At seventy-five, Terry and Monica Darlington had done everything they could think of doing, including starting a business and becoming athletes and running a literary society.Lately they had become boating adventurers and Terry a bestselling writer. But in their Midlands canal town in November, life was looking dull and short on surprises.
Then their famous canal boat was destroyed by fire. Within a few days they had bought a new one and soon headed north in the Phyllis May 2 - to Liverpool, Lancaster, the Pennines and Wigan Pier. Terry recorded the journey, and alongside it the story of his life and his marriage and his dog Jim, with his broken ear like a flat cap, and Monica's dog Jess, known with heartbreaking reason as the Flying Catastrophe.
Funny, affecting and beautifully told, this is a story that brims with incident and excitement, and is full of the famous and fascinating people the Darlingtons have met - a story of an adventurous life well lived.

A devastating fire prompts the bestselling author of Narrow Dog to Carcassonne to go on a meandering and very funny narrow boat journey north and look back on his rather remarkable life...

About the Author

TERRY DARLINGTON was an athlete and a businessman before becoming a writer. Like many Welshmen, he is ill at ease with practical matters and known to linger in public houses. He likes boating, but is not very good at it.
MONICA DARLINGTON was beauty queen of Brecon and Radnor, has a first-class degree, has run thirty marathons, and leaps tall buildings with a single bound. She quite likes boating.
JIM is sprung from a long line of whippets with ridiculous names. He is cowardly, thieving, and disrespectful and hates boating.
JESS is a rescue whippet. She is affectionate but three parts wild. She really really hates boating.

Reviews
Big-hearted, ribald and rambunctious fun * SAGA magazine *
Big-hearted, ribald and rambunctious fun * SAGA magazine *
Full of humour...I wholeheartedly recommend this gentle tale of two pensioners and their adventures as it's great fun * SOUTH WALES ARGUS *
A memorable trip...narrated in Terry's surreal style, with the whimsical humour that has proved so popular * THE GOOD BOOK GUIDE *
Terry Darlington's light-hearted travelogue combines some genuinely light-hearted moments with fascinating facts * COMPASS magazine *



Book Information
ISBN 9780857500632
Author Terry Darlington
Format Paperback
Page Count 368
Imprint Bantam Books (Transworld Publishers a division of the Random House Group)
Publisher Transworld Publishers Ltd
Weight(grams) 251g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 127mm * 22mm