Question: When is a narrowboat a barge? Answer: When British Waterways says it is, apparently. BW's press release section of its website has a photograph of two narrowboats on the BCN in central Birmingham. When you hover the cursor over it you...

Andrew Denny of Granny Buttons alerted us yesterday to a planning application with Aylesbury Vale District Council for "Demolition of existing buildings and erection of 14 dwellings and associated works" at BW's Marsworth yard. Is this what BW wants...

Very near Rednal Basin on the Montgomery Canal is a tiny place which, according to Nicholson's, appears to be called Heath Houses. Inspection of streetmap.co.uk reveals no such place, well, not nowadays, anyhow: perhaps this is the name of some...

We were slightly down in numbers this year in that there were only four Shadow owners at the meeting, representing a third of the boat. We met, as usual, in the Great Barr Hotel in north Birmingham. The day started with a session for all the owners...

When this is published I shall be at our boat's owners' meeting in Birmingham. This is where we decide on the level of maintenance, repainting etc. we want. It's also when we get to meet the other owners of our boat: when we take Shadow out for a...