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 Astbury, just south of Congleton on the Macclesfield canal.

It wanders up and down the canal system of the UK - admittedly more in the summer than the winter, but that's life. Now I have retired from gainful employment, I can go as far as I like in the summer, and I often do...

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.

But then, who wants to, anyway?