| A narrowboat, trailed by a swan, floats past my left handlebar, its young passengers waving as they, perhaps unwittingly, follow Alice's watery path. |
| Fred remembers one incident when a 50 ft narrowboat was swept by the force of the current into a tree blocking one arch of the swing bridge soon after it had left the lock. |
| Their dad Steve, an engineer, would love to tinker with the engine all weekend but our 65ft narrowboat Hedge Sparrow requires no more than the ability to turn a key. |
| Sagitta is an historic working narrowboat now fully refurbished with her butty boat Carina. |
| But how back-breaking it must also have been in the past for the two men propelling the narrowboat along its entire length, by pushing at its sides with their legs. |
| In fact, perhaps the only way to make it more terrifying is to walk over it rather than have the comforting bulk of a narrowboat around you. |
