Current projects:
I do have more up my sleeve but when this will come to fruition, I cannot at the moment say.
I’ve been for some while working on a series of articles being published by Yachting Monthly Magazine and these can be found at intervals…
Update summer 2021:
The articles mentioned have been trundling out. Currently one more is due to be published at some point in the magazine’s future programme.
I have also been involved with a series of short articles dealing with the ‘Ten best…’ places, anchorages, walks, city visits, etc…
On the ‘future book’ front, I spent the lockdown during the first three months of 2021 rewriting some work and putting into words a ‘breezy buzz’ that was travelling around my mind.
As the days progressed, between walking, the mate wielded her ‘red’ pen as she felt it should be, in the main it was often quite lightly. At times she dropped work back into my lap in tears…. Saying, ‘you made me cry…’
I am now in the process of finding a publisher!
Update 10 Dec 21.
A new book is on its way – publishing deal signed.
Manuscript with publisher.
More soon…
News: 16th February 22
Book is currently going through the editorial stage whereupon clarifications/corrections follow and a proof copy of text will be finalised.
Update Easter Day – 17 April 22: Editing is heading for completion. Illustrations to place and content will be finalised. This stage will be completed by the end of May 2022.
Update 24 June 2022. Book in process of finalising edit. Currently I await return of the final edit with illustrations and captions inserted into the text. Pagination into book format will follow before moving onto the phase that publicises the book and eventual publication…
Another update 11 December 2022… The final edit has taken place and I am awaiting return of copy with full cover with blurb to sign off. It then passes through QA process. Then the marketing stage begins.
The processes with this publisher seems to be long-winded and drawn out. Frustrating at times, but I believe it will come out of it looking the better…
Update 4th April 2023:
After receipt during early February of the ‘completion’ of the few minor deficiencies sent off in November 2022, I found only a percentage had been dealt with. So, I sent it all back off again.
Last week I received the document to sign off. Whey Hey, I sang…
Although feeling a bit groggy from my knee surgery, I double saved the document as one should and had a brief look. I found discrepancies and sent it back to editorial.
Sadly, over the last six months, it seems the book has essentially stalled.
This new book is with a new publisher to me and its ways are different. Some good, others, to say the least, not so.
However, what I would say is that the editing has been thorough and I am confident all those ‘black mists’ I’ve endured will produce a worthwhile and pleasurable book…
Update – 15th June 2023:
Book has been finalised, including blurb and covers. As said, I have not enjoyed the editing process, largely due to a lack of communication, however, I am completely satisfied with the end result.
It is now being quality checked prior to turning into print ready files when it will be sent for approval.
Does this bode well for publication before Christmas 2023. I damned well hope so!
Update: 12th Sept 2023:
Great News!
Publication date will be on Friday 10th November 2023.
Advertising and full details to follow…
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New Book is now on the sales sites:
See: https://www.austinmacauley.com/author/ardley-nick
Other sites are carrying it too.
Blurb:
When Nick Ardley asked for a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test, the aftershocks of a prostate cancer diagnosis were momentous. Frightened, he said he was too young to die. Petrified, he understandably broke down. But all was not lost: his family and the boat shared with his wife were soon at work repairing his life.
A life-long sailor, the salt marsh fringed waters of the greater Thames estuary had always enthralled, and it was to them he went for healing. It’s a place where in the free flow of a saline breeze his mind cleared, and he began treating it all as just another little illness. Like a cold, he said, knowing full well it wasn’t! Sailing up the River Thames, he announced to his wife his choice of the medical directions offered. Later, after mooring off Gravesend, both cried together.
Ardley’s treatment overlapped the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, the serious stuff was done and dusted. The pandemic brought new trials. The couple were frighteningly threatened by a fellow yachtsman who disliked an Ardley web blog … the horror of that summer has remained fresh.
Throughout the telling of Ardley’s tales, his story, sailing with family and friends, country walking and living life, he has maintained a normality. Perhaps a familiar story, but it comes with a warning: Men, get yourselves tested before it’s too late!
So, onwards he goes, sailing through life…
What can I say, other than please go out and buy a copy or order one through me for signing…
Published works
Rochester to Richmond: A Thames Estuary Sailor’s View
This book, as I alluded to in my earlier comments, has been written in a different style. The ‘third hand’ has been left ashore and the skipper tells the tale in person. The Mate is still very much at my side during the passage and on many shore-side explorations along the way and on past outings …
The publicity info sheet is attached…
F040630 Rochester to Richmond Press Release
A Thames Estuary sailor’s reflections on the ever-changing riverside from the Nore to London
- A book for lovers of sailing amongst salt, marsh and mud
- A passage not made within the pages of a book since the 1920s
- Beautifully illustrated with modern images from the water interspersed with old prints
- Rochester to Richmond is of love and enthusiasm for an unknown side of the River Thames
Blurb:
People say that Nick Ardley is an eccentric, an anachronism from a simpler age, for the way he sails his clinker sloop around the Thames estuary, wending amongst the tide-riddled marshes to drop anchor where the fancy takes him. In Rochester to Richmond: A Thames Estuary Sailor’s View, Ardley has a clear plan: a reflective journey between Rochester and London, a path once of commerce, but now pleasure. Rochester was of immense importance to Britain’s past trading richness too. The belching chimneys pouring acrid fumes and cement dust have evaporated. Oil refineries have slipped away, but wharves lining the banks remain alive. As a distraction, he wanders a little above Rochester and then again, a little above the Pool of London towards Richmond. Between, he lands amongst the marsh and mud, finding graves and farmsteads enveloped in purslane and lavender. Many towns sailed past were part of this heritage, supplying building materials and food carried by the tan-sailed barge to London. Ardley dips and dabbles into these communities and explores how they have transformed.
Information:
Fonthill Media. Email: sales@fonthillmedia.com Tel: 01453 750505
Publication Date: 27 July 2017
Price: £18.99
ISBN: 978-1-78155-620-7
Size: 248 x 172 mm
Binding: Paperback
Illustrations: black & white plates.
Reviews:
Two very heartening early reviews have been sent to me:
One came from a reader in Eire…
Thank you very much and a big well done to Nick Ardley for the latest book “Rochester to Richmond” which I have just finished. Way “up there” Nick with its predecessors.
I lapped it up. I found myself, like you, thinking in “100 year chunks”. We now have the ‘old books’ (Wyllie, Maxwell, et al) for the early 1900s, and you for the early 2000s.
I find myself wondering whether some future ‘ditch crawler’ will spot this pattern and feel the need to do it again in 2100 and 2200. It would be a lovely record, wouldn’t it?
Meanwhile, we’ll have to make do with wondering where you go next – is there another book in the pipeline or the mind’s eye yet? I do hope so.
Thank you very much and love to “The Mate”, Chris.
Another from a sailor who sails down channel as well as enjoying the Thames estuary creeks and rivers, says:
From Shipping Today & Yesterday:
In prose he meanders like the rivers and creeks he sails on. The author tracks Britain’s industrial heritage and its relationship with its many waterways.
This is a well put together book backed up with good photographs and I would highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in this area.
From Yachting Monthly:
Those that assume that the only way to sail up the Thames in a single tide-fuelled surge from Queenborough to Limehouse or St Katharine’s may need to think again … (he) noses into forgotten creeks where Ardley salutes lost industries … (his) style is idiosyncratic but his fund of knowledge and quirky enthusiasms make this an absorbing read… (Feb 2017)
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Swinging the Lamp – Thames Estuary Tidal Tales
Blurb:
Pure salt water courses through Nick Ardley’s veins: he was brought up on a Thames spritsail barge and ‘sailed’ the high seas on ocean going ships. For many years he’s weaved his way through the Thames estuary’s tidal creeks and rivers, mostly aboard his clinker sloop, exploring, noting and investigating, with his mate beside him.
The estuary of the Thames is a world of constant flux. It is an artery of modern commerce and archaeology of past industry peppers its rivers and creeks. Flooded islands have become the domain of myriads of birds, nesting on hummocks of saltings and feeding on mud flats. Rotting wharves festooned with bladder wrack alive with life, the time worn ribs of barges the perch for cormorants. Around all of that, man has created new uses for disused lime, cement and brick docks. Boatyards, marinas and waterside housing have emerged like a water born phoenix from industrial ashes.
Wending in and out of this, Nick Ardley weaves his magic, commenting. Beneath Whimbrel’s swinging lamp he muses about old souls, the relationship of humble spritsail barge and shoal draft yachts, but all along he is alive with enthusiasm for the environment in this little corner of England…
This book remains available from Fonthill Media, being on their print on demand list.
ISBN: 978-1-78155-498-2
Price: £18.99
Paperback 248 x 172
224 pages.
There are around 30 black & white plates including diagrams, drawings and chartlets. Plus, a colour section of 75 plates.
Reviews
Shipping Today said: ‘This is a great read and I would very highly recommend it.’
Classic Sailor has said: ‘Reading it is a bit like drifting on a slack tide of a warm windless evening with a beer in your hand.’
Matt Care, a reader wrote: The pages buzz with enthusiasm for his hobby and its people and glow with warm descriptions of cake-and-coffee breaks, some laced with something warmer, or evenings sitting afloat while the slanting sun changes the creamy colour of the hull paint to a honey golden glow. Ahhh. Thanks Nick. You are a genius.
The Merchant Navy Officers Association Telegraph said: ‘The Author’s evocative anecdotes are enhanced by a selection of colour pictures, together demonstrating why the Ardley’s love the delicate, fluid estuary landscape so much. High-quality production by Fonthill Media does justice to the well-written text and beautiful photography, inviting readers to relax and go with the flow.’
The Online News Magazine for the Medway & Swale Estuary Partnership has an exert:
http://longshoredrift.org.uk/swinging-the-lamp-an-extract/
Sitting relaxing one evening in October, the phone rang …
The voice said, ‘Hi Nick, Alan here, just wanted to call and thank you for your book … it’s very good, excellent in fact. I love the way you’ve covered things other people can’t be bothered with.
Thanks again.’
Alan was referring to the River Medway and the islands…
That was it. Then he was gone!
From the pages of the Society of Sailing Barge Research magazine Topsail are these comments:
‘Nick Ardley’s new publisher has brought a freshness of presentation without jeopardising that special spiritual relationship between book and reader.’
‘…he discovers fresh pastures and history to keep this reviewer enthralled.’
The reviewer passes a wish for an index, but not at the cost of loss of text.
From London’s Little Ship Club:
A pleasing review can be found in the club’s online magazine.
http://littleshipclub.co.uk/reviews/swinging-lamp
From the Thames Guardian:
The reviewer did not like the use of the ‘third’ person … hopefully ‘he’ will be pleased I’ve left that period behind now in future work. He said, ‘ Ardley is a knowledgeable, experienced guide, whose enthusiasm for the estuary is irrepressible …’
From Coastal Events:
A rather nice review has arrived from Coastal Events, the East Coast Guide.Reviewer say, ‘…written with a wealth of passion and a richness of detail the book brings the East Coast to life in a unique and gentle way…’ and adds, ‘this is a book that will make you want to go sailing and is a great introduction to the wonders of the east Coast.’
See at: www.coastal.events/swinging-lamp-nick-ardley/
And from the pages of the Royal Naval Association Journal:
A quirky gentle tale that takes the reader to the furthest reaches of the East Coast …
The author can truly be said to be an Essex m … an expert on the area… His passion for these waters is palpable and he puts this over to the reader beautifully.
And the reviewer continued: For anyone who started their sailing career on these waters it is a trip down memory lane … manages to make you want to go back and take a look with fresh eyes … gives food for thought … I enjoyed reading this book and would thoroughly recommend it.
There are others still to come my way…
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The Jottings of a Thames Estuary Ditch-crawler, published by Amberley Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-4456-0100-7, £17.99
Nick Ardley takes us on another series of journeys in his yacht Whimbrel, through the meandering creeks and waterways that feed into the Thames and its estuary, using his extensive local knowledge to impart a flavour of the areas he visits, with historical interludes. He also details the two craft that he has owned during a lifetime of estuary explorations, with affectionate attention to the history of the Finesse class of clinker-built yachts of which his Whimbrel, a ’24’, is one. All around the Thames estuary nowadays there are passages that sailors used, many now long gone, silted up or dammed, while the attendant industry along the banks of these creeks and the river itself have also disappeared.
The stories captured between the pages of this book will appeal to locals, sailors, and anyone with an interest in the history and wildlife of the Thames estuary.
Mudlarking Thames Estuary Cruising Yarns, published by Amberley Publishing. ISBN: 9781848684928, £16.99
In this charming sequel to the successful local best-seller Salt Marsh & Mud, the skipper and his mate meander gently around the coastline of East Anglia, exploring the marshland from North Kent to Suffolk in their tan-sailed, wooden clinker sloop, Whimbrel. Whether sitting with a cup of tea while gazing out over a peaceful waterway or sailing up between London’s impressive buildings, they take the time to look around them and to appreciate the sights, sounds and stories that abound. Nick Ardley lovingly weaves his yarns of traditional sailing with his own reminiscences and detailed knowledge of the places and waterways that they encounter. The numerous rivers and creeks that indent the Thames archipelago hide a wealth of history and nature; this captivating book uncovers a few of these secrets and brings them to life. The stories tucked between the pages of this book will appeal to locals, sailing enthusiasts, and anyone with an interest in the history or wildlife of this fascinating area of the country.
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Salt Marsh & Mud A Year’s Sailing on the Thames Estuary, published by Amberley Publishing. ISBN: 9781848684911, £16.99
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The May Flower A Barging Childhood, published by The History Press. ISBN: 9780752442259, £16.99
The waterways of Britain have long attracted independent spirits. The freedom of life on the water holds a special allure for many, and come the weekend people all across the country leave behind the drudgery of their everyday lives for the thrill of the open water. However, one family took this devotion even further by bringing up their children on the Thames spritsail barge May Flower.
In this evocative story of his unusual upbringing on the May Flower, Nick Ardley gives us a colourful account of life on the water. He tells tales of places visited, techniques learned and characters met that combine to give a real sense of what sailing can teach us. The skills learned on the water have proved to be highly beneficial for many people in their later careers, while the self-reliance and resourcefulness that often characterises sailors are much-valued attributes anywhere.
Weaving his wealth of barging knowledge into the story of his family’s life aboard the May Flower and their great resilience in keeping their barge on the water, Nick Ardley has given us a book that will appeal both to barging enthusiasts and those interested in childhood development.
Continuously in print since publication, now well into second decade…
Note: All books are currently available.
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