Features

In the first part of Nigel's 'canal diary', we're given a guided tour of the boat that he now calls home.

We see the living quarters, the bathroom and Nigel's home office before turning our attentions to the engine room and the controls that enable the boat to travel the length and breadth of the country. Nigel also pops into the North West Tonight studio for a chat about his living arrangements with Gordon and Ranvir.

Icy waters at the Castefield Basin.

In the second part of the series, we join Nigel on-board in the depths of winter. The boat is marooned in ice at Castlefield in Manchester and water supplies are running low - but a day later and the canal basin has thawed, allowing Nigel to stock up on one of life's essentials.

One of the fringe benefits of the warmer weather is that Nigel can hang his washing out to dry. If you've ever wanted to see a former BBC newsreader pegging his underwear to the washing line, you've come to possibly the only place in the world you can see it!

Part three of Nigel's diary finds us in the recent wet weather. Nigel is in need of some bottles of gas - but will he find them as he squelches his way down the towpaths of the North West?

"Which way to Bugsworth Basin, mate?"

In part four, we get off to a slow start when the battery which gives Nigel's boat the energy to run on a day-to-day basis needs changing. Once that hurdle is overcome, though, another lies in wait in the form of snow in Marple.

In the fifth part of Nigel's jaunt, we take a trip to the wonderfully-named Bugsworth Basin in Cheshire. We also meet his friend Jenna, who also lives on a narrowboat, and call in for a drink at what looks like the epitome of the English country pub.

Part six sees Nigel visit Julie and Thelma, who are tasting narrowboat life on a short-term basis as a holiday. But rather than hiring their own boat, they're staying in Jill and Steve's hotel-boat. As Thelma puts it, it's the 'life in the slow lane' that attracted them.

There's no polite way of describing what we see Nigel doing in the opening to part seven of his canal diary, so here goes. He's emptying his vessel's toilet.

Sheila and husband at the water's edge

With the job done, we call in at the Red Bull canal 'service station' at Church Lawton, Cheshire. Here, we meet Sheila and her husband who have been living on the waterways for the last two years after escaping the rat-race.

We also discover that Sheila has been party to one of the major pitfalls of living on a narrowboat - she once fell in the water!

Nigel introduces us to his friend Michelle in part eight. She paints the various things she sees from her boat, which doubles as a gallery and studio as well as her home, including wildlife such as the swans which Nigel captures on camera at the beginning of this installment.

Nigel at the Middlewich festival

The cover is closed on Nigel's canal diary at the Middlewich Boat and Folk festival. We're shown the various wares that vendors from all around the country bring to this picturesque corner of Cheshire as well as taking a glimpse at some of the wonderfully creative garden designs that sit on barges and wend their merry way through the country's canals.

In an age where the world seems like it is in a constant rush, we hope you've enjoyed the slower pace of life that Nigel has given us a taste of - and which he gets to experience every day.