He ran a successful photography business for 35 years before selling it in 2008 to pursue his dream of travelling the waterways of Britain by narrowboat. Having spent many years photographing weddings, schools, family portraits and commercial work, Barry now loves nothing better than capturing the beauty of the canals and places along the way, taking the majority of the photos for the blog.
Sandra (Walsh) was born at home in Shirley, Solihull, in 1959 and is a qualified nurse and midwife, having practised midwifery in a variety of roles and places for the past 23 years. She fulfilled a long held dream and immigrated to New Zealand in January 2005 - then met Barry in January 2006 who subsequently presuaded her to return to England in 2009 to buy a narrowboat! Sandra who's had a number of articles published in the nursing and midwifery press, now aspires to write in a different genre and is the author of the words of the blog posts.
Barry and Sandra married in England on the roof of their narrowboat 'Northern Pride' in September 2009, and back in New Zealand on the beach in December 2009. Sandra chose to retain her maiden name and vice versa! Barry and Sandra, who have four grown up children between them, own a home in Gisborne and a narrowboat in England and wish they could afford to live 6 months in each hemisphere annually but unfortunately, due to a distinct lack of funds, will probably have to sell Northern Pride at the end of their travels in 2010! But we'll be back one way or another!
Ah well, carpe diem, que sera, sera and all that!
