Canal Boat Leisure Trips
For our first adventure out on the water we headed to Alvechurch Marina. When we arrived, we watched a film showing us how to operate the narrow boat and what to do in different situations. We were then kitted out with buoyancy aids before heading down to the jetty to board our vessel.
We set sail on the Worcester and Birmingham canal which being lock free was an ideal place for us as novice boat captains to get to grips with steering the boat. This was not to say that this stretch of water was not without its challenges as along our route we had to negotiate two very long, narrow and extremely dark tunnels!
We rewarded our efforts with a tasty ice cream on the riverbank, enjoying watching the other water users having fun!
Our explorations continued along the canal, each taking turns at steering and ensuring our safe passage along the tranquil waterway. Everyone did a fantastic job of being the captain and picked it up easily.
Day two took us to Nuneaton, home of the Ashby Boat Company. As we arrived, we were welcomed aboard a lovely boat called Mole. Soon we were chugging along the beautiful Ashby canal each of our 7 captains taking turns at steering and negotiating the twists and turns of the narrow waterway. We passed through some beautiful countryside waving to the other canal boat traffic and dog walkers. As it was such a beautiful day, we thought we would treat ourselves to an amazing ice cream from the floating ice cream parlour on the canal, named the Floatie Oakie. We sat on a bench and sunned ourselves for a while watching the world go by. Our journey then continued along the water until we found a suitable place to turn and make our way back to the boat yard.
A brilliant day was spent at the famous Cadbury’s World! When we arrived, we collected our tickets and arranged some fast-track wrist bands to avoid the queues!
Our first stop on the tour was in the tropical rain forests of South America where we met some Incas and Spanish conquistadors, leaning all about the cocoa bean and its origins.
Next, we watched the skilled chocolatiers at work before it was our turn to get hands on. Each of us were given a piping bag full of melted chocolate and we got creative writing our name on the huge marble slab.
We stopped along the way to have a cheeky ice cream break and were then treated to a free chocolate tasting session……with every topping imaginable.
It was a close game of ten pin bowling with high scores and plenty of strikes. Our overall champion was Ray who had a storming victory winning with a whopping 133 points.
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