Happy new year! Welcome to 2019. If you're lolling in a chair relaxing after festivities last night, these suggestions of some excellent YouTube channels that you might enjoy could be of interest.

Drop your jaw and gasp in disbelief as you watch me take the boat out for a cruise in winter. Yes, winter. OK, it's not snowing but it was December, a time when I'm normally tucked up by the roaring stove with the boat on the mooring. I've split the journey into two parts else it would be a very long video indeed; the whole trip was Napton to Brinklow and this video covers Napton to Hillmorton.

I am nothing if not predictable so congratulations to those handful of people who knew in advance what this episode would be called, being part 2 of the previous one. In this episode, my mystery Crew member (not Lorna!) and I continue our winter jaunt along the North Oxford canal from just outside Rugby, through Newbold and up to just past Brinklow.

After getting frustrated with the cheap little twin-tub washing machine I had aboard the boat from the early days - see vlog 20 - I ditched it and bought a proper automatic machine. Due to a lack of space and onboard power, I had to choose a small one that didn't need to run a heating element; the one I chose is the Hotpoint WMTF722H. In this video I explain what I think of it and why it fits the bill.

After three-plus years on my boat, did I choose the right one for me and if not, why not? These are the thoughts I've been having on that subject, prompted by an email from a viewer.

The sun is out and it's time to sort a few bits of the narrowboat that are looking less than prime, notably the paintwork needs a spruce-up and polish plus one or two tiny rust spots on the roof need attending to.

A quick demo of a new toy I bought for the boat, a temperature / humidity gauge with three wireless remote sensors. Hours of fun!

The (in)famous hand-drawn canal map returns in this vlog where I contemplate places to go in the narrowboat in 2019. Thanks to The Navigator for the video title :-)

There's nothing finer than looking around other people's narrowboats so join me on this quest to find another narrowboat (as mentioned a couple of vlogs ago). Or not, as the case may be.

Join me at the Newbold Tunnel just outside Rugby, on the North Oxford canal, as I interview Professor Oliver Lia about his exciting plans for a new technological breakthrough for narrowboat cleaning.

In this vlog I visit the "Pamela May", a trip boat run by the charitable Droitwich Canals Trust. We see their current boat and hear about the excellent work of the Trust then visit Ortomarine, the company building the Trust's brand new, all-electric powered boat.

I visit a narrowboat hire firm in Gilwern, South Wales, on the Mon & Brec canal. Amongst their fleet of conventional narrowboats they also have two fully-electric ones that don't even have solar or a generator on board. So how have they managed this feat when it would be impractical elsewhere? Watch and find out!

It's the longest, highest canal aqueduct and it's in Wales; in this video I'm visiting Pontcysyllte but I'm not doing so alone - my boat's nowhere near there so I'm hitching a ride with Kath & Anna of the Narrowboat Experience. Don't look down!

After several pleasant days moored at Hawkesbury Junction on the North Oxford canal side, it was time to go through the stop lock and up the Coventry canal for a short way before turning right onto the Ashby canal. However, I also needed food supplies, so I first headed away from the Ashby to a supermarket about a mile or so south of Hawkesbury.

A Bank Holiday weekend approached and as I was going away for a few days to visit family, I wanted to moor the boat somewhere secure rather than just leave it on the towpath. So I headed a bit further up the Ashby canal to Trinity Marina at Hinckley and paid to have it moored there. On the way, it rained.

A quick bonus vlog! Having popped back to my childhood home of Droitwich for my sister's birthday and a family meal, I was also able to pop down to the canal as that weekend saw the annual St Richard's Festival being held in which narrowboats converge on Vines Park and sell all kinds of wares from their boats on the towpath, with other sellers in marquees in the park.

I haven't been to the Crick Show for a couple of years because it's much the same each time but this year I wanted to book some boat tours and also buy some bits for my current boat - so I moored the boat again and headed off to Northamptonshire in the camper van.

The weather was sunny, the mood was chilled, the final three-hour stretch from Market Bosworth to the navigable end of the Ashby canal at Snarestone was, without doubt, the most beautiful cruising I've ever done. It did indeed take me to the edge of heaven.

At the time of filming this it was just over a week since the Crick Show where I had bought three new 100 Ah lead carbon batteries for my narrowboat. Having also bought some new wiring and dongle things to plug into my Victron inverter/charger, it was now time to pull out the old batteries and put the new ones in place.

Having reached the end of the Ashby canal there is no choice but to turn around and re-rewind, going back the way you came. Having already documented the journey up in several videos, I compacted much of the return trip into this one, ending up back at Trinity Marina where I stopped again while I went to the Crick Show.

With my time on the Ashby canal come to an end, I took my narrowboat back onto the Coventry canal and headed north, through Nuneaton and it's well-tended back gardens and allotments, and up towards Atherstone where I'd spend a few days while the heavens opened.

After staying in Atherstone due to a week of non-stop rain, I finally had a nice day when I felt like moving on, and took the opportunity to descend the eleven-lock flight.

I had a friend's birthday party in Kent to attend so once again needed to put the boat somewhere secure while I left it for a few days. With the next marina on my route being at Alvecote this seemed like the obvious solution, and from there I'd get a taxi and train to go and pick up my campervan before driving down south. Upon my return, I continued journeying along the Coventry canal, now heading west, stopping a few hundred yards short of Fazeley Junction, having gone through the two locks at Glascote.

Filmed at the end of June and start of July, this video captures the very few miles I did in the narrowboat between Fazeley Junction and just past Hopwas. En route I picked up food supplies from a supermarket and plumbing supplies from a DIY store. Well, it would be odd to do it the other way around.

At the end of July 2019 I was delighted to welcome fellow vlogger Karen Nisbet to the boat, visiting all the way from New Zealand. Karen lives and tours NZ in her caravan, filming her travels on the channel "Travelling K". She was in the UK for several weeks, touring the sights, visiting other vloggers and meeting viewers.

A brief chat about things I've been doing lately while paused on a mooring during August.

A few weeks ago, I cruised past what remains of the Lichfield canal, now used by the Lichfield Cruising Club, and mentioned that the canal is under restoration. In this vlog I've been to meet the team who are heading up that restoration and see the scale of the works underway.

The end of August meant the resumption of my travels on the canals so I set off again from where I left off in Vlog 184 - Fradley Junction - and went up the Trent and Mersey canal towards Handsacre, in the process managing to look like an utter incompetent as I bashed into another, stationery, boat at a lock queue. Woe is me :-(

Day two with Jasmin aboard (from This Narrowboat Adventure, link below) and we headed up from Stone through Stoke on Trent. There are several rather deep locks to traverse but the day was fine and we stopped to pick some towpath damsons as we went along.

A video in which Jasmin (who is still my guest at this point) and I turn off the Trent and Mersey canal and onto the Caldon, going through the suburbs of Stoke on Trent and I get very grumpy about how many narrow sections and tight, blind corners it has not to mention a distinct lack of convenient spots to moor up.

With Jasmin now gone back to her own boat in London, I carried on along the Caldon canal out of Stoke on Trent towards Endon where I'd stop to get some supplies from a convenience store. Along the way I had to deal with two lift bridges, the first of which was easy and the second quite the nuisance.

Having stocked up with provisions at Endon I carried on down the Caldon canal, stopping briefly to empty the loo and top up the boat's water tank then going to Denford where the canal splits into two branches. I took the Froghall branch which soon after runs underneath the Leek branch. It gets very dense, there are deep locks, a heritage railway and I bumped into Aussie Boater as well as going past a historic mill.

Having stopped overnight at the end of the Froghall arm, I turned the narrowboat and headed back the way I'd come, up to the junction where the Caldon canal had split into two. One very sharp left turn later and I was going down the Leek branch through heavily wooded sections and a very narrow tunnel indeed, emerging at the navigable end of that part of the canal.

Having explored the furthest, murkiest depths of the Caldon canal, I turned around, came back the way I'd come and continued up the Trent & Mersey canal, through Harecastle tunnel and then took a sharp left onto the Macclesfield canal. Spoiler alert: it's utterly *lovely*.

Pressing on from the mooring at LMH - see last vlog - I unexpectedly stop early for a week when the Bosley lock flight is closed due to a leak in the canal at the top. Once it's re-opened, I go up the flight in a pretty good time, all things considered, despite the peculiar "dual top gate" installation on these locks.

The northern end of the Macclesfield canal was in sight (well, about six miles away) and a beautiful day dawned so the engine was engaged and the boat chugged along up to Marple where, at a T-junction, you meet the Peak Forest canal. I turned right and headed south along the Upper Peak Forest, just a little way to find somewhere to stop.

For the final leg of my 2019 autumn cruise, I continued along the Upper Peak Forest canal, south towards Whaley Bridge and Bugsworth basin. The six mile stretch of canal includes two swing bridges and two lift bridges so I shamelessly took advantage of some passing hire boaters to help me through.

After coming back down the Macclesfield canal (which I didn't film, as it was exactly the same as going up as shown in prior vlogs, albeit in the other direction), I turned south and retraced my path along the Trent & Mersey until I got to Stone, Staffordshire. There I'd booked the boat into a dry dock for re-blacking. This video shows that process. Yes, this is where Minimal List had theirs done too :-)

In mid-October I moored the narrowboat on the Macclesfield and hopped on a bus and a train to Liverpool where I met with Jo and Michael of "Minimal List". They had a rather interesting trip planned, to take their narrowboat across the Mersey estuary and up the Manchester Ship Canal. Joined by Lorna (aka "London Boat Girl"), we got up at a ridiculous time of the morning and set off. This is Part 1 of that journey, covering the Mersey crossing.

After crossing the Mersey estuary with Minimal List aboard NB Perseverance we now had a 36-mile journey up the Manchester Ship Canal, to get to Salford. Also aboard, as before, London Boat Girl Lorna.

Just a quickie - ooer missus - to say thanks for tuning in over the past year and here's looking forward to 2020. Happy Christmas! David.