WORDS once SPOKEN now CAPTURED

Blustery late winter nights are perfect for retelling old stories. Tonight we listen again with new ears to the ancient story told in the 'hymn of the pearl' and explore how old myths and folktales can weave such powerful tales if we just allow them tell their own stories. Journal entry : 15th February, Wednesday “An old moon leans back against the dawn. Gulls scythe and cry Between street lamps and traffic noise. Chaos above and chaos below. But between the concrete There is green.” Episode Inf...

Any boater who is faced with the prospect of numerous locks ahead will know how wonderful it is to find someone who is prepared to take on ‘lock-wheeling’ duties. This episode takes some time out to reflect on the podcast as well as explore the many listeners who have become tireless lock-wheelers for it. Journal entry : 10th February, Friday “Ice skates lines across the water. A thin brittle veneer that cannot hold The oak’s reflection. The morning sun sets fire to the reeds. I am dazzled by th...

All along the canal side, the wintery tees and hedgerows are filling with spring song and life. Subtle shifts and changes, the play of light through the trees, the shimmering reflection of an old oak, auger new seasons awaiting us. It might still be winter and cold weather is on the way, but why not join me tonight in a ‘secret’ spot, canal-side, where we can listen together to February dawning? Journal entry : 1st February, Wednesday. "The conclave of oaks at the top of the hill Bask in this go...

Canals and railways are often very close near neighbours and so trains can be a frequent part of the canal soundscapes. This week we explore why the sound of a train in the distance (thanks to Paul Simon) can be so evocative which gives me the opportunity to reminisce about my childhood and revisit some wonderful poems. Journal entry : 24th January, Tuesday. “Racing head. Not much sleep. So I am out here, trying to walk it out. The ground crunches and splinters into Icy shards. The kingfisher po...

Join us around the warmth of a glowing stove tonight as ice once more grips the boat and freezing fog thickly mantles the winter-naked trees. On nights like these, it is good to remember summer days and so, tonight’s episode takes us back to one particular day late last summer. Journal entry : 16th January, Monday “A westering sun paints the opposite bank in amber, Soil and bark glow warm with gold. A tangle of twisted roots, bramble brush and rabbit holes. Eight ducks emerge from the undergrowt...

Rain and mud are all around us at the moment, but there is wonder there too. The ancient myth of ‘The Voyage of Bran’ helps us to find the extraordinary within the ordinary and (with apologies to Simon and Garfunkel) the beauty of Tuesday Morning, 5.30am. Journal entry : 13th January, Friday “Boggy ground, although I am high on the hill. Standing in the cluster of four oaks waiting. Waiting for I don’t know what. I turn, and behind me, the sunrises in red and gold Through the dense brush of wood...

Happy New Year! New Years can be exciting times, marking new beginnings, a clean page, awakening dormant dreams and ambitions. However, sometimes it is not always like that. This year, in particular, many face the new year with trepidation, filled with anxieties, a sense of being overwhelmed and unable to cope. What do we do when the future looks dark? *Please note that this episode candidly discusses issues of mental health* Journal entry : 4th January, Wednesday. "Silver light on Cotswold ston...

It’s Christmas Eve and the perfect time for a canal-side story. Have you ever heard of the Christmas Heron? No? Well, there’s probably a very good reason for that, but I will tell it to you anyway. So, curl up in your special armchair by the stove and I will tell you all about the Christmas Heron. Journal entry : 24th December, Saturday (Christmas Eve). “Christmas Eve dawns with a silvered light. The canal is mirror calm. A choir of rook song. A lone swan flying south. The cormorant, cruciform, ...

Join us around the stove tonight, on a very cosy NB Erica that is currently ice-locked into a frozen landscape, as we think about the Fimbulwinter of old, and why Midwinter might be mid-winter after all! Journal entry : 14th December, Wednesday. “Ridges of frost form ribs on the sweep of hills. Two rooks throw calls against a sky Marbled by the setting sun. Beyond the horizon, a pheasant startles a distant wood. My fingers and toes burn. Episode Information: Water turning to stone Frost on ice -...

“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 as a small child as well as the adventures of the Archdeacon on ice. Journal entry : 9th December, Friday “The scent of wood smoke and cold air. The warm, dry sound of someone splitting firewood. Each teasel head is framed in a perfect halo of sunlight. Today, at least, their...

The night is chill and crisp, a bright moon rides the racing clouds and stars shimmer on the surface of the canal. It’s a perfect night for a night walk. Snuggle down and wrap up warm as you join me on a canal walk washed by moon light. Journal entry : 29th November, Tuesday “Reluctant daylight. The sun's cold shoulder. Three ducks bob on ruffled water. I walk on uphill Grateful for thick socks.” Episode Information: Earlier the night of the walk as darkness fell. Looking out of the bow of the E...

Tonight, we enjoy the special beauties of a rainy town in central England as darkness begins to fall, listen to Thomas Merton on city rain, and spend awhile at a window seat in a small café and create for while our own version of Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks . Journal entry : 26th November, Saturday "Sometimes, all it takes To make a day full Is to have breakfast in a half-empty cafe filled with chandeliers And crescent moons With someone you love As a watery sun Climbs into the morning sky.” Epis...

As the nights draw in and the cosy glow of a fire gets evermore inviting, it is the perfect time to share stories. It is not surprising that ghost stories have an enduring appeal. Many stories of the canal feature them. Ghosts like the canal networks themselves create a link between our worlds and the past. Tonight we enjoy the skill of Ian Douglas’ retelling of a ghostly encounter at Blisworth tunnel and why these stories are important. Journal entry : 18th November, Friday. “Stainless steel An...

This week saw the return of the cormorant which prompts a visit to Ernest Ingersoll to find out why they have no voice. A fairly severe reaction to the Covid jab meant that I missed attending this year’s graduation ceremony so join me as I think about past ceremonies and reflect on the journey of those passaging from graduand to graduate. Journal entry : 9th November, Wednesday “Here they come’ Like a stream in spate, Rolling black pebbles in its wake. Half a dozen tree-fulls of rooks, Crows, ja...

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 around us sleeps on. Journal entry : 28th October, Friday “Wild winds race ragged As starlings sport and shoal. Golden leaves, sherry warm, Stream head height across the canal. A flash of brave blue. A kingfisher Swims the leafy cataracts of air.” Episode Information: In thi...

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 good and brings a smile to the soul - and, on these darker and chillier evenings, who would deny us that? 2. Small boys will always be totally captivated by a wild heart and a gypsy smile ;) Journal entry : 18th October, Tuesday “Low cloud, like smoke, sweep down the weeping s...

The colours of autumn this year promise to be spectacular and the towpaths are being transformed by the brush of autumn’s artistry. Join us tonight as we drink in some of the sights and ponder why this season can evoke such a mixture of emotions within us. Journal entry : 11th October, Tuesday “A wash of gold afternoon light That fresh clean scent of damp earth And falling water The sluices are full and running, Laced with curtains of pearl and crystal. A yearling ewe, with her forelegs Knee dee...

For many, these are not easy days in which to live and our futures can appear so uncertain. How do we live through such times? Join us tonight as we listen to some deeper wisdom offered by a magpie and an alder tree. Journal entry : 7th October, Friday “Day off. First a few jobs around the boat in the gold of autumn sunshine. The alders are beginning to drop their leaves I kick them up as I walk through them Their sound reminds me of when I was young Conker hunting By the A41 In huge drifts of w...

This episode is especially for our youngest regular listener to the podcast, Rory, who had her 6th birthday a couple of weeks ago. So tonight, we explore the narrowboat Erica and what it is like to live on a boat, and then, especially for Rory listen to a story about another little girl who met some rather strange and wonderful people. Journal entry : 29th September, Thursday. “The reservoir is grey and slabby today, Crests form on wavelets the colour of old ice. Ghosting veils of low cloud swee...

This week much of the country fell silent for a while and that stillness was the occasion for a chance encounter and finding within the silence the music of bells among crow song. Join us aboard the Erica tonight as we are touched by the enigmatic qualities of bells and stillness. Journal entry : 21st September, Wednesday Dew, the smell of sheep and wet grass. Rooks jostle the lightening sky. The company of ducks hunched at the water’s edge Shake themselves awake And drop into the pool of water ...

The second of our reading this year takes back to the working-boat families of the First World War. Geoffrey Lewis’ beautifully detailed and cleverly structured tribute to the people who worked the boats through this turbulent period is a lovely and moving tribute to their hard work, sacrifices, and bravery. The Longest Trenc h follows the lives of two families as they work their boats and provides an intimate and carefully-researched window into their lives, charting not just the hardships, but...

The first of our ‘Summer’ readings this year is a litle different from those we looked at last year and features Andy Griffee’s meticulously researched, fast-paced, crime thriller Canal Pushers . Set on the West Midlands canals from Stratford-upon-Avon up to Birmingham and down to Hanbury (a handy map is included at the front of the book). The detail of the canal systems travelled is beautifully captured as is life aboard a narrowboat for would-be owner Jack Johnson. I initially started the book...

There’s a warm welcome awaiting you under the heavy night skies of summer’s hinterlands. Tonight we meet a very special person with a lop-sided smile and who might be able to teach us to walk with elephants. Journal entry : 30th August, Tuesday. “Day’s end. I stand up here and try to see what is Infront of me. But the future is just a confused blur of uncertainty. When I look back, I can so easily draw-out the most intricate constellations that map the chaos of my footsteps of the paths that I h...

Although a little delayed, the long-awaited rain and thunder did eventually arrive. Join us tonight as we hunker down beside a young willow and enjoy, with a field full of crows, the wonder of a thunderstorm as it roars overhead and all the richness it brings. Journal entry : 19th August, Friday. “An impulse forage among the brambles on a Blustery day of tall clouds and sunshine. I pick the high berries, you the lower ones. I extricate you when a bramble thorns your sleeve. Thirty-seven years fa...