Canal Boating- Books, Paper Maps, and Videos

Books

Just touches the surface. Many more canal-related books are available, including many guides to individual canals. Many titles are available from the Inland Waterways Association On-Line shop.

Canal Guides- U.K. - Series

Nicholson's Guides to the Waterways
Also available as Kindle ebooks.

Pearson's Canal Companions
[No relation to the author of these web pages.]
NOT available in ebook format.
Pearson's Canal Companions facebook page announces new editions

Canal Guides- Europe - Series

Tom Sommers' EuroCanals Guides
pdf downloads

NO LONGER UPDATED Canal Guides- U.K. - Series

First Mate Guides
Ceased publication

Richlow Guides - ceased publication in 2015

Waterways World Canal Guides - all pretty old now

General Information - classics

The Times Waterways of Britain
by Jonathan Mosse (2010)
Inland Waterways of Great Britain
by Jane Cumberlidge; 9th edition (2009) Publisher: Imray. ISBN 978-1846230103
River Thames Book
by Chris Cove-Smith; 8th edition (2022) Publisher: Imray.
Inland Boat Owner's Book
by Graham Booth; 4th edition (July 2010); "Everything you need to know about buying, owning and running a boat"; Publisher: Waterways World
Cruising French Waterways
by Hugh McKnight; 4th edition (2005) - a bit old now
Inland Waterways of France
by David Edwards-May; 9th edition (2021); now in 2 volumes; Publisher: Imray
Through the French Canals
by David Jefferson; 14th edition (2021); Pub.: Adlard Coles Nautical
Waterway Routes Through France Map
compiled by Jane Cumberlidge (2013)
Inland Waterways of The Netherlands
by Louise Busby and David Broad; Pub.: Imray; 2nd edition (2016)
A Boaters Guide to Boating
by Chris Deuchar; a mixture of old and new waterway techniques. Published Oct 97. Reviewed in Waterways World Feb. 98. ISBN 0-9531512-0-4. (Chris is a participant in the canals mailing list/uk.rec.waterways newsgroup.) Contact Chris, for costs and other details via his publication page at Chris Deuchar's Books ...
Illustrated History of Canal and River Navigations
by Edward W.Paget-Tomlinson; Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press; Date Published: Mar 1993 [Dr. Sean Neill says "covers canals, structures, boats, carrying companies etc etc. - obviously with limited detail but enough for most people".]

Paper Maps

"Paper" as distinct from Online & Offline Canal Maps. These, and GPS software/devices, have pretty much obsoleted paper maps.

Note that the canals guides listed above all contain detailed maps. However, if you insist on having a separate paper map, there is an excellent selection available from the Inland Waterways Association On-Line shop.

However if you are driving in your car, and hope to drive to a particular point on a canal without using a GPS, the best choice of altas for this is probably Philip's Navigator Britain, which shows canal locks and bridge numbers.

For canoeists and kayakers, there is the Paddling Map of Britain - (2022)

Librairie FluviCarte - books and maps in French from Fluvial magazine

Videos

Free Videos

There's a huge number of videos available on sites like Youtube. (For example, search Youtube for "narrowboat"). All too daunting for me to list - I'm afraid you're on your own here.

HOWEVER, Timelapse - also called "hyperlapse" - Canal Videos are not very common, and do provide a quick view of some sections of canal (which is why I gave them their own webpage).

Commercially-Produced Videos (non-streaming)

DVD or Videocassette

I have dropped coverage of these.
Link to main canals page.
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