CANAL boat lover Bob Wakely made his final journey down the river Thames yesterday.

His coffin was carried from Abingdon Lock to his home village of Sutton Courtenay on the 1937 working boat ‘Chiswick’ which he restored.

Wife Esther, 64, said: “To come by boat to the church just seemed so right.”

She added: “He was someone who enjoyed life to the full – in a very quiet way.”

Mr Wakely, 65, of Church Street, was diagnosed with cancer nine years ago and died after an infection on May 29.

More than 80 people remembered him at his funeral in the village’s All Saints Church. He and his wife were volunteers with the Camden Canals and Narrowboat Association.