Il pleut. Il pleut again tomorrow and the next day. And for six days after that. There's a boat here in the boatyard that resembles an ark, which might not be a bad thing, given the amount of rain France has had in recent weeks and a dismal forecast promising more misery. And all this coinciding with our arrival back in Migennes to work on Liberty to try and get her ready for the Return to the Water. If this rain keeps up she'll soon be afloat whether she's read...

The difference between English roads and French roads is that English roads are unsuitable for traffic yet are at maximum capacity, while French roads are eminently suited to beaucoup de transport and yet are relatively empty. I know which I prefer. Especially after missing the ferry to France thanks to a long delay on the M6, traffic regularly slowing to a crawl for no apparent reason on that lovely London roundabout, the M25, and then having to tackle rush ho...

An Unqualified Success Good news - the French canal system will be much safer this season. This is because I am finally - finally - preparing to get the appropriate qualifications to skipper a boat on the French inland waterways. Those of you who've read Against The Current will know that our voyage was an unqualified success, literally; neither Liz nor I were qualified with any form of formal boat-handling training or certification. Despite that, we felt ...

Well, first of all apologies to those of you who have already been following the birth of the book via social media, but ultimately an announcement should be made here on the Offexploring site because if it weren't for the blogs there wouldn't be a book. So, this is to formally announce: To Mike and Liz, a healthy new arrival following an agonising wait. Author(s) and offspring doing well. In the accompanying image, clockwise from top right: The Delivery Room;...

News! The cover for Against the Current is finalised, and the typestting is now underway with publication still scheduled for late September. Plus, this week I'm going-live with an Against the Current website to support and promote the book. One of the features of this is an extensive photo section. The cost of including colour images in the book proved prohibitive, so having them available on the website is the next best thing, and actually better in a way beca...