William Bliss Canoe Trail

Until very recently I wondered if I was one of only a handful of enthusiasts of the work of William Bliss, writer on canoeing and the inland waterways. If you have followed my blog for some time, you may recall that I posted a few articles around 2013 about the books of William Bliss and also his canoeing with Sir John Squire. I also recently mentioned Bliss to the canoeist and CRT writer in residence Jasper Winn but his response led me to believe that William Bliss is still an unsung hero of the waterways.

But blow me down (with a feather), I have just discovered by browsing that things have moved in the world of William Bliss and canoeing. A group of canoe enthusiasts has developed a long-distance (862 mile) canoe trail along the inland waterways of England and Wales in the name of William Bliss and have a web-site and Facebook page related to journeys along the trail.

I was really pleased to find the trail being advertised, and fascinated to discover that some canoeists had completed the marathon in 2017. It was also interesting to find a group had completed the route back in 1993 at the time of the bicentenary of British Canals and posted some old photographs of their journey.

However, it got really interesting when I read the web page relating to William Bliss on the official site. It contained, word-for-word, my text from a post on Bliss in 2013. The Bliss Trail site even used the image I posted of the dust-cover of my copy of "Canoeing".

Now I am pleased that the world of canoeing has become more interested in William Bliss and pleased my blog has been read. Although my blog is not copyright it would have been polite to have been given an acknowledgement or perhaps even a link.