History tells when the Athenians learned the Persians had landed at Marathon en route to attack Athens in 490 BC, a messenger ran to Sparta for help. This first ‘marathon runner’ covered 260 kilometres of rugged terrain in less than two days! A runner (probably the same poor chap) subsequently ran from Marathon to AthensContinue reading “Comfort zone 0: Benefit immense (apparently)”
Tag Archives: History
Giving up
Scouring the news for glimmers of positivity seems an exhausting process – but we all need these to give us hope, not just about the current situation, but for our own wellbeing. Looking around us and making our contribution to improving the world around us can be one way to help us get through bleakContinue reading “Giving up”
Peaking early in 2022
The past is the past – whether two years, two hundred or two thousand years ago. It creates and shapes our future. This week has seen us travelling (for us) the final stretch of the Peak Forest Canal – known as Peak Forest Upper as it stretches into the Peak Forest, through ancient landscapes ofContinue reading “Peaking early in 2022”
Iced up and frozen solid
What a week – snow, ice, frozen ropes, rain, fieldfares, owls, kingfishers and fantastic community spirit. Living afloat on England’s inland waterways makes us much more aware of that archetypal English conversation staple – the weather. We live in it much more than we did amid bricks and mortar. Winds buffet the boat, sometimes gently,Continue reading “Iced up and frozen solid”
Climbing staircases with a narrowboat
Join us on the stage as bit part actors for the delight of the gongoozlers at Foxton. We ascended this time after the Bank Holiday had whimpered its less than sunny way towards September and the return of the Leicestershire schools, thinking it would be a quiet climb, necessary to get us underway again. FoxtonContinue reading “Climbing staircases with a narrowboat”
The epitome of life…and England
Having now travelled the length and narrow breadth of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, including a voyage into the interior, it seems to epitomise life, and England too – today, yesterday and tomorrow. It brings amazing highs, significant lows and challenges. It is built on a long history, heritage and currency of diversity and community, spectacularContinue reading “The epitome of life…and England”
A journey through time
This week has taken us from the lowlands of Lancashire to the heights of the county, and we have now begun descending into Yorkshire. We’ve been blown about, soaked to the skin, dried, drenched again and bathed in sunshine! En route we have become entwined with England’s industrial past, it’s rise, decay, regeneration and resurgenceContinue reading “A journey through time”
Pickingupducks 