One Man and His Narrowboat: Slowing Down Time on England's Waterways

by Steve Haywood

Escaping a mid-life crisis, Steve Haywood celebrates his birthday with a trip through England's canals In an attempt to get to grips with a big birthday, author Steve Haywood sets out from Oxford to explore what makes the English, well, so English. His quirky humor is inspired by Tom Rolt, who took to the canals on a similar journey immortalized in the book Narrow Boat , kick-starting the revival of Britain’s waterways. Prepare for a generous helping of mayhem, mishaps, and the staple of every English torrential rain.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Steve Haywood is an award-winning TV producer and has worked on programmes such as Newsnight, Panorama and Rough Justice. Based in London, he writes a lively, provocative column for Canal Boat magazine.

Reviews

[Chris B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable where it's recounting the story of the roundabout trip from Oxford to Bristol via Stratford and Gloucester - although I'm not sure that I'd like the author much, who seems a pain in the arse much of the time. I skipped some of the historical content on waterways and the Triumph Herald!

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somehow in the last couple of months, I got hooked on narrowboat videos on YouTube and Amazon Prime. They're boring as all get-out, but I can't stop watching them. I came across this book and decided to check it out. A lot of it centers around the time period around World War II and later efforts to get the canals into usable shape after decades of disuse and neglect. Too much about unlikeable people and their affairs. I'm sure it was very important to the author but there was also way too much written about his Triumph Herald. Maybe it's a British thing. I did like his writing style and sense of humor, but not a lot of his story.

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just didn’t like the style of writing. I only read 50 plus pages because the author kept going off at a tangent. Lots of people mentioned it and it started to get tedious even though I hadn’t read much.

[Cliff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed what I thought was the author's previous book, Narrowboat Dreams. However, I now see that this was originally published 15 years ago and what i have been reading is a revised edition published to mark the 70th anniversary of the book written by Tom Rolt which led to the renaissance of British canals and the foundation of the Inland Waterways Association. However, this book is not solely an account of his journey from Oxford to Bristol via Gloucester, ie round the waterways counter clockwise during an appallingly wet summer. He discusses the foundation of the IWA and the relationship between Rolt and Robert Aickman which finally became so toxic that the former gave up canals which was fortunate in a way as he turned his energy to the preservation of the Tallylln narrow gauge railway in Wales which was the precursor to the explosion of the railway preservation movement. The book also deals at some length with the affair between Aickman and the novelist, Elizabeth Jane Howard, later the wife of Sir Kingsley Amis. There are also large parts about his purchase of a rather ancient Triumph Herald motor car and we learn not only about his problems with the car, but quite a bit about the history of that car which was originally intended to be called the Zobo. The mind boggles at that thought. Finally, we learn of his constant need to leave his boat and return home to deal with what appears to be structural problems with what he calls the crumbling pile. His constant diversions from the ostensible theme of the book remind me a little of the diversions in a much earlier cruising story, Three Men in a Boat, the first of which is the (greatly exaggerated) story of the search for a Windsor train at the 19th century Waterloo station. However, Jerome K. Jerome was, it must be said, a much funnier writer than Steve Haywood. He does, however, exhibit considerable courage in attempting and succeeding in travelling from Gloucester to Bristol via the Sharpness ship canal and the very treacherous Severn Estuary - for which he actually needed a pilot.

Edit. I agree with those reviewers who say the author is very lucky to have both the time and the money to do all that the book describes. And has a very understanding wife/partner. I seen to remember from Narrowboat Dreams that she isn't called Em. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent and the apparently put upon.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plus a bit of a star. I didn't warm to the author on starting but by the end I realised I didn't have to. Nor do you need to be passionate about canals to enjoy it. It's a good blend of canal journey and history, and the personal histories of Tom Roke and Robert Aickman who turned around the fortunes of canals.

[Sandy Hanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this narrowboat book much more than the first one I read. I wasn't too sure I'd like it after that first failed attempt at selecting a good book on narrowboating. Consequently, I didn't take the time to research any of places, people or points he made. I would like to read through it again and do so.

[Addie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I nearly gave up reading this after a few pages but perservered and am glad that I did. It's a very gentle observation piece about an old English way of life and how it's changed over the years, and the people who brought about the changes.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Far less actual writing about the narrow boat trip than expected . Found myself skimming through parts of it just to finish .

[Grant Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did not enjoy this as much as his others as it became a ramble and increasingly opinionated.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful story with history of another narrowboater and canal preservation. Also a car called the Herald. A Triumph model

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the bits which detailed his journey and the history of the waterways but to me it felt like there was padding and repetition to fill the rest of the book.

[BGS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably only about the third book I've read of 946 that mentions Banbury in any detail

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Irritating and informative by turns. This bloke has far too much money and too much time. He squanders away his money on an expensive vintage car, keeps going back and forth to his house in London ('The Crumbling Pile') to do expensive repairs and yet can still afford to get his boat, which he has barely moved, lifted out and repainted, when most of us can only afford one of these three things! And yet he never seems to work and when he's on his boat he hardly goes anywhere for at least two months because it's raining. On that basis, Britain would shut down! And he stays in Thrupp of all places, which is only worth stopping at for one night! Between tales of his erstwhile journey, he retells the stories of Tom Rolt and Robert Aickman the heroes of the waterways restoration movement. This is probably the most irritating part of the book, as it's much better to read their own books but if he didn't you'd be left with barely a pamphlet. If I hadn't done much of the same journey as Haywood in the opposite direction, I would have given up on the book. It was only because I kept thinking 'oh yes, I remember that place,' that I carried on. However all credit to him for doing the Bristol Channel link to Gloucester, we never managed that bit.

[Mark Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tried searching for this book on goodreads, but goodreads insisted it hadn't been added? I then added the book manually, yet when I entered the ISBN, goodreads informed me that this ISBN number was already taken?

This has occurred because the book was originally entered with an incorrect title - 'One Man and His Narrowboat'. Whereas the actual title to the book is 'One Man and A Narrowboat'. Please excuse this rather pedantic comment, but mistakes like this initially mess up the goodreads filing system, then they confuse people, then the confused people start suffering from stress, and the next thing you know, ex-goodreads punters are trying to storm Downing Street so they can press the red button and start a thermonuclear war. (Fools - the red button isn't even at Downing Street - it's under Nelson's hat in Trafalgar Square).

All I'm trying to do is avoid such a disaster! Especially a disaster such as this one - borne from radical triviality. Plus, I bloody loved the book, and I think it deserves to be correctly represented :-)

[Jackmaybenimble · Rating 2 out of 5]

This turned out to be not what I was expecting. Yes, part of it is about a man's canal boat journey (although most of that seems to focus on the constant rain and the pubs, more than anything else). But it's also part historical reference, part cookery book, so I found it rather disjointed. And mostly, I found it a rather self-indulgent whimsy of a rather selfish man who went off to do fun things leaving his wife at home to (a) earn a living and (b) deal with their crumbling house. He didn't seem particularly grateful that he was lucky enough to be in a position to do the journey - and when you add the absurdity of boating in the morning, then cycling back to where he'd left his 'vintage' car to then drive to catch up to the boat? It just seems the author has too much money and time on his hands.

[Mark Smith]

A fantastic, comedic and fascinating journey on England's canals. Whether the book would hold quite as dearly to non-liveaboards, or folk who are completely uninterested in narrowboats, I couldn't say.
However, it is certainly a funny, detailed and descriptive yarn, and one that I would heartily recommend. Haywood describes the ups and downs of a 'liveaboard' in wonderful detail, and he has a fine 'tutor' in Tom Rolt.

[Robin Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to reading this book. But when I started reading it, I noticed how Mr Haywood grouped Scottish people and Americans together in narrowminded (sorry, didn't mean that to be a pun) bunches. It would have been much more enjoyable if he had kept his negative thoughts about folks north of the border and over the pond to himself.

[Pauline Midwinter · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book! Some passages were quite hard to read, but I persevered and enjoyed it. He ties in recipes, boating stories and a history of canals, so you never quite know what will come next. He has more detail and strength in the historical sections, but I really enjoyed the way he captured dialogue.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

funny book into the insight of travelling from oxford to bristol by inland waterways ( canals or rivers) and also a look at social, cultural and historic look at modern britain through the eyes of its waterways and the author on his narrowboat

[Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

You don't need to know the canals to enjoy this book. It describes one mans travels on his boat thorough rural England. It's funny and observant, and illustrates another way of living, off the grid.

[Fraser Burnett · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rather disingenuous treatment of Aickman, not worth your time, stick with Bolton's Race Against Time, for a more informative and less biased approach to the whole Aickman/Rolt kerfuffle.

[Pat Stearman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny,enlightening and evocative! Partly the story of a long trip partly history and philosophy.