A hilarious 7.5 mile canoe trip

I'm convinced by blow up beds, what luxury! I have officially turned into my Mum, waking up early, having an early shower before the crowds and then waiting for others to wake up. Cuddles with Billy in the morning was a very welcome treat though. Jen drove is to the lock, where we met Fran's parents and the third Canadian canoe. I had an unwelcome start though, while finding a wee spot, I had to climb a rusty gate, which tore my arm to shreds on the thorns, then the helicopter went over me and then I got bitten on my arm by a huge insect!

We got in the boats, the original formation was me, fran in the business class seat, aka the non rowing seat, Kat up front. Then Jen and Jemma in another canoe, and Al and Bea in another. We had another 5 formations during the 7.5 mile trip, which was due to take 2 hours in actually took us 4.5 hours. We had a few escapades, such as Al and Bea needing to bail out, then Billy fell in the canal and was rescued when Bea went in the water to rescue him. Bea stood on the bottom of the canal which was full of silt, her feet were black but Billy was safe. Billy then fell in another couple of times but was lifted back into the canoe.

You get a lot of random things floating in the canal, we had a crayfish, cucumber, strawberries, balloon, it must have been quite a party! We tried a number of formations, the best being convoy. It was a canoeing marathon, with Bea soaked through so not wearing shorts. Trouble was, when we eventually found the pub, the end destination, Bea's shorts still weren't on. We also parked directly opposite about 20 plus people celebrating a 30th birthday party. I haven't laughed so much in years, Jemma couldn't move through laughter, Bea lept out the boat short-less, while I got a stitch because I forgot to breath when laughing.

We were meant to have lunch, but it ended up as dinner. What an amazing day, loved every bit of it.