Canal Boat Diaries: Doncaster to feature in new series of popular BBC TV show

Canal Boat Diaries returns to BBC Four on May 1 - and will see host Robbie Cumming cruise through towns and villages on his rustic narrowboat – but this time he’s heading out in the colder months of autumn and winter.

The waterways enthusiast will offer a personal take on life as he navigates a 300-mile stretch of the canal and river network between Sheffield and Braunston in Northamptonshire.

And his route, which took place over the winter of 2022-23, sees him making his way beautiful landscapes in South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, NottinghamshireLeicestershire and Northamptonshire including Sheffield's Tinsley Canal and the Stainforth Keadby Canal.

He tackles the fast-flowing tidal River Trent, then heads along the Chesterfield Canal before cruising the Fossdyke Navigation from Lincoln.

The show will also see Robbie travel along the Leicester Line of the Grand Union Canal before ending up in Braunston, regarded by some as spiritual home for narrowboaters.

The series will also see Robbie share his passion for industrial heritage and celebrates the lesser-known stretches of our canals and river navigations.

Expect peace and tranquillity but also dramatic moments that come with boating in winter as Robbie struggles with flood waters, thick ice and his ageing boat engine.

Episode one, between Sheffield and Keadby, sees him forced to make a running repair to his narrowboat the Naughty Lass while on the Tinsley lock flight in South Yorkshire.

He then cruises beneath Conisbrough’s magnificent viaduct and must wait for an unusual sliding railway bridge to open on the Stainforth and Keadby Canal.

Here’s what Robbie had to say about the new show in an interview ahead of the new four-part series, which will run Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm starting on 1 May.

The last time we saw you (series 3 filmed 2021), you were contemplating giving up the boat to live on land?

At the end of each series I open up on whatever big decision is on my mind. Living aboard since 2015. Rented a terraced house in West Yorkshire with girlfriend of 2 ½ years, was also a step parent. But living with one foot on land and the other on water was very difficult and unfortunately we had to split up.

Almost a year on with series four I am back on my boat living alone.

I’ve made improvements to make it more comfortable for me in some areas, and more practical (for working) in other areas. I love exploring the canals and working on my various creative projects, making music, filming Canal Boat Diaries, and when I have time YouTube vlogs which is where it all started.

You’re travelling 300 miles from Sheffield to Braunston, why and how is it different to other routes you’ve taken?

Many boaters don’t even travel 300 miles in a whole year let alone in the depths of winter. And there is a good reason for this. The Canal and River Trust will often use the winter months to shut down parts of the system for repairs.

The weather is not comfortable and dangerous at times (wind, ice, flooding). I am forced to move my boat throughout winter as I don’t have a permanent mooring. I love the challenge, to push myself as far as I can go. Do things differently. To me boating isn’t a holiday or a retirement plan or just to have a laugh. It’s simply my life and also my job.

That is something that a lot of people won’t be able to understand. I don’t want to live in a house. I want to explore my own country.

I’m always aiming to show the real side of boating - and it doesn’t get much more real than at this time of year!

What do you do when you’re not travelling?

I really enjoy making music. I write my own instrumentals some of which get used on Canal Boat Diaries.

I have been playing the guitar since I was 10. Writing my own songs since 14. Otherwise I like to spend my free time either going to the gym, playing video games, creating new recipes in my galley kitchen, reading, running, knife throwing, DJing.

What was it like filming in the winter?

In some ways I much prefer it to filming in summer. In summer you’ve got a lot of hire boats, queues for locks, hard to get a mooring in popular places, horseflies, spiders, drunk people making loads of noise, and certainly no air conditioning!

Winter filming by comparison is quite easy in some ways. You have more time to do retakes if needed, you can find moorings easily, it’s usually a lot quieter at nights and in cities, the morning and evening light is incredible.

But it isn’t comfortable. Trying to use touch screen operated camera equipment when you can’t feel your hands, or simply standing at the back of the boat all day it starts to get a bit cold. Muddy towpaths making the inside/outside of the boat a mess = extra cleaning.

Low light a challenge. Not many hours of light to film in. Race against time to get to the next mooring before it gets too dark. But I did enjoy the shorter days - despite also having to film evening sequences it gave me a bit of a break which ‘living on set’ I always appreciate.

At one point in Loughborough I was faced with being iced in, potentially for weeks.

We made the decision to move but it soon became clear the ice was far too thick and were forced to moor up and sit it out until things had warmed up. Out of all the series we’ve made, this one I faced the most challenges.

I was stopped by a collapsed wall and then had to wait to be escorted through in Worksop, there was a closed canal in South Yorkshire and even entering Nottingham was a challenge when they shut down a huge river lock.

What’s something new and fresh that you learn about yourself and the waterways during this series?

Finally I get to show viewers (who don’t already know) what it’s like living on an old narrowboat in autumn and winter – not many other shows have shown that so I think it’s pretty special. Mind you no other show is made like ours, we give a little bit more of a glimpse into how it’s made, you can see me holding my phone camera as I go inand out of tunnels and locks and even my producer gets a special mention when he delivers some parcels.

New for series four

Dawn start in race to reach a sliding railway bridge

Failing to fight a flooded river

Seeing fish through the clearest water we’ve seen

Having to pull the boat with the engine off - to get past a collapsed wall

Setting out onto a misty tidal river (which we almost lost a drone flying into)

Repairing my tiller in a lock

Walking the rest of the way of a canal just to reach the end thanks to stoppages

Mooring at night

Engine overheats gets up to 100 degrees C the hottest it’s ever been

Running aground on a river

Getting frozen in and having to crash through inch thick ice

Have you seen more people out on the waterways due to the cost of living crisis? Is it really a cheaper way of living and if so, why?

Not really as have been travelling in autumn and winter. Met loads of boaters since but all seem to be retirees or boaters that don’t live on the cut.

Those that are getting new boats made seem quite well off. No one I’ve met recently has been doing it because they can’t afford the cost of living. I have personally not found it a cheap way of living as I’m always out buying bespoke/non mass produced items, coal not subsidised like energy bills, private healthcare, launderette costs, and occasional mooring fees when I need to leave the boat for longer time periods.

And to work 9-5 and continuous cruise/maintain a boat on your own is nigh on impossible, so in the past I certainly have had to cut work hours to compensate.

What is the one thing that you find most difficult about living on your narrowboat compared to a house/flat and why?

You can’t just go in and flick a switch and everything turns on - on some narrowboats you can but you still have to understand how it all operates and where various pumps and things are. Also, having a bath and owning a garage - got to store all my extra stuff on my roof.

How does living on a narrowboat give you a better appreciation of the English countryside and scenery?

Because you’re surrounded by it. You’re floating in it. Just the other side of 5mm of steel and panes of glass you feel it all. The weather lashes down on you and the bugs fly in through the gaps in the windows. I once had a mink jump aboard. Saw it running in through the front so I ran around the other side and chased it out with a broom. A rat jumped on my roof and had a go at a bag of rubbish, should have seen it hurling itself overboard when I chased it I didn’t know rats could fly ha ha!