Thema is a user finished boat I encountered walking along the Whilton and Buckby locks. Here is the story…..

I met the proud owner of nb Manchuria, Gwylim Jones, moored by the NIA at Brindley Place, central Birmingham on 30 May. He had been following some of the route of the BCN Marathon Challenge…..

I first met Mark Johnson with his narrowboat Midnight Paradise moored outside the NIA (National Indoor Arena) near Brindley Place, Birmingha on the BCN Main Line. This was on a Sunny day over the May Day weekend. The boat was very different in appearance to the usual boats moored there, and on talking to Mark I discovered that he was still restoring and converting the boat to become a residential, cruising boat with a working boat character. I didn’t realise at the time how large scale the changes under way were…..