Product Description

First published in 1944, and now reissued with a new section of black and white plates, this book has become a classic on its subject, and may be said to have started a revival of interest in the English waterways. It was on a spring day in 1939 that L.T.C Rolt first stepped aboard Cressy. This engaging book tells the story of how he and his wife adapted and fitted out the boat as a home and recreates the journey of some 400 miles that they made along the network of waterways in the Midlands. It recalls the boatmen and their craft, and celebrates the then seemingly timeless nature of the English countryside through which they passed. As Sir Compton Mackenzie wrote, 'it is an elegy of classic restraint unmarred by any trace of sentiment' for a way of life and a rural landscape which have now all but disappeared. 'His Pen,' he continued, 'is as sure as the brush of a Cotman. Narrow Boat will go on the shelf with White and Cobbett and Hudson.'

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48676 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Customer Reviews

One mans passion - pleasure for millions
Considered by many to be a "classic" its prose does not perhaps justify the title. The author and the tale he tells in this book however do!

The tales he tells are of course dated, but if you have a soul and have cruised the same waterways as he does aboard "Cressy" you cannot help but find yourself aboard with him!

Anyone who enjoys the canals today owes a debt of gratitude to Rolt, whatever may have transpired in latter years when the IWA became a hive of politics. Without him (and yes, more like him who have perhaps gone unsung) our canals would not be here today.

A book that changed the world.
It really is a classic. If you are looking for a history of British canals, this is not the book for you. But as an elegy for a world we have lost (the book was written in the summer and autumn of 1939) it cannot be beaten. It should be read in the same spirit as 'Lark Rise to Candleford'. On publication, after the war, it was greeted with huge enthusiasm, as people remembered what tey had been fighting for. As a consequence of it's publication, the Inland Waterways Association was formed, which has managed to transform British canals. If you enjoy the canals, as boater, walker or historian, this is the book that more than any other stopped them from being filled in the sixties. And it is at least arguable that Rolt's writings were highly influential on the early days of the self sufficiency movement, and so, ultimately, Green politics. And it is beautifully written.

A fascinating, if dated, portrait of times gone by
A unique first-hand account of a journey through some of Britain's countryside and towns by canal at the end of the 1930's, painting a vivid picture of a bygone world in a thought-provoking way. The writing style and Rolt's strongly voiced opinions will be a problem for some - remember this was Rolt's first book. Even he describes it as "maybe too nostalgic" in his splendid autobiography, The Landscape Trilogy, which shows Rolt's observant eye and mature prose style at their very best.