the pace of life seems to change down a few gears!

We are frequently made aware of the way that the French people encompass leisure and tourism throughout their canals and inland waterways. At least in the U.K. we do not have farmers who think that the canals and waterways should be closed and only used for irrigating their fields and vineyards, who protest by welding steel lock gates together to prevent boat passage (but we did have a farmer who cut off lock gate balance beams and caused breaches). Also in France, agriculturists have tipped 900 tonnes of mining waste into the beautiful Canal du Midi in protest of how navigation of the canals lowers the quality of water used for irrigating the oyster beds that lie at the southern end of the canal. How lucky we are! The worst we seem to have is the occasional blockage due to protests over licence and mooring fees.

A long-term project would have been to utilise the canal system as a “National Water Grid”. This would be similar to that used to distribute electricity throughout the country but, in this instance, to distribute water. Unfortunately, the scheme has not materialised. Although the Llangollen Canal has, for many years, supplied Cheshire with water sourced from Lake Bala via the River Dee. At Llantisilio, water from the Dee is diverted into the canal down which it passes to Hurleston Reservoir. It was this use of the canal as an open pipeline that helped to save it from closure during the spate of canal closures and abandonments in 1944. Maybe British Waterways (now the Canal and River Trust) should have explored this project a little more as it would have ensured more income and less reliance on the ever-diminishing grants from the Government via DEFRA. I will watch with interest the conversion of British Waterways into the "mutualised" (charitable) Canal and River Trust similar in concept to the National Trust and should safeguard the assets of our wonderful inland waterway network and its infrastructure for future generations.

There are also proposals to bring back commercial freight carrying of non-urgent cargoes to the canals. Pilot schemes have already started on the Southern section of the Grand Union Canal. The Prescott Channel section of the River Lea... part of London's river network, was "de-tidalised" by the construction of Three Mills or Prescott Lock which allowed the transportation of construction materials for the 2012 Olympic Games complex and accommodation village (now Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park). The Birmingham Canal Network, the Forth & Clyde and Caledonian Canals also have pilot schemes in place. The re-introduction of commercial cargo carrying on our canal system would require considerable investment to enable some routes to be re-instated to commercial status and alter them to the dimensions suitable for the kind of craft envisaged. I have doubts that this ever will happen but if it does I hope that it does not alter significantly the beauty, heritage aspect and character of our inland waterways system. However, if it did, they would only be reverting to their original function. Tesco are continuing to transport wine from the Continent and other locations as well as other commodities to their distribution centre at Irlam near Manchester via the Manchester Ship Canal. The wine comes into the Port of Liverpool loaded in a container aboard a freighter and is then trans-shipped onto the Liverpool/Manchester Shuttle Barge that is capable of transporting one hundred and sixty, twenty foot containers. Originally this was the barge Res V propelled by the tug Daisy Doarado but the service is now handled by the MV Monica which is a purpose built, self propelled container barge which features an elevating wheelhouse similar to the type used on the Continental rivers and waterways. As well as ferrying full containers to Irlam, empty containers are carried on the return trip to be repatriated with their owners. This is one way that their carbon footprint can be reduced by replacing many hundreds of HGV movements with that of one barge. 

Let us hope that the current interest and investment in the Canals and Inland Waterways of Great Britain is not just a flash in the pan and will continue for future generations to enjoy and that the Canal and River Trust funding allows continued investment in their current (and future) levels of prosperity. The transformation of British Waterways to a charity called the Canal and River Trust (similar in principal to the National Trust) can only be a positive move as it allows volunteer workers greater access to needy projects.

In late January 2013 the Government announced the route for Phase Two of the proposed HS2 high-speed railway line from Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds. I had followed the developments of Phase One... the southern section with interest as it crossed many canals and inland waterways along its route. Whilst inspecting the maps of the Northern Section's Proposed Route I was horrified to discover that it crossed the Bridgewater Canal at Lymm CC's Agden moorings and ironically, at a point exactly where our narrowboat is currently moored.

Not only does the railway line cross the Bridgewater Canal here but there is a junction at this location as well. It carries on to cross the Manchester Ship Canal not far from Warburton Bridge but I am guessing that the railway will have climbed to a higher level before that crossing is reached. Even though it will be many years before the construction work is due to commence it will be interesting to see how the situation develops.

(Courtesy - BBC TV)