Here's some canal goodness: last summer's Braunston Historic Narrowboat Rally.

I was at Braunston the day before the rally took place and chatted to the people on board Raymond, who must be the people who made this video.

One of the last commercial cargoes to be carried on the Grand Union Canal was coal from Atherstone to the Kearley & Tonge jam factory at Southall in Middlesex. I was told at Braunston that this run ended in 1969, though the Friends of Raymond website dates the end to 1970.

Whichever is correct, I have a clear memory of Raymond coming through Boxmoor and, in particular, of the important Thump Thump thump of the diesel engine of Nutfield, the boat that towed her. On a misty day you would hear it long before you saw the boats coming.

Below is a still showing Nutfield and Raymond from the 1967 children's television series Flower of Gloster.