Terry Darlington is the author of three best-selling books ''Narrow Dog to Carcassonne'' (2004), ''Narrow Dog to Indian River'' (2006) and ''Narrow Dog to Wigan Pier'' (2013). These books, which humorously (and frequently poetically) describe his narrowboat travels with his wife Monica and pet

whippet The Whippet is a dog breed of medium size. It is a sighthound breed that originated in England, descended from the Greyhound. Whippets today still strongly resemble a smaller Greyhound. Part of the hound group, Whippets have relatively few ...

Jim, have sold over a million copies to date. Darlington was brought up in Pembroke Dock, in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. He gained a State Scholarship to Oxford, where he obtained a degree in English. He worked for Lever Brothers for eight years before moving to

Stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

, teaching at the Stoke on Trent College of Technology. Although he wished to be a poet, he "had three kids" and instead in 1976 he and his wife Monica founded a

market research company Market research is an organized effort to gather information about target markets and customers: know about them, starting with who they are. It is an important component of business strategy and a major factor in maintaining competitors, competit ...

, Research Associates. He was a founder member of the Stone Master Marathoners running club. Having kept a diary of his narrowboat voyage to Carcassonne, he studied creative writing before eventually producing his first book. In 2009 the Darlington's narrow boat, ''Phyllis May'', was destroyed by fire while moored in the Canal Cruising Company's boatyard in Crown Street, Stone. The fire, which had started in a nearby boat, spread to an adjacent one and then to the ''Phyllis May'', which was gutted from bow to stern. It was replaced by ''Phyllis May II''.

''Narrow Dog to Carcassonne''

On their retirement, and against the advice of many, Terry and Monica Darlington decided to sail their canal narrowboat across the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

from Dover to Calais. Entering the French canal system, they went north to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and then south towards the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

, via the Burgundy canal and the

Saône The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île. The name ...

and

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

rivers. They then took the ''Phyllis May '' via Sète and the

Étang de Thau The Étang de Thau (; oc, Estanh de Taur) or Bassin de Thau is the largest of a string of lagoons (''étangs'') that stretch along the French coast from the Rhône river to the foothills of the Pyrenees and the border to Spain in the Languedoc-R ...

Carcassonne Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the Au ...

, on the Canal du Midi. Accompanying them on the voyage was their pet whippet Jim – the "narrow dog" of the book's title. Ths very successful book received glowing reviews from (inter alia), the Sunday Telegraph, the "Good Book Guide",

Joanna Lumley Dame Joanna Lamond Lumley (born 1 May 1946) is an English actress, presenter, former model, author, television producer, and activist. She has won two BAFTA TV Awards for her role as Patsy Stone in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (1992 ...

, "Canal & Riverboat",

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

, and "The Whippet".

''Narrow Dog to Indian River''

Inspired by the success of his first book, the Darlingtons navigated the US

Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following t ...

from Norfolk, Virginia to the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

''Narrow Dog to Wigan Pier''

Darlington's third book is about the loss of the ''Phyllis May'' in a fire, and two summers spent exploring the northern canals of England in the boat's replacement, ''Phyllis May II'', (which was built at Longport Wharf in Stoke on Trent). Compared to the previous two books, this third volume of the trilogy has rather more autobiographical material, covering Darlington's market research business, and the Stone Master Marathoner running club that he founded for the "more elderly athlete". “Two pensioners in a boat set sail on another adventure”, ''Yorkshire Post'', 7 June 2013
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darlington, Terry People associated with canals Welsh writers Living people People from Pembroke Dock Year of birth missing (living people)