Canal Boat Leisure Trip with Darren & Hayley

 Canal Boat Leisure Trip 

Our first canal trip of our holiday was at Lyon’s Boat Yard which in the heart of Birmingham. As we made our way up the canal towards the drawbridge, which was really fascinating, our drivers had to get off the canal boat, stop the traffic and proceed to lift the bridge following the instructions. We thanked the traffic for letting us pass, it was a unique experience. 

Continuing along the canal, we each had another go at steering the boat again which was great fun. We saw some beautiful countryside with animals along the way and waved at passers-by. Once we’d travelled for a few hours and got to a good turning point we turned around and headed back towards the drawbridge.

We headed south of Swadlincote to Ashby Boats Canal Yard. We couldn’t resist popping in the gift shop to buy a few souvenirs. A photo shoot alongside our canal boat called Badger was had before we climbed aboard and made ourselves comfy. Our journey took us way South of the Ashby de la Zouch canal, taking in the beautiful scenery surrounding us. We cruised past many other canal boats, and we loved waving as they passed us by. Our group became nature detectives spotting some animals in the nearby fields, along with ducks swimming on the water. It was very relaxing.  After a few hours on the canal, we moored up alongside the riverbanks and had a delicious packed lunch. 

Everyone was giddy with excitement today as we were heading to Cadbury’s World, which is in the heart of Birmingham. Once we had arrived, we had a few photos outside before entering the chocolatey world. We started our tour around the famous factory, walking through the Aztec Jungle where the cocoa bean came from. This then led onto Bull Street from the Victorian era where we learnt about the history of the Cadbury family and how they built their empire. 

Shortly after we headed into the chocolate making room where we were able to get creative and write our names in the gooey, melted chocolate on the huge marble slab. Luckily for us we got to sample some of the chocolate with different toppings of our choice.

It was game on down at the bowling alley for a few friendly games! There were high scores all round and a few spectacular strikes!

We drove to ABC Alvechurch Marina. We had a really colourful canal boat for the day, and we were greeted by the welcoming and friendly staff. We cruised along for a couple of hours, travelling through the historic and very impressive tunnels. One of the tunnels in particular the Tardebrigge Tunnel was 530 metres long, it was almost a little spooky when we first went through, but luckily the boat was very modern and had a light in the main cabin. Along the way we saw beautiful countryside, lots of swans, fishermen and other people driving their canal boats. Everyone agreed we had saved the best day until last. We all took it in turns steering the boat for a third time, we were getting the hang of it now!