Steam Barge

This is Tony Bryant. He lives on a narrow boat which runs on a unique steam engine he built himself. It's fuelled with dead wood which he picks up from the sides of canals and surrounding fields. Seems like the ultimate in green transport!

I met him in August 2009 while I was working for the local paper (a rare event lately) and I gave him my number. A few days later he called me to ask if I wanted to come and ride with him through the Bruce tunnel on the Kennet and Avon canal near Marlborough. It's about a quarter mile long, and enables the canal to pass beneath the main London to Penzance railway line. And it's 200 years old this year.

He was on his way to Bristol, from where he was planning to turn north up the Severn. His ambition is to see Loch Lomond from his boat.