My Narrowboat Life from Beginning to End by Daniel Mark Brown

If any of you meet me around the grounds of Queenswood, you will see that I am usually accompanied by my laptop sporting a narrow boat journeys logo and a 'Cruising the Cut' travel mug!

For many years I have developed a love for narrow boats and the canal network. During lockdown I spent more hours that I care to admit watching vlogs on YouTube - 'Cruising the Cut' and 'Narrow Boat Journeys' being two of my favourites to watch. I have begun to save up to buy a narrow boat, however I feel I could be saving a long time and the purchase may be a retirement gift to myself. £30,000 is a huge target to hit!

One item that is usually in my possession is a book called My Narrow Boat Life From Beginning to End by Daniel Mark Brown. The book is the complete works of three volumes written by Brown, recording his life from his first boat purchase to near enough the present day. He highlights his good and bad times, happy and sad along the way. The book is a very personal account of the author's adventures and all the places he visits whilst living on his 30 foot boat with only 15 feet of living space.

Irrespective of the problems that Dan faces, the whole book reeks enthusiasm.  As the reader, we get to see what a beautiful life Dan leads and this is reiterated in his YouTube channel called Sort of Interesting which has been going for many years. I believe that this was one of the first narrow boat vlog channels dedicated to narrow boats and it follows the book perfectly.

Watching the vlogs and reading the book together definitely puts me in a good mood because you can't help but absorb some of Brown's happiness and enthusiasm. To tell you more about the book would definitely be a spoiler alert, but it is fair to say the book is a glance at life on a canal, looking through the porthole.

The book has been self-published by the author and is available from Amazon rather than in the shops.  I'll leave you with a tip - if you do get hold of a copy to read, get a book mark as the pages are not numbered!