Product Description

Having survived their voyage to Carcassonne, you might expect pensioners Terry and Monica Darlington and their whippet, Jim, to retire to a comfortable corner of their favourite pub. But no, they looked to the New World for an extraordinary new adventure...No-one had ever sailed an English narrowboat in the US before, for reasons that became abundantly clear during the 9-month voyage of the Phyllis May - including 30-mile sea crossings, blasting heat, tornadoes, hurricanes and all manner of intimidating wildlife. But the real danger came from the locals: the Good Ole Boys and Girls of the Deep South. Colonels, bums, captains, planters, heroes, drunks, gongoozlers, dancing dicks and beautiful spies - they all want to meet the Brits on the narrow painted boat and their thin dog and take them home and party them to death. Beautifully written, lovingly observed, and very funny, "Narrow Dog to Indian River" takes you on a dangerous, surprising and always entertaining journey as a thousand miles of the little-known South-East Seaboard unfold at six miles an hour - the golden marshes of the Carolinas, the incomparable cities of Charleston and Savannah, and the lost arcadias of Georgia and Florida.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12552 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
A classic of the genre --The Independent

Review
Highly enteretaining...combines the pioneering spirit of the Wild West with the best in armchair travel.

From the Inside Flap
Having survived their adventure through France to Carcassonne, you might have expected septuagenarians Terry and Monica Darlington (not forgetting Jim the whippet) to retire to a corner in the nearest public house. But no, seized by the spirit of Columbus, they looked to the New World and the massive and little-explored Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway which stretches from Virginia to the Gulf of Mexico…

Noone had sailed a narrowboat in the US before, for reasons that became clear during the 1,150-mile voyage of the Phyllis May– including thirty-mile sea crossings, waves, storms, fog, tornadoes, hurricanes, savage fish, poison algae, killer spiders and starving alligators.

But the real danger came from the Good Ole Boys and Girls of the Deep South who were waiting along the shore. Captains and Colonels, bums and heroes, fishermen and plantation owners, weathergirls and gongoozlers and beautiful spies, dancing dicks and the walking dead – all wanting to meet the Brits on the painted boat and their narrow dog and take them home and party them to death.

The beautiful eastern coasts of the US – the Carolinas, Charleston, Savannah, the wilds of Georgia and Florida – are unknown to many, and few have experienced the countryside and the people as closely as the crew of the Phyllis May. This is America with a smile on its face and an arm around your shoulder…

Beautifully written, lovingly observed and very funny, Narrow Dog to Indian River takes you on a sometimes dangerous, always entertaining voyage through a wonderland but a few steps off the track.

Customer Reviews

As good a book as I have ever read!
Having read and thoroughly enjoyed "Narrow Dog to Carcassone" I was eagerly awaiting the Darlington's next adventure: "Narrow Dog to Indian River" and had it pre-ordered. It did not dissappoint and was as good a book as I have ever read!

Who will enjoy this book? Anyone with an interest in boating for a start, particularly those who wondered whether narrowboats were really limited to plodding up and down the UK canal system! How wrong we were! But before you set out it makes you aware of considerations you may never have thought about! (leaping lizards Batman?)

The story is bigger than a boating adventure though because it shows us that in retirement it is still possible to push the boundaries and have real adventures! It also proves that it is possible to be extremely amusing at the same time as being extremely scared! Terry Darlington's writing style is unique and his descriptions of the people they meet on the journey are closely observed and he finds the irony in every situation.

This book should be given to every employee on a "facing retirement" course. You should buy it for your Dad or your favourite Uncle! Better still, read it yourself!

Superb reading
I read this book and its predecessor, "Narrow dog to Carcassonne", in three days. They are now established as two of my all time favourites.These books describe the extraordinary travels of Terry and Monica Darlington (and not forgetting their whippet, Jim) on their narrowboat, the "Phillis May" firstly to France, including crossing the channel and in this book, down the Eastern coast of America. However, these are so much more than just travel books. While they are terribly funny, they are quite beautifully written, in a style unlike anyone that I've read before. Terry Darlington's descriptions of people, conversations, places, and weather carried me along. I lived the trips with them. If you need to be carried away, charmed, amused, buy these books - you'll love them.

brilliant
At long last, a sequel to Narrowdog to Carcassonne ... and it definitely doesn't disappoint - if anything it's even better - it was with great reluctance that I turned the last page ...
Doesn't matter if you're not interested in boats, Americans or travelogs -you'll still love this; it's hugely entertaining, weirdly informative, often very funny and a real page turner. Jim the whippet is a reluctant passenger accompanying Terry and Monica as they face any number of perils on their journey, and very definitely steals the show whenever he appears. This book should easily ensure him a place up alongside those other great literary canine travellers, Montmorency and Charley ...