Narrow Dog to Carcassonne - Terry Darlington

Review of 'Narrow Dog to Carcasonne' by Terry Darlington.

I was loaned this book by one of my marina mooring neighbours. We live part of the year on a narrow boat and love the life, I enjoy boating and all that it entails and when at home occasionally watch 'Water World' on Discovery channel. This book 'Narrow Dog to Carcasonne' has been featured on the programme and serialised for television. In spite of enjoying the television look into the adventures of Terry Darlington, Monica and Jim's adventures, I'd never got round to reading the book, until Jean passed it on.

I am reviewing the paperback version of the book. It contains 329 pages, was published by Bantam Books, the ISBN is 0553816691 and the size of the book is 19.8 x 12.6 x 3 cm.

Narrow Dog to Carcassonne was published in 2005. It became a top ten best seller and has sold over 150,000 copies.

The Book

Narrow Dog to Carcasonne is the true account of the adventure undertaken in a narrow boat suited to cruising at 4mph on the inland waterways. A few moments of beer induced bravado by retired Terry Darlington and a male friend, laid the plans for an epic voyage across the English Channel through the French canal system to Carcasonne.

Terry and his wife Monica own a narrow boat named Phyllis May, they share the boat with their dog, a whippet named Jim. Jim in Terry's words, “Can run at 40 mph, is cowardly, thieving, disrespectful and hates boats”.

Jim is a real character, he loves pork scratchings and begging in pubs. Jim can manage to make people feel sorry for him by turning his mournful eyes on them and appearing hard done by. In reality all Jim wants is sex, pork scratchings and a quiet life!

Terry and Monica begin to make enquiries about taking the narrow boat on the sea, they find that it is one of those things that many have dreamed of doing, but not done due to the problems and risks involved. They have to have the bow doors of their boat sealed in order to stop sea water rushing in and flooding them, the engine has to be modified, the exhaust system, windows and the ballast have to be adjusted.

In all it takes the Darlington's a year of preparation before they can set off.
The friends they had intended to share the experience with decide to back out as their boat is their only home and they feel that they cannot risk it, so arrange to have their narrow boat shipped to France by lorry and join the Darlingtons in Carcasonne.

The book follows the adventure from it's conception, in the pub, through the pitfalls of the journey and then through the actual voyage itself from the Staffordshire canals to Carcasonne in France.

The book is written in a very tongue in cheek fashion, Terry is obviously a man who can see humour in everyday life and his exuberance and sheer determination to get the most out of the trip simply shines through his words.

Terry Darlington is a man who can paint a picture with words and the book had me smiling, grinning and laughing out loud in places. One of my favourite parts is that Terry decides that he has to look more narrow boat captain-like before setting out so grows his hair in the hope of wearing it in a pony tail. He goes to get it trimmed and explains to the female hairdresser what he intends doing with his hair. She is less than complimentary and in a fit of annoyance Terry tells her to cut it all off and takes himself to a tattoo parlour and has a Celtic tattoo on his arm. When Monica sees Terry's tattoo she is startled by it but a few days later, without saying a word takes herself off and has a large Chinese dragon done on her arm!

Terry has a fear of growing old and makes many mentions of ' the rustle of incontinence pants'. He meets some great character throughout the journey and they and their foibles are described in hilarious detail. I won't go into more detail for fear of spoiling the book for others!

The Author, Cost and Availability of the Book

Terry Darlington's website can be viewed at the following link.
http://www.narrowdog.com/

As mentioned at the start of the review, I borrowed this book from a friend, the jacket price on her copy was £7.99, however a new copy of Narrow dog to Carcasonne can be bought from Amazon.co.uk for £3.99, or for 1p a used copy.

My Thoughts and Conclusion

Having a boat myself and understanding the intricacies of locks, bridges and the like, made the book a very enjoyable read, however I feel it would appeal to non-boaters too, as a travel account written in a humorous, very human way.
I have to say that I wouldn't consider crossing the ?English channel on my boat!
This book is ideal for holiday reading, the journey is well detailed and eminently readable. I would heartily recommend Narrow dog to Carcasonne to others.

Thank you for reading
©brittle1906 June 2009

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NB Also posted on dooyoo