Where Nature and Civilisation Meet: My Love For Rivers
Books & Reading Adventures | Rivers & Canals
My love for rivers
Rivers hold a great attraction for me. I love to walk along river banks and have loved it especially in cities like Hamburg, London or Paris. It’s always interesting. It's where nature and civilisation meet.
Rivers are lifelines for flora and fauna, and also for the people who live with them. But rivers can be so much more, an inspiration for art, music & literature, a journey, a life force, a scent, a place of settlement, an economic factor. It holds memories, traces of the past. It’s a mirror and a path. There’s so much to explore!
Nowadays I am perhaps particularly drawn to rivers because there is a certain wildness to these waterways, even though we have channelled and tamed them, forced them into a bed and see them primarily as utilitarian pathways, useful for our needs, to exploit. Like we tend to do with nature a lot.
But water is something that has always attracted me, like the sea.
The flowing river water calms me, soothes me, speaks of adventure and seeing the world at the same time. It’s history and present. It’s old and wise, but new-born in any second. No water drop has been in it twice.
I love the slowly and leisurely flowing rivers as much as the ones that are streaming in a hurry. I enjoy the small ones a bit more than the ones where the container ships pass by, although the river Elbe close to Hamburg even has beaches where you can leasurely spend a day and watch ships of all kinds.
Sitting on the river bank and just watching the water, the boats, the ducks or swans go by is a great way to be in the moment.
It’s hard to believe now that as children in the 1980s we played in the river of my hometown. Upstream it was so shallow that even as 8-or-9-year-olds we could stand safely in the wonderfully warmed water. There was no real current. We watched tiny fish and had fun at the edges of the bordering meadows.
In my teen years I went canouing a couple of times with my class. It was exciting to canoe on the river Schwentine and the Lake Plön, later on the Dordogne in France. I liked the calmness with which you could move forward. The silence. But I also remember sore muscles and classmates who capsized their boats. It was summer’s great fun.
Later in life I discovered how much I enjoyed walking at river banks. The connection of nature and civilisation attracted me, and history has greatly fascinated me all my life. I taught history on my guided tours when I worked as a city guide. And of course, even the small river of my hometown was of great importance for the settlement, for the safety of the castle and the later mansion, for prosperity and trade because of the water mill. But it was the Thames in London that has really captivated me.
So, with all the wonderful and different aspects to choose from when it comes to rivers, I’ve read several books lately, from which I’d love to share my favourites:
Books & Reading Adventures
The Pull of the River: A Journey Into the Wild and Watery Heart of Britain (Matt Gaw)
“The Pull of the River” finds two friends exploring Britain’s rivers in a homemade canoe. They seek adventure on the Waveney, Lark, Great Ouse, Thamse, Stour, Severn and many more streams. Adventure also finds them: tidal rivers, weirs, where to stay overnight (wild camping not allowed), navigating, puddling routine, rivers that aren’t rivers anymore or even finding access to the water, pollution - and it becomes even more dangerous than that.
Matt Gaw shows us a whole new perspective on the landscape we think we know so well. Being on a river provides just that, a new world opens up.
“Part of the pull of the river is escape. […] Although there are only ever two ways to go, the possibilites seem endless. We are outside civilisation, away from it all.” - Matt Gaw
His stories are so interesting, varied and adventurous, I enjoyed his way of telling them a lot, I liked the humour and the wit, it’s also beautifully written.
Although this book is a lot about the wonderful exploration of nature, adventure and friendship, the author writes not only about the beauty, but also about the problems they come across: littering, water quality, exploitation, concrete channels, preventing access to the river for the public, making rivers surprisingly private, the risk of drying out because too much water is extracted, invasive species etc.
My favourite chapter was about their tour on the Great Glen Canoe Trail in Scotland, it made a particular deep impression on me.
I also love the cover! It pulls me right in, so the book currently has the honour of being displayed frontally on my shelf. A promising new perspective and an idea of calmness and adventure.
Hidden Nature: A Voyage of Discovery (Alys Fowler)
Alys Fowler explores Birmingham’s canal network with an inflatable kayak, and while travelling on now little-used waterways, she finds new perspectives of the city she lives in, of its history, of life, love and of herself. She finds beauty and wilderness in unexpected places and discovers how nature secretly takes back the city - starting with the derelict industrial buildings. She writes about herons, kingfishers, pikes, eels and marvels at botanical discoveries.
The observation and exploration of the outside world goes hand in hand with the investigation of her inner world. Her life has turned upside down and she is in a deep crisis. Falling in love with a woman, ending her marriage with her sick husband, finding out who she is and coming out at last, her kayak tours are a need and part of her emotional journey.
The book is a great mixture of adventure, nature writing, wilderness, history of the city and the canals, as well as a memoir of a deep personal transformation. I loved her writing style and also found the book surprisingly funny!
Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames (Lara Maiklem)
Until last year I’ve never heard of the term ‘mudlarking’, but when I learned about it in the beautiful children’s book “October, October” by Katya Balen (highly recommended!), I was intrigued.
This fascinating book by Lara Maiklem brings together some of my long-standing interests: London as my favourite city, history and archaeology (which I even wanted to study at university at one point).
The author has scoured the banks of the Thames for more than twenty years, in pursuit of the objects that the tidal river unearths. It has become more than a hobby, more than fascination.
“It is the tides that make mudlarking in London so unique. For just a few hours each day, the river gives us access to its contents, which shift and change as the water ebbs and flows, to reveal the story of a city, its people and their relationship with a natural force.” - Lara Maiklem
Because London is so very old, you can find objects from all eras, from Neolithic flints to Roman hairpins, medieval buckles to Tudor buttons, Georgian clay pipes to Victorian toys - and so much more. Every item tells a story and reveals details of former ways of life and of people who lived on the Thames.
The author shares many fascinating stories and anecdotes, it’s such an interesting book, also well written, and Maiklem's enthusiasm is just infectious. I had such a good time and learned a lot more about my favourite city.
What Is A River? (Monika Vaicenavičienė)
Author-illustrator Monika Vaicenavičienė’s debut picture book, originally published in Swedish, is a real gem.
‘What is a river?’ a girl asks her grandmother as they sit together on the river bank. Like many questions posed by children, this one seems simple, but to answer it spans the world: geography and history, science and religion, industry and environmentalism. The answers, one per double-page spread, explain many aspects of rivers, how deltas are created, which animals are nourished by the waterways, how ancient Greeks thought that the world was encircled by one great river, to name a few. In every aspect, the book also emphasizes our interconnectedness with nature.
In making the art for the book, the Lithuania born artist used a variety of materials, including pencils, watercolors, gouache, and digital tools.
The book is carefully crafted, has inspiring illustrations, a poetic story and so much information. I enjoyed the book a lot! Recommended not only for children.
My favourite Substack on living a river & canal life
This post wouldn’t be complete without sharing my favourite Substack on this topic:
Saved by Grace: “How selling everything to live on a narrow boat to continuously cruise the canals & rivers of the UK totally changed my life.”
I enjoy Karen’s posts immensely! Her reflections are always interesting, thought-provoking and inspiring. They also come with lovely photos. Take a look! :)
Looking forward to exploring more
There’s so much more that attracts me to rivers and I want to learn about. About river habitats, about beavers, otters and other wildlife. In Hamburg the beaver population on the river Elbe is growing, it’s quite exciting. I’d love to do a guided canoe tour and learn more about them.
I’d also like to explore other rivers nearby more. Many have pathways or trails along the banks. That sounds like a beautiful thing to do in the summer when water has an even greater attraction (and everyone else goes to the sea). Perfect for some me time in nature, wouldn’t you agree?
What about you? What’s the nearest river where you live? Have you explored it? What did you find interesting? What river has you impressed the most? Have you travelled on or along a river?
Beautiful, Claudia! I also love rivers (and canals) - they are my favourite places to walk. There’s a thing called the Thames Path here in London and my aim is to walk the whole thing (although not in one go!) I’ve been to Alster Lake in Hamburg and your photo of the river is so beautiful. I will look up your book recommendations too. Have you read ‘Is A River Alive?’ by Robert Macfarlane? It’s on my list to read.
Thank you for sharing this lovely journey with us, Claudia 🙏 I live on an island without rivers, but instead we have burns and lochs, which hold their own quiet magic. During my time living on the Scottish mainland though, I was lucky to live near the River Clyde and then the River Dee, and I think of them often. There’s a kind of comfort in those waters that stays with you.
When I saw The Pull of the River on your list, I immediately thought of Karen’s posts too, it’s wonderful how these stories connect us through rivers, adventure, and reflection.
Your memories of childhood play by the river and your canoeing adventures brought back many warm feelings. That mix of joy, calm, and challenge in nature is something that shapes us deeply 🌊🛶🥰