CHERTSEY

BOATS, BRIDGES, BOILERS ... IF IT'S GOT RIVETS, I'M RIVETTED
... feminist, atheist, autistic academic and historic narrowboater ...
Likes snooker, beer, tea, rivets and solitude, and is strangely fascinated by the cinema organ.
And there might be something about railways.
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Friday, 3 April 2026

End of an era

 If anyone had looked at this moribund blog in the past couple of weeks, they would have seen that my ‘Count Up’ ticker of how long I have owned Chertsey had disappeared. This is because I no longer own her, after:



After nearly seven years of hardly boating at all I finally bit the bullet, and have found a new custodian to pass Chertsey on to. I couldn’t be more pleased that she should shortly be hard at work again, helping to maintain waterways infrastructure across the system.


Thanks to everyone who helped bring that about, and to all the wonderful people I met through owning and loving an old boat. I have so many amazing memories, challenges I’ve met, skills I’ve developed, places I’ve seen, and above all the sheer joy of steering that big, graceful beast.


If you want to keep / get in touch, my email is still the same, or of course you can leave a comment here. It would be lovely to hear from you.
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6 comments:

  1. Nev Wells3 April 2026 at 23:19

    Thank you for giving us the news many just disappear. Also thank you the blogs.... going back to Warrior and Bakewell the butty iirc and the sea going refit that I can't remember the name of. I've read most of them over the years and shared your journey and got great enjoyment. Pleased it sounds like Chertsey is in good hands for the next chapter, but sad you like so many of the bloggers I've avidly read are hanging up the windlass - or maybe I've just made a massive assumption. Regardless best wishes for the future

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    Replies
    1. Sarah4 April 2026 at 08:06

      Thank you Nev - I still enjoy reading your blog. Hopefully there are new people coming into the boating world - if not the blogging one.

      Delete
  2. Paul (from Waterway Routes)4 April 2026 at 14:11

    I was honoured to have the pleasure of meeting you in the past. I'm pleased to hear both you and Chertsey are still around, albeit in different ways. Please keep looking after yourself.

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    Replies
    1. Sarah4 April 2026 at 17:29

      Thank you Paul - I have wonderful memories of joining you on your surveys of the Sheffield and Chesterfield canals - not to mention the Tram Train! - and I learnt a great deal in the process.

      Delete
  3. Jim10 July 2026 at 16:41

    Hi Sarah, I've only just caught up with your blog and that was more or less by accident. I don't do any boating these days and I have a few health issues that would make it difficult anyway. I can still manage the odd bus ride though and have just completed a project to visit all thirty-nine English Counties and their county towns, travelling by bus! https://aroundcountytowns.blogspot.com/p/in-2017-i-completed-tour-by-bus-around.html

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  4. Jim10 July 2026 at 16:46

    Hi Sarah,
    I've only just caught up with your blog - I don't read them much these days. I always enjoyed reading yours and it was a pleasure to meet you on the cut. I don't do any boating these days but I still manage a bit of bus riding and have just finished a tour of all 39 English counties and their county towns, travelling exclusively by bus (with the odd tram and funicular railway thrown in).https://narrowboatstarcross.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

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