Narrow Dog to Indian River

Publisher: Bantam Press; £14.99
Publication Date: 2008

After the plethora of books about the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIW) reviewed on the CA web in the last few weeks, another may seem one too far. Rest assured this is nothing like the others: an account of an unusual journey. You will find neither chartlets nor detailed advice about where to go, what to see, on shore or at sea. Terry Darlington writes of his taking the family narrowboat, with his wife Monica and whippet across the Atlantic - don’t get too excited, the boat went by containership - and the adventure of running the length of the AIW from Chesapeake Bay, Virginia down and through to the Bay of Mexico and Fort Myers. Previously they have chronicled an earlier adventure across the Channel and down to Carcassonne. Whilst that crossing had prepared them a little, they found that there a quite a few open and daunting sea passages on the AIW greater than the short route to France. A narrowboat drawing around 2 feet is hardly ideal in these circumstances and the Americans, it is said, had never seen a craft “as thin as that” trying this run. Both in their seventies, the Darlingtons are decidedly resourceful. They arrive in Portsmouth, Virginia and are barely on the Phyllis Jane before a tropical storm hits with 100 mph winds. They face “ice cubes” clattering on the decks. They decide that they and Jim, the whippet will not survive without aircon and have to wait and spend a lot while that is done. Before getting underway they have to deal with the author’s hernia and heart concerns. All is written in a jokey style with frequent quotes and snippets. You may be irritated by this but I became more used to it and wanted to go along with them and find out how their journey went. You may well have this as a bunkside read and you may find some background information presented informally particularly concerning the fauna. – H Sullivan