Latest Liveaboard Podcast Episodes
'By badger light and lantern's sigh' (Magickry)
Nighttime on Still Waters - October 22, 2022 14:00 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsTonight, as the evenings draw in and autumn takes a firmer hold of towpath and fields, let's gather close beside a woodland campfire for some unabashed romanticism. For life teaches us two things: 1. Romance does the heart good and brings a smile to the soul - and, on these darker and chillier...
Autumn colours the tattered garments of summer
Nighttime on Still Waters - October 16, 2022 12:00 - 37 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThe colours of autumn this year promise to be spectacular and the towpaths are being transformed by the brush of autumn’s artistry. Join us tonight as we drink in some of the sights and ponder why this season can evoke such a mixture of emotions within us. Journal entry: 11th October, Tuesd...
Living in Rehoboam's land
Nighttime on Still Waters - October 09, 2022 13:00 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsFor many, these are not easy days in which to live and our futures can appear so uncertain. How do we live through such times? Join us tonight as we listen to some deeper wisdom offered by a magpie and an alder tree. Journal entry: 7th October, Friday “Day off. First a few jobs around the b...
Rory's episode (Red gumboots and a yellow summer dress)
Nighttime on Still Waters - October 02, 2022 12:00 - 42 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThis episode is especially for our youngest regular listener to the podcast, Rory, who had her 6th birthday a couple of weeks ago. So tonight, we explore the narrowboat Erica and what it is like to live on a boat, and then, especially for Rory listen to a story about another little girl who met ...
Church bells among crow song
Nighttime on Still Waters - September 25, 2022 13:00 - 41 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThis week much of the country fell silent for a while and that stillness was the occasion for a chance encounter and finding within the silence the music of bells among crow song. Join us aboard the Erica tonight as we are touched by the enigmatic qualities of bells and stillness. Journal e...
The Longest Trench (Summer readings)
Nighttime on Still Waters - September 18, 2022 12:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThe second of our reading this year takes back to the working-boat families of the First World War. Geoffrey Lewis’ beautifully detailed and cleverly structured tribute to the people who worked the boats through this turbulent period is a lovely and moving tribute to their hard work, sacrifices,...
Canal Pushers (Summer readings)
Nighttime on Still Waters - September 11, 2022 13:00 - 22 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThe first of our ‘Summer’ readings this year is from Andy Griffee’s meticulously researched, fast-paced, crime thriller Canal Pushers. Set on the West Midlands canals from Stratford-upon-Avon up to Birmingham and down to Hanbury (a handy map is included at the front of the book). The detail of ...
Milky tea and four sugars (Walking with elephants)
Nighttime on Still Waters - September 04, 2022 12:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThere’s a warm welcome awaiting you under the heavy night skies of summer’s hinterlands. Tonight we meet a very special person with a lop-sided smile and who might be able to teach us to walk with elephants. Journal entry: 30th August, Tuesday. “Day’s end. I stand up here and try to see wh...
Beside a young willow (in a thunderstorm)
Nighttime on Still Waters - August 28, 2022 11:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsAlthough a little delayed, the long-awaited rain and thunder did eventually arrive. Join us tonight as we hunker down beside a young willow and enjoy, with a field full of crows, the wonder of a thunderstorm as it roars overhead and all the richness it brings. Journal entry: 19th August, Frid...
Hot August Nights (Listening for the thunder)
Nighttime on Still Waters - August 15, 2022 12:00 - 24 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsIt has been a sweltering hot week with temperatures in the 30s (90F). Join me onboard NB Erica, on a hot August night just as the heatwave is about to break, as we listen for the rolling sound of distant thunder. Journal entry: 10th August, Wednesday “The last of today’s sun slowly climbs ...
The Scent of God
Nighttime on Still Waters - August 07, 2022 11:00 - 27 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsJoin me this week as we moor on a still August night, under a proud stand of poplars studded with starlight and moonlight. Tonight, we explore the evocative power of scents and smells. Journal entry: 6th August, Saturday. "The sun is three fingers above the horizon and washes the bankside ...
Down by the Cattle Pond
Nighttime on Still Waters - July 31, 2022 14:00 - 35 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThere is a spot of ground that is special to me. Perhaps you have one too. They often are not particularly attractive, but somehow they are places we can go to find quietness. Join me to tonight when we visit one of my special places as we go down to the cattle pond with the help of Wendell Berr...
Let the Stars Sing out your Stories
Nighttime on Still Waters - July 24, 2022 14:00 - 41 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThe forecast hot weather has come and gone, but its psychological, as much as physical, effects feel a bit harder to shift. So join with me tonight as we gaze deeply into the mirrored dome of the night sky and its web of starlight, to discover what stories they tell and their challenge for us to...
The Dog Days of Summer
Nighttime on Still Waters - July 17, 2022 10:00 - 24 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThese are the long days. The days of heat and dust. The days of quiet skies and dulled colours. Days of eclipse and renewal. These are the dog days of summer. Journal entry: 23rd July, Saturday [Should be 16th July - blame the heat!!] “Martins twist and flit around the large ash, Clustering...
Unfamiliar Mirrors (... and a herring)
Nighttime on Still Waters - July 10, 2022 12:00 - 37 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsOld stories can lift an unfamiliar mirror up to our lives so that we see ourselves anew and as we really are. Tonight, I will tell you an old story. It’s a story about a silvery day of sea fret (mist), rolling ocean waves, empty fishing nets, and a solitary herring. Journal entry: 6th July, ...
This one unremarkable dusk
Nighttime on Still Waters - July 03, 2022 11:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsWith apologies for sounding like an asthmatic badger, tonight we explore the special qualities of an unremarkable dusk and why we can feel so at peace with it and the darkness it can bring. Journal entry: 28th June, Tuesday. “I stop work to breathe in the storm-wind And bathe in the whirlpoo...
Love Letters (Written in Canal Water)
Nighttime on Still Waters - June 26, 2022 14:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsIt is funny how, looking back, distinct paths and interconnections can be found. It is, sometimes, tempting to see them as clear paths that we are destined to follow. However, sometimes, they are coincidence or simply a case that one can spot significance after the event. But they can also be 'l...
Lessons from the Breadlady
Nighttime on Still Waters - June 19, 2022 13:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThe heat of the past few days has broken with sweeping skies filled with rain and lowering clouds. Join me tonight, as we reflect on life on water in the heat of summer, listen to the poetic words of one of our listeners, and discover the wisdom of making bread through the words of another liste...
'I've Got Her Now' (Love and Hawthorn Blossom)
Nighttime on Still Waters - June 12, 2022 13:00 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThis week has been one of extremes that encompasses the splendour of solitude and an onboard visit by three very enthusiastic police dogs (and a puppy)! Alongside all this, we took time to listen to some bats, watch the cygnets as the grow ever stronger and contemplate the hidden depths of the m...
Caught in a Rhyme
Nighttime on Still Waters - June 05, 2022 12:00 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsOn the week that the cygnets of our swan pair hatched, we explore the rather contradictory nature of the canal through the eyes of poets Jo Bell, Nancy Campbell, and Ian MacMillan. We find romance amidst the unromantic and beauty in the unbeautiful. Journal entry: 1st June, Wednesday "Hero...
Caught in a Rhyme
Nighttime on Still Waters - June 05, 2022 12:00 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsOn the week that the cygnets of our swan pair hatched, we explore the rather contradictory nature of the canal through the eyes of poets Jo Bell, Nancy Campbell, and Ian MacMillan. We find romance amidst the unromantic and beauty in the unbeautiful. Journal entry: 1st June, Wednesday "Hero...
On Drying Days (Like This)
Nighttime on Still Waters - May 29, 2022 11:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsMay slowly rolls into June, but is summer really here? The towpaths and hedgerows are garlanded in summer colours and the ducks (and swans) are beginning to move into their time of eclipse. Some of the mallard drakes are beginning to look very travel-worn! Meanwhile, days like these seem to brin...
The Colour of Water
Nighttime on Still Waters - May 22, 2022 14:00 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsI want to describe to you what I saw today, but I can't. We have so many words to describe and represent the most complex of concepts. Why then is it almost impossible to describe something so simple and ordinary as the colour of the water earlier today? Kathleen Jamie and Thomas Merton (with a ...
When David Came (Cruising the Cut)
Nighttime on Still Waters - May 15, 2022 13:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThe Greek myths tell us that there are times when the gods come down from Olympus to walk amongst mortals. We had a very similar experience when, on a sunny day in late March, David Johns came to visit us and record an episode for his canal-based vlog Cruising the Cut. Journal entry: 11th Ma...
Banbury Town (Rainy Saturday Afternoon)
Nighttime on Still Waters - May 08, 2022 12:00 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsBanbury has a significant place in the history of canals, most notably for being the location of Tooley’s boatyard and its association with canal restoration campaigner LTC (Tom) Rolt. However, the relationship between town and canal has not always been easy. Join me today, as we explore the tow...
'A Gypsy Love of Colour' (Painted Boats)
Nighttime on Still Waters - May 01, 2022 13:00 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsWhy are canal boats and traditional canal-ware so colourful? When did the custom of painting working boats in bright colours begin and why? This week we explore our attraction to bright colours and what Tom Rolt describes as the ‘working boaters’ inborn gypsy love of colours.’ Journal entry: 2...
Entanglement with the Archdeacon
Nighttime on Still Waters - April 17, 2022 11:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThe archdeacon is one of the colourful local characters who live here. Irascible and combative, he is nevertheless an important part of the social life of this small portion of the watery world. He’s a feral domestic duck with a chequered past and a strong sense of his own importance. A rather ...
Entanglements with the Archdeacon
Nighttime on Still Waters - April 17, 2022 11:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThe archdeacon is one of the colourful local characters who live here. Irascible and combative, he is nevertheless an important part of the social life of this small portion of the watery world. He’s a feral domestic duck with a chequered past and a strong sense of his own importance. A rather ...
No Small Gift
Nighttime on Still Waters - April 10, 2022 12:00 - 37 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratings“It is no small gift” wrote the poet Mary Oliver about the joy a dog brings into our lives. . Journal entry: “It is no small gift” wrote the poet Mary Oliver about the joy a dog brings into our lives. In the week that we had to say goodbye to Penny, we remember the many gifts this timid lttle...
I have Heard the Roar of Spring (and it is fearful)
Nighttime on Still Waters - April 03, 2022 12:00 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsJust as the wind swung north with its sting of sleet and hail, the first batch of ducklings were hatched this week. It was a far from simple event! However, as winter attempted to reassert itself with some biting winds and sharp frosts, we are reminded that winter’s growl is no match for the roa...
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