There aren't many pictures in the Gallery yet, but there will be.

I run a 40 foot steel narrowboat, Lord Byron's Maggot, which is usually parked at Croughton, halfway between Chester and Ellesmere Port.

It wanders up and down the canal system of the UK - admittedly more in the summer than the winter, but that's life. I usually manage to get between four and six week holiday in the summer, and, starting at  a village carnival at Waverton in Cheshire, where my band used to play for the evening dance, get as far as I can in a fortnight.

Which, even at four miles an hour, if further than you might think.

Although four miles an hour is a bit of an exaggeration - since I got rebottomed a few years back I'm a bit heavier and move a bit slower. the boat does, too.

Boats are a wonderful method of getting away from the realities of life, especially musicians. I usually go by myself, which is OK until you get to the iron lock at Beeston, which is the only one I've found so far in the country without a ladder. Once in, you can't get out.