Mike's books are based mainly on many characters he has met on the inland waterways of the UK.  Based in Wiltshire on the Kennet and Avon Canal, he has lived on his own narrowboat for over twenty years. However, his boating journey started in 1980 when he took a youth-group afloat on a pair of camper boats. It was that week-long trip from Bulls Bridge, Southall to Hemel Hempstead and back which years later prompted the idea for the Stowaway series and one of its central characters. Since then Mike has gone on to manage Tideway Adventurers Narrowboat Project and introduce the joys and adventures of the canals and narrowboats to many hundreds of people.