Terry Darlington Books

Having survived their voyage to Carcassonne, you might expect pensioners Terry and Monica Darlington and their whippet, Jim, to retire to a comfortable corner of their favourite pub. But no, they looked to the New World for an extraordinary new adventure ... No-one had ever sailed an English narrowboat in the US before, for reasons that became abundantly clear during the 9-month voyage of the Phyllis May - including 30-mile sea crossings, blasting heat, tornadoes, hurricanes and all manner of intimidating wildlife. But the real danger came from the locals: the Good Ole Boys and Girls of the Deep South. Colonels, bums, captains, planters, heroes, drunks, gongoozlers, dancing dicks and beautiful spies - they all want to meet the Brits on the narrow painted boat and their thin dog and take them home and party them to death. Beautifully written, lovingly observed, and very funny, Narrow Dog to Indian River takes you on a dangerous, surprising and always entertaining journey as a thousand miles of the little-known South-East Seaboard unfold at six miles an hour- the golden marshes of the Carolinas, the incomparable cities of Charleston and Savannah, and the lost arcadias of Georgia and Florida.

"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.

The hilarious and true story of two senior-citizens and their whippet dog who hatch, plan and carry out a “lunatic scheme” to sail from Stone in Staffordshire to Carcassonne in the South of France.From the Hardcover edition.

Set against the backdrop of the Intracoastal Waterway in the USA, two adventurous pensioners and their whippet, Jim, embark on a new journey after their successful trip in France. As they navigate from Virginia to the Gulf of Mexico, the story unfolds with a blend of humor, exploration, and the charm of life on the water, showcasing the joys and challenges of their narrowboat adventure.

„Wir haben zwei Möglichkeiten, unseren Lebensabend über die Bühne zu bringen. Wir können uns zu Tode langweilen – oder wir suchen noch ein wenig das Abenteuer“, sagen sich die Darlingtons aus Stone als frisch gebackene Rentner. Überredet, mit ihrem wenig seetauglichen Hausboot über den Ärmelkanal zu schippern und quer durch Frankreich nach Carcassonne zu reisen, nehmen sie ihren Whippet Jim mit. Trotz der Warnungen von Fachleuten, die ihnen voraussagen, dass sie sterben werden, wagen sie das Abenteuer. Terry Darlington führt uns an Bord der Phyllis May, wo wir mit den drei arglosen Helden durch meterhohe Wellen der Nordsee und die tückische Rhône navigieren. In der Camargue kämpfen sie ums Überleben, umgeben von Flamingos. Sie begegnen Vandalen, wandelnden Toten, Kanalkiebitzen und Killerfischen. Auf ihrer Reise entdecken sie das unentdeckte Frankreich: die Kanäle unterhalb von Paris, die himmlische Yonne und verbotene Wege ans Mittelmeer. Sie treffen auf ein buntes Spektrum von Franzosen – Dichter, Kapitäne, Trinker und Verrückte, die alle das bemalte Boot und seinen hageren Hund kennenlernen wollen. Darlington gelingt ein köstliches Debüt, das mit seinem Humor und Charme begeistert. Ein Buch, das nicht nur Hunde-, Hausboot- und Frankreichliebhaber zu Tränen quiekenden Vergnügen hinreißen wird, begleitet von wunderbaren Illustrationen und einem Intensivkurs „Französisch in 15 Minuten“.