Here is a synopsis of the new book For the Love of Canals from its publisher.
'Our canals are a national treasure' says Paul Routledge, author of a new book For The Love Of Canals.
Celebrating over 2,000 miles of British canals and the people who built, loved, and restored them.
For the Love of Canals brings readers on a journey round Britain's canals, their history, their rise, decline and rebirth, their role in trade, their romance, their dark narrative of crime, their future in the gentrification of homes by 'the Cut' that were once deeply unfashionable but now highly sought-after.
Paul's first encounter with canals goes all the way back to his childhood, in the coal mining country of west Yorkshire. Just over the hill from his home town of Normanton lay the Aire and Calder Navigation Canal, a prince among waterways, that served the collieries of half the country.
From these early beginnings was born a lifelong love of the people, places—and waterside pubs—he has encountered while traversing hundreds of miles of canals and towpaths.
Follow along on Paul's journeys as he recounts centuries of vibrant history in his ode to Britain's waterways.