Nights by firelight and owl song

WORDS once SPOKEN now CAPTURED

March 3, 2024

Walking Home (In fading light)

As a family, we gained a reputation for the way our 'short walks' often turned into marathon hikes which invariably meant staggering home long after dark (usually without a torch). In this week’s episode I reminisce on the …
Jan. 17, 2024

I Felt the Anchor Shift (An Update)

It has been a rather tempestuous year so far! Currently, I am many miles from the boat and have not been able to record any podcasts. I have rather rushed this episode out to update you on the reasons why I have been so quie…
Dec. 23, 2023

The Christmas Eves of Childhood

You are invited to join us for a very special episode as we celebrate Christmas Eve onboard the Erica and remember the Christmas Eves of our childhood. Journal entry : 21st December, Thursday, Winter Solstice “The year’s tu…
Dec. 3, 2023

When Mum met Dad (95th Birthday edition)

Join us on a night when the boat is wrapped in freezin fog, but the stoves are warm and the cabin is cosy, for this week's very special episode as we celebrate Dad’s 95th birthday and we go back in time to hear about how a 1…
Nov. 12, 2023

When Guy Fawkes wore my old dressing gown

I've always felt that there is something rather singular about the month of November. Tonight I try to find out what it is and end up recounting the time when Guy Fawkes wore my old dressing gown (which might or might not ha…
Aug. 6, 2023

Adventures and Departures (The 'Kathy' Chronicles - pt 4)

Life afloat can throw up some rather singular challenges from being frozen in to sinking, running aground, being attacked by wild kittens and the dangers of runaway working boats!! Join us tonight as we ride out Storm Antoni…
July 30, 2023

The New Baby Arrives (The 'Kathy' Chronicles - pt 3)

What was it like to give birth on small 30 ft boat in the 1960s? Mum continues her account of her life afloat on the Kathy in this week’s instalment of ‘The Kathy Chronicles’. We hear about the some of the challenges and joy…
July 23, 2023

Crochet by Lantern Light (The 'Kathy' Chronicles - pt 2)

What was it really like to live on board a 30ft canal boat in the late 1950s before there were such things as service points and fully equipped marinas? This week we continue with ‘The Kathy Chronicles’ where Mum describes h…
June 11, 2023

'A Little Clinker-Built Boat' (The 'Kathy' Chronicles - pt 1)

Travel back in time to the scorching summer of 1959. Although the canals were still mainly used by working boats, leisure cruising was growing in popularity and so too the idea of living on a canal boat. Tonight, I take us b…
Feb. 26, 2023

The Miles We Have Walked (You and Me)

This episode is dedicated to my pair of walking boots who has shared life with me for nearly 45 years (and both of us are still going strong). We have walked miles together. Where have they taken me and to what (and to whom)…
Dec. 11, 2022

Those eyes of old (look out at me)

“Those eyes of old look at me and, through the haze of your futures, I look back at you…” On this freezing December night, snuggle closer to the stove as I reflect on the strangeness of coming across an old photograph of me …
Oct. 30, 2022

Today I held back time

This weekend the clocks change (in the UK). These small markers in our calendars can touch us in deep ways. Join me tonight as we stop the clock, step out of time, and savour together the unspent, untouched hour as the world…
Oct. 22, 2022

'By badger light and lantern's sigh' (Magickry)

Tonight, as the evenings draw in and autumn takes a firmer hold of towpath and fields, let's gather close beside a woodland campfire for some unabashed romanticism. For life teaches us two things: 1. Romance does the heart g…
June 26, 2022

Love Letters (Written in Canal Water)

Odd little shards of memory take on new meaning. A young man clinging to the side of a bridge, a walk around a reservoir, a canal-side pub, a bridge crossing the Grand Union. It is funny how, looking back, distinct paths and…
June 12, 2022

'I've Got Her Now' (Love and Hawthorn Blossom)

This week has been one of extremes that encompasses the splendour of solitude and an onboard visit by three very enthusiastic police dogs (and a puppy)! Alongside all this, we took time to listen to some bats, watch the cygn…