ABSTRACT
Various individuals, groups and stakeholders, including boaters, walkers, joggers, anglers, cyclists, navigation authorities, local councils and volunteer organisations, use and maintain presence on and near inland waterways. Rivers and canals form networks that connect a multitude of different places as they pass through various landscapes. However, this network itself is also a place – a liquid place that features a geographical location, material setting and particular relationships. Inland waterways are liquid linear places that are simultaneously relational, material and mobile, produced by numerous entanglements, practices and interrelations. This chapter discusses rivers and canals in the United Kingdom, focussing on three elements: the slow mobilities, embodied watery materialities and convivial interactions on and by the water.
