At the start of the boating season our general plan was “Yorkshire”, and the obvious way to get there was down the Trent. We viewed the Trent as a one-way trip, with our exit route likely to be one of the three canal routes that cross the Pennines. I’ve been watching the state of those routes throughout the season, and closures have been frequent. Most weeks, one or other was out of action because of too much or too little water, broken lock gear or fallen trees. It is a credit to Canal and River Trust (CRT) that the routes usually reopened surprisingly quickly.