Latest Liveaboard Podcast Episodes
Crochet by Lantern Light (The 'Kathy' Chronicles - pt 2)
Nighttime on Still Waters - July 23, 2023 11:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsWhat was it really like to live on board a 30ft canal boat in the late 1950s before there were such things as service points and fully equipped marinas? This week we continue with ‘The Kathy Chronicles’ where Mum describes how they began to settle into life afloat, whilst making extensive altera...
Low along the Fox Paths
Nighttime on Still Waters - July 16, 2023 13:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsIt’s a wild and wet July night of wind and rain. So why not step aboard for a while as we meander down some fox trails and contemplate the pleasure of sunshine and dark skies. Journal entry: 11th July, Tuesday “A quarter to midnight. Lying in bed and listening To the drum of rain On the ca...
Changes (lessons from a field edge)
Nighttime on Still Waters - July 09, 2023 12:00 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsJoin us tonight on a hot sticky night of lingering light and stubborn twilight. With the summer’s tilt shifting wider and deeper changes are felt. "Life is a motion. Life is growth. It is never static," says the corner of a field. Journal entry: 4th July, Tuesday "Goldfinch carnival Among ...
Facing the Fears with Maggie
Nighttime on Still Waters - July 02, 2023 11:00 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThis has been rather an unexpected and eventful week. This is a special episode where we welcome a board a new fellow traveller (along the canals and through life). Journal entry: 30th June, Friday “Endless motorways. Endless traffic. Red lights all the way. A frightened face and soulful e...
Five Finger Widths (above the horizon)
Nighttime on Still Waters - June 25, 2023 11:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsWatching the sun sink below the horizon, particularly after long sunny days such as these, can evoke a mass of mental and emotional responses that seem to tap into something deep within us. Join us this week as week count down a setting sun and reflect on the rich culture it created. Journal ...
These are the Long Days (on Windmill Hill)
Nighttime on Still Waters - June 18, 2023 12:00 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThese are the days when the nights are short and the days are long. On the cusp of the summer solstice, the year's turning reaches its zenith, join me tonight in celebrating the unique joys (and challenges) of the long days with a special visit to Windmill Hill (Grid reference SP 33 42). Journa...
'A Little Clinker-Built Boat' (The 'Kathy' Chronicles - pt 1)
Nighttime on Still Waters - June 11, 2023 12:00 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsTravel back in time to the scorching summer of 1959. Although the canals were still mainly used by working boats, leisure cruising was growing in popularity and so too the idea of living on a canal boat. Tonight, I take us back to that world as I read Mum’s reminiscences of the decision to live ...
In Praise of Locks (and lock-keepers)
Nighttime on Still Waters - June 04, 2023 13:00 - 35 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThere’s something almost indefinably special about canal and river locks. Tonight, I relate my struggle to outwit the ghost of Odd Lock as well as take time to celebrate the lock-keepers of old and their newer iteration – the volunteer lockie (I’m guessing at the spelling!) Journal entry: 2n...
The Sun that Shone on Eden (still shines upon us here)
Nighttime on Still Waters - May 28, 2023 12:00 - 40 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsCome with me for a walk by the canal and I will show you something wonderful! This week we explore how names and memories have the power to root and reinforce our connections with home and tell us something very important about ourselves. Journal entry: 27th May, Saturday “Late afternoon su...
A Nightingale Sang (and the world listened)
Nighttime on Still Waters - May 21, 2023 12:00 - 42 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThis week marked the anniversary of what has been considered by many to be one of the most important cultural events of the twentieth century. Tonight, we try to recapture that moment and explore why its power to move still remains today. Journal entry: 18th May, Thursday, “Is there anything ...
Up on the Roof (Waiting for the rain)
Nighttime on Still Waters - May 14, 2023 10:00 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsWe are back! Spring sunshine and showers are transforming the fields and the canal and it is wonderful to be behind the microphone once again! The roof of a narrowboat can acts as a special extra room offering you panoramic views of a world of thee worlds. Why not climb up here and join us up o...
The Three of Seven (At the conclave of oaks)
Nighttime on Still Waters - March 26, 2023 12:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsTonight, the clouds are racing and the young moon has already dipped below the horizon. Spring comes roaring on the back of a raging southwesterly. Join the Erica on a windy March night as, with the help of Rory's favourite book, we explore the significance of the conclave of oaks on the hill to...
When blackbirds learn to sing
Nighttime on Still Waters - March 19, 2023 13:00 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsAfter a blustery week of wild, mad, March weather, why not join us tonight as we enjoy a sunny moment beside the canal and contemplate on the powerful word-play of some very old Celtic bards. Journal entry: 17th March, Friday “The sun is warm To the west the clouds are Prussian blue Like ...
Night Swimming (After the snows)
Nighttime on Still Waters - March 12, 2023 13:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsCurl up with us tonight as we enjoy the warmth of a cosy cabin as snow gives way to sweeping rain and our stove glows brightly in the gathering darkness. Journal entry: 10th March, Friday “The convocation of oaks rises to my view From a swirling mist of snow and blown spindrift. Their trunk...
The Miles We Have Walked (You and Me)
Nighttime on Still Waters - February 26, 2023 14:00 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThis episode is dedicated to my pair of walking boots who has shared life with me for nearly 45 years (and both of us are still going strong). We have walked miles together. Where have they taken me and to what (and to whom) will they take me in the future? Journal entry: 24th February, Frid...
Songs to the Younger Part (Hymn of the Pearl)
Nighttime on Still Waters - February 19, 2023 15:00 - 56 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsBlustery 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: 15t...
Lock Wheeling
Nighttime on Still Waters - February 12, 2023 13:00 - 35 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsAny 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-wheele...
February Dawning
Nighttime on Still Waters - February 05, 2023 12:00 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsAll 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...
A train in the distance ('Night Mail')
Nighttime on Still Waters - January 29, 2023 12:00 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsCanals 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 revi...
One day last summer
Nighttime on Still Waters - January 22, 2023 13:00 - 37 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsJoin 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: ...
Tuesday Morning, 5.30am (The Voyage of Bran)
Nighttime on Still Waters - January 15, 2023 14:00 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsRain 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 ...
When darkness falls (Skating on 'un-time')
Nighttime on Still Waters - January 08, 2023 15:00 - 42 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsHappy 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...
The Christmas Heron
Nighttime on Still Waters - December 24, 2022 14:00 - 45 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsIt’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 Hero...
'Earth stood hard as iron...'
Nighttime on Still Waters - December 18, 2022 14:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsJoin 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 hill...
Those eyes of old (look out at me)
Nighttime on Still Waters - December 11, 2022 14:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratings“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. ...
Nightwalk 2 (Moon shadows across the water)
Nighttime on Still Waters - December 04, 2022 14:00 - 40 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThe 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 dayl...
Rainy town (as darkness falls)
Nighttime on Still Waters - November 27, 2022 14:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsTonight, 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, Satu...
Stories are for listening: Blisworth Tunnel (Ian Douglas)
Nighttime on Still Waters - November 20, 2022 14:00 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsAs 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 a...
Of cormorants and graduands
Nighttime on Still Waters - November 13, 2022 14:00 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThis 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 o...
Today I held back time
Nighttime on Still Waters - October 30, 2022 12:00 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThis 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 win...
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