Canal Boat Diaries returns to U&Yesterday on Tuesday 17 June at 8PM with the tenth episode of its sixth series, following solo boater Robbie Cumming as he steers through the final stretch of a frosty Grand Union Canal. It’s mid-December in the narrowboat world, and the stakes are suddenly higher than just getting from A to B.
This week’s journey takes Robbie from Hunton Bridge to Aylesbury, threading through some of the more challenging engineering on the canal network. A near-flooding at a staircase lock reminds viewers just how exposed single-handed boating can be—especially in winter, with slippery towpaths and shortened daylight hours compounding the effort. Christmas is around the corner, but there’s no time to coast.
Now in its sixth run, Canal Boat Diaries continues to offer one of the most quietly absorbing views of rural Britain on TV. Filmed and narrated by Cumming himself, it mixes soft travelogue with honest documentary, tracing a 300-mile route that has taken him through some of the UK’s oldest working waterways. There’s no big-budget gloss here—just drone shots, lock gates, and a well-worn boat doggedly pressing on.
It fits cleanly into U&Yesterday’s strategy of grounded, character-led factual. In an age of high-concept travel shows and polished food-tour hybrids, Canal Boat Diaries stays modest and practical. Its audience isn’t coming for spectacle. They’re here for scenery, solitude, and the rhythms of an unconventional life. It’s a series that understands its own pace—and trusts the viewer to settle into it.
For those who follow the show, this episode adds seasonal contrast to the usual slow-cruise formula: condensation on the windows, tinsel above the stove, and a Christmas dinner plan squeezed between engine checks. And for newcomers, it’s an easy entry point—clear stakes, natural storytelling, and one of the best portraits on screen of what it actually means to live afloat in Britain.
Canal Boat Diaries airs Tuesday 17 June at 8PM on U&Yesterday.
