Martin Kielty

A family outing passing my boat this morning… #narrowboatlife #canal #lancastercanal #narrowboat #wildlife

Up like the larch to find a wee middle-of-nowhere spot to hide for a day or two. It's grand to feel like there's no one else in the whole world. Until the loneliness kicks in and you'd happily spend an hour with the pub bore! It's all a question of balance…
#canallife #narrowboat #lancastercanal

A lovely 45-minute or so cruise from Bolton-le-Sands to Carnforth, with a minor issue when a tree pushes the camera over c16s, and my "friend" tries to "help" me moor outside the Canal Turn pub…
#canal #narrowboat #lancastercanal

Actually not that far from the madding crowd – but it feels like it! #lancastercanal #narrowboat #canallife

At very very very very long last there is a new poem on the way… #poetry #history #wales

Today's cruise at 100x speed – real time was 1hr 34m. Distance about four miles from Ratcliffe Bridge wilderness to Galgate, slowing down to pass moored boats and when ducks or swans on patrol signalled eggs or hatchlings nearby. A grand day for it!
#lancastercanal #Narrowboat #canallife #wildlife

Late winter evening on the Lancaster Canal, showing a golden sunset behind a row of leaveless trees

Moonlight through clouds above silhouettes of 19th century homes near the Lancaster Canal

Streetlights and the Lancaster Canal while the Moon shines through cloud cover

House lights below the Moon shining through clouds on the Lancaster Canal

Really enjoyed a few late winter walks along the towpath while I've been moored just outside Lancaster.

#narrowboat #lancastercanal #canalboat #moonlight #coldnight

Someone’s left the cell open! But it’s okay… they’re asleep.

I’m wondering what the all I’ve been
And who I want to be
And while I learn to understand
I’m drinking in the pub behind the tree
#canalpub #canal #narrowboat #pub

Between Galgate and Garstang on the Lancaster (and finally escaping in May!)

It was deliberate – I know what I'm like and I didn't want the distraction of a pub until I was committed to the writing project. I didn't expect to get so committed that I've spent a week without being in a pub. But if I move 16mins down the cut tomorrow that pub's in easy distance!

Evening bue-hour view across rural fields from a canal towpath, with some sheep in the foreground, a tree in the middle distance and the faint lights of a pub in the background, under a dramatic windblown sky.

Can you make out a couple of lights under the left-hanging branches of the tree? That's the pub. It's 600m across the fields but there's no public footpath so it's 2.2km away. I'm told it's not a great pub. It's cold. The cabin is 24º and I have Guinness. Quandaries of boat life.

#canal #narrowboat

View from a rural part of the Lancaster Canal, showing the canal, brush growing on the far side, a smooth field leading up to an open farm gate and a spring blue sky background.

Challenging barriers in the way and a hill to climb, but there's a way through to the bright world beyond… Today's view from my boat is remarkably representative of the month I'm having. It's getting better!
#canal #spring #challengeaccepted

I often don’t have the words. That may surprise people who know what I do for a living. This beautiful four-year-old boy in the pub tonight didn’t need my words. I didn’t ask him if everything was going to work out. But he told me that’s exactly what’s going to happen. And I completely believe him.

Fortunately there was no plopping sound… stupid weasel was strolling along the canal side gunwale!

*For those not in the know, I refuse to describe cats as cats. They’re already so uppity and smug. I prefer to remind them of their status as horrible little rat-weasel creatures.

Distorted low-light image of a cat looking through a boat window at night

The last few mornings I’ve been suspicious that someone was messing about with my boat. You hear stories of chancers who’ll just steal coal, mooring gear, tools – anything not locked down . It’s a weasel innit! Stalking about as if it owns the place, looking at me like, “Get off my boat!”*

View from the side hatch, 7.44am today

#canal #narrowboat #lancastercanal #dawn #landscape

This has to be one of the worst things about living in England… I ordered a haggis rom a supermarket chain, to enjoy a late Burns supper. They didn't have one, so replaced it with a black pudding.

In Scotland, you wouldn't even dare to THINK of that.

#burnsnight #haggis

It's been a cold but wonderfully bright couple of days on the Lancaster Canal at Galgate. I'll soon be leaving this canal, but there are some aspects I'll miss… #narrowboat #canal #sunset #landscape #lancastercanal

This is written by the bishop who stood up to Orange Voldemort. Everyone should be buying this. It's available on Amazon for $14. I'm an atheist and I'm buying it. #booksky

The great rock drummer Ted McKenna – one of my closest friends in all the world – moved on six years ago. I keep saying, "If you love someone make sure they know." Tonight even that doesn't feel like enough.

#tedmckenna #sahb #rocknroll #drummer #rip

It's just south of Lancaster – it can look beautiful in the summer sun and dismal in the rain. I did like it that creepy way. Haven't seen it in the snow; I'd love that too!

I kid you not, I was cruising through effing MORDOR… #canal #narrowboat #fog #mordor

Night into day, although the temperature hasn't changed much. Despite my best-laid plans and a pressing need to visit a bin shed, I don't think anyone's going anywhere today…

#canal #frozen #ice #winter #narrowboat

The boat is ever-so-slightly moving because the water between the hull and the towpath remains liquid. But I suspect the ice will soon lock me in place. Then there’s the merry dance of NOT compensating for the boat’s movements around me!

#canal #narrowboat #ice #frozen

In the brilliant movie The Quiet Man, two characters stop on a wee bridge one night, and one tells the other he’s off to the pub to “talk a little treason.” This bridge takes me to a pub where I love to talk a little treason, so I call it Treason Bridge.

YouTube video by The Boozer Cruiser Spooky sound of frozen canal from inside narrowboat #ice #canal #narrowboat #winter #weather

It's that time again… the canal freezes over, and when the ice moves you hear the spookiest things inside the cabin… #canal #ice #winter #narrowboat

Cool to be credited as "The Hooded Man" in the byline!

Clannad article in Prog Magazine edition 156 by Martin Kielty

Clannad did their farewell show in October. I spoke to Pol and Moya Brennan about that, and their genre-changing soundtrack music for 80s cult TV show Robin of Sherwood. The article is in Prog 156, on sale now.

#clannad #progmagazine #progrock #robinofsherwood

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