The Stratford Canal
We now have our own fleet of battle swans, sitting on the tiller. The tiller (that’s the bit you steer with) is attached to the rudder post by a metal pin, often with a brass ornament on top. There are a number of businesses run from canal boats, and one of them sells tiller pins, as well as rope-work fenders and rugs. I’d seen the boat, Hakuna Matata, on the Oxford Canal, and again on the Grand Union in Warwick,…