Through Canal-Land in a Canadian Canoe

Leaving familiar stretches of the Thames, Vincent Hughes and a friend plan three weeks of canoeing along England's canals, with Kendal as their intended destination. Their account starts at Kew and follows the practical business of obtaining passes, packing a Canadian canoe and finding places to eat and sleep. Locks, village inns and conversations with barge workers give the route its daily rhythm.

Open water brings sunshine and stretches of rural scenery, while tunnels demand more awkward decisions. Hughes describes a smoky passage aboard a tug and another encounter in which darkness and disturbed water leave the canoe wedged between tunnel walls. His attention also turns to the labour that keeps barges moving, including men pushing with their feet against tunnel masonry. For readers interested in waterways, the account brings holiday pleasures into contact with the working canal system, recording its physical obstacles as closely as its scenery.