On blogging.

I began blogging in April mainly as a record for myself, of the process we were going through, never imagining that other people would be interested enough to read it. It was also, for me, a way of metering out time, and of keeping myself focused when I became despondent about how I was going to stick out these months in London. But somehow, through CanalWorld and links on various other bloggers' pages, people began reading it, and making comments.

There are several varieties of boat blog: those who live aboard and stay where they are most of the time, like Bones and Kestrel, those who continuously cruise like Hadar, those who spend some time on their boats but live on land like Greygal and Warrior. And then there are others like Caxton and previosuly Marmaduke who blog about having boats built. But mine didn't fit into any of these - unlike everyone else, I didn't even have a boat, I was just a girl with a dream. So I guess it did surprise and excite me to find that I had a readership.

But the most exciting thing I found was not that my blog was being read but that people were interacting. In particular I am referring here to various members of both mine and James' family. When I blogged about James' first narrowboat trip, they all stepped in to comment and provided information about location, and date, and who was there. And at a family party last weekend, it was lovely to find out how many people were reading regularly, to the extent that there was very little news I could actually tell them! I'd begin, and people would reply with, 'Oh yes, I read about that in your blog!' But it was amazing - I mean there is no way I could have enough time to explain all the boaty goings on to everyone on both sides of the family over the phone.

And then there's the other bloggers, many of whom we hope to meet up with during our trip. Since, by its very nature, narrowboating is a very mobile activity, its an excellent way to find where people actually are. Many spontaneous bloggers' meets have happened this way, simply by being on the same piece of water at the same time.

In nine days' time this blog will become a more conventional cruising log, but having seen so many other excellent ones, I hope to find a way to make it interesting, and relevant without being tedious, as I have a tendency to ramble. Hopefully James will take over sometimes, as he has begun to, and bring a bit of a change from my writing.

So, yeah thats enough... and thanks to all our readers!