Paper short abstract:

I will discuss the pacing of water tourism mobilities, focusing on the diurnal rhythms of canal boating in the UK. The diurnal alternations between light and dark form a socio-natural rhythmscape, where the embodied and sensed combine with the hierarchical and governed.

Paper long abstract:

A variety of mobilities, including boating, running, walking, cycling and others intersect on and near inland waterways. In regards of pace, these mobilities emerge in varied tempos and rhythms on their numerous trajectories. In this paper, I will pay closer attention to the intersecting human, non-human and environmental rhythms as exemplified on canal and river boating, a water mobility that has until very recently not yet received sufficient academic attention. The seasonal, diurnal and circadian rhythms on the canal converge and contradict, creating an ever changing dynamic rhythmscape that comes to being through a number of embodied experiences, materialities, metaphors and representations. In this paper, I will focus mainly on rhythmanalysing the diurnalities on the waterways, demonstrating how the alternations between light and dark create a certain socio-natural rhythmscape where embodied and sensory experiences combine with the hierarchical and governed, thus determining a number of mobile practices on the canal from the choice of routes to the particular activities undertaken. The paper is based on my 2014-2017 ethnographic fieldwork (participant observation and semi-structured interviews) with the boaters and canal enthusiasts in northern England and Wales, UK.