Narrow Dog to Indian River

by Terry Darlington

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135	8	204,859	(3.82)	5
Having survived their voyage to Carcassonne, you might expect pensioners Terry and Monica Darlington and their whippet, Jim, to retire to a comfortable corner of their favourite pub. But no, they looked to the New World for an extraordinary new adventure... No-one had ever sailed an English narrowboat in the US before, for reasons that became abundantly clear during the 9-month voyage of the Phyllis May - including 30-mile sea crossings, blasting heat, tornadoes, hurricanes and all manner of intimidating wildlife. But the real danger came from the locals: the Good Ole Boys and Girls of the Deep South. Colonels, bums, captains, planters, heroes, drunks, gongoozlers, dancing dicks and beautiful spies - they all want to meet the Brits on the narrow painted boat and their thin dog and take them home and party them to death. Beautifully written, lovingly observed, and very funny, Narrow Dog to Indian River takes you on a dangerous, surprising and always entertaining journey as a thousand miles of the little-known South-East Seaboard unfold at six miles an hour- the golden marshes of the Carolinas, the incomparable cities of Charleston and Savannah, and the lost arcadias of Georgia and Florida.… (more)

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Narrow Dog to Wigan Pier by Terry Darlington (John_Vaughan)

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Showing 1-5 of 8 (next | show all)

A british couple bring their narrow boat over from England, to sail the intercoastal waterway from Virginia to Florida. The unusual boat attracts quite a few "gongozzlers" - i.e. nosy Americans wanting to check out the unusual boat. Quite a humorous look of the US (

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nancynova | Nov 18, 2017 |

Jim, the whippet, does not like boating, but his intrepid, somewhat elderly owners do. This time, the threesome takes their British narrowboat (built for navigating seven foot British canals) to the Intercoastal Waterway along the southern East Coast of the U.S. Much wry and amusing commentary and many near disasters ensue. The author's ton and dry, sarcastic wit make this book read-out-loud funny. His observations of the U.S. occasionally made me wince, but were quite recognizable, and Darlington's overall delight in the scene and characters and his self-deprecating humor kept it amusing rather than offensive. (

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kaitanya64 | Jan 3, 2017 |

I had forgotten that style of his from the "Carcassonne" one, but it is unmistakable from the beginning. Travel writing at its best, highly selective and often a bit on the ficticious side (which is fine, mind you!), Darlington presenting himself as an absolute failure at anything except drinking a couple of pints. With all this, nice insights into US customs and mentality (from an English point of view). And I do like his way of constructing sentences that are more like enumerations - or climaxes - and are quite simple indeed and first they strike you as weird and then you get them and then you burst out laughing before you know it and then you see people glaring at you because you are on a train and they all think you're mad. I like that.

Kindlegohome | Feb 3, 2016 |

I enjoyed the first book and was pleased when this second book was published. The style has mellowed, and there is still a smile on almost every page. I think that what I like about the book is - its a suck it and see real-life adventure. No matter how well you plan, there is so much that can still go wrong. Who in their right mind would take a narrow boat on such a trip. I was saddened to hear that the Phylis May was damaged by fire. Good luck with Phylis May II. (

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Mike-Fitzgibbons | Apr 11, 2012 |

I loved this book. I enjoyed Narrow Dog to Carcasonne but this was even better. A good travelogue about the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway along the eastern seaboard of the USA, which I hadn't realised existed... Terry and Monica and the dog, Jim, take their little English barge and sail some big scary waters, meeting lots of people on the way. I loved the sense of humour, which was a bit inscrutable in the first book, but which made me laugh out loud in many places in this one. (

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helenleech | Oct 24, 2011 |

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Having survived their voyage to Carcassonne, you might expect pensioners Terry and Monica Darlington and their whippet, Jim, to retire to a comfortable corner of their favourite pub. But no, they looked to the New World for an extraordinary new adventure... No-one had ever sailed an English narrowboat in the US before, for reasons that became abundantly clear during the 9-month voyage of the Phyllis May - including 30-mile sea crossings, blasting heat, tornadoes, hurricanes and all manner of intimidating wildlife. But the real danger came from the locals: the Good Ole Boys and Girls of the Deep South. Colonels, bums, captains, planters, heroes, drunks, gongoozlers, dancing dicks and beautiful spies - they all want to meet the Brits on the narrow painted boat and their thin dog and take them home and party them to death. Beautifully written, lovingly observed, and very funny, Narrow Dog to Indian River takes you on a dangerous, surprising and always entertaining journey as a thousand miles of the little-known South-East Seaboard unfold at six miles an hour- the golden marshes of the Carolinas, the incomparable cities of Charleston and Savannah, and the lost arcadias of Georgia and Florida.

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