For the Love of Canals begins in Paul's previous home in Dudswell Wharf, where he lived hard by "the Cut", as canal folk know the waterway, just north of the historic Hertfordshire town of Berkhamsted.
Paul's first encounter with canals goes all the way back to his childhood, in the coal mining country of west Yorkshire. Just over the hill from his home town of Normanton lay the Aire and Calder Navigation Canal, a prince among waterways, that served the collieries of half the country.
For the Love of Canals brings readers on a journey round Britain's canals, their history, their rise, decline and rebirth, their role in trade, their romance, their dark narrative of crime, their future in the gentrification of homes by "the Cut" that were once deeply unfashionable but now highly sought-after, their sport and wildlife and most of all their sheer fun and pleasure, on the towpath, on board and in art, film and books. |
