Narrow dog to Wigan Pier

"At seventy-five, Terry and Monica Darlington had done everything they could think of doing, including starting a business and becoming athletes and running a literary society. Lately they had become boating adventurers and Terry a bestselling writer. But in their Midlands canal town in November, life was looking dull and short on surprises. Then their famous canal boat was destroyed by fire. Within a few days they had bought a new one and soon headed north in the Phyllis May 2 - to Liverpool, Lancaster, the Pennines and Wigan Pier. Terry recorded the journey, and alongside it the story of his life and his marriage and his dog Jim, with his broken ear like a flat cap, and Monica's dog Jess, known with heartbreaking reason as the Flying Catastrophe. Funny, affecting and beautifully told, this is a story that brims with incident and excitement, and is full of the famous and fascinating people the Darlingtons have met. And there is sadness too of course - it is the true story of an adventurous life well lived."--Publisher description.

Terry and Monica Darlington had, at seventy-five, reached the end of the line. They had done everything they could think of doing, including making their fortune and becoming athletes and running a literary society. Lately they had become boating adventurers and Terry a bestselling writer. In their Midlands canal town in November life looked dull and short on surprises. Then their famous canal boat -- the Phyllis May -- burned up in the boatyard. Within a few days they had bought a new one and decided to set out on an expedition to the North -- to Liverpool, Lancaster, Wigan Pier and the Pennines -- and as they went Terry recorded both the journey and the story of his life and his marriage and his dog Jim and Monica's dog Jess, the flying catastrophe.