Terry and Monica Darlington are intrepid pensioners who made the surprising decision to sail their canal narrowboat Phillis May, sixteen hundred miles across France and down to the Mediterranean, accompanied only by their whippet Jim They took advice from nautical experts, who told them they would lose their boat and their lives (and, indeed, Jim) It is a true story of high adventure in France, England, Belgium and out at sea, as experienced by two innocents and a reluctant dog