Canal Boat Leisure Trips
With our waterproofs, snacks and provisions ready, we set off in for our adventure on the canals.
We began at Ashby boatyard, an unspoilt, lock-free rural canal winding its way through picturesque countryside on the Warwickshire/Leicestershire border. The boat was very comfortable with a log burner to keep us warm throughout the day. We headed north passing the villages of Dadlington, watching the world go.
We absolutely loved waving and being greeted by the other canal users. We passed so many colourful boats and lots of wildlife. After an hour or so, we moored up at Sutton Cheney and enjoyed tea and scrumptious home-made cake. The sun had finally come out so once back on board, we cruised towards Market Bosworth and then moored once more to enjoy a picnic along the tow path.
As we cruised along, some of us enjoyed games of cards which was great fun and caused much laughter.
What a fun first day we had, everyone had a turn at steering, and some had mastered tying ropes and mooring, what a smashing crew.
Off we went to the famous Cadbury’s World, somewhere we had been looking forward to visiting, and it didn’t disappoint. We could eat chocolate as we went around, stopping for many photo shoots. The interactive purple planet was great fun, we chased creme eggs and danced in chocolate rain. We jumped aboard the beanmobiles and enjoyed the Cadabra ride through a chocolate wonderland.
We were able to watch the chocolatiers showing off their skills hand making the delicious chocolate. It was then our turn to practice our piping skills by doodling our names in chocolate. We all sampled a taster in the chocolate making zone and before choosing our favourite topping treats to add to a pot of runny Cadbury dairy milk, yummy!
We traveled 1000 years back in time to Mexico and walked through the tropical rainforest of the Mayan Indians and discovered the origins of the cocoa bean and then into Victorian Bull Street to see where the Cadbury business began.
Another fabulous day out on the water. We headed south towards Earlswood, along the tranquil stretch of canal through steep, tree lined embankments. We spotted so much wildlife including nesting geese and herons.
There were no locks to manage, however, we did have to open a drawbridge which Lianne mastered expertly enabling the captains Mark and Sam, to steer the boat under the drawbridge and safely through to the other side; well done team! We continued cruising along until we passed bridge 16 where there was a turn point. Sophie and Sam managed to jump out onto the tow path, take the ropes and between us we moored the boat safely. Mark chose to open the drawbridge on our return journey, assisted by Lianne which, again was expertly done making it a smooth passage for our captains!
It was game on as we hit the bowling alley and we were all quietly competitive. It was a close game with some great strikes and high scores to be had. Well done to everyone for being such great sports.
Coventry Transport Museum was the perfect place for our car enthusiasts to explore. This huge museum, set in the city centre is home to the world’s largest collection of British Road transport in public ownership. We journeyed through time, wandered 19th century streets, and discovered the first bicycles, carriages, and cars. We then explored the first car factories and witnessed their wartime destruction in the ‘Blitz Experience’.
We took many photos, posing alongside bicycles and cars and even rode the ‘Ariel cycle’ penny-farthing.
A fun morning was spent on the ‘pitch and putt’ green to try our hands at golf. We all had a a great time trying our best to get a lucky hole in one!
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