Re: Narrowboat Weekend

On Sat, 29 Apr 2006 10:03:07 GMT, Graeme Worrall
<graeme@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I read in a post on here about someone going on a narrowboat weekend. I
*think* it was the Cub Section, and if possible, that's the section I'm
asking about.

I've been Narrowboating as long as I can remember (I'm only 19, so it's
not long) to some extent or another and I know it'd be a great
experience for my pack.


But I'm curious as to how it would work. Have many other people done
this? And would you mind sharing every detail? I'd just like to get an
idea of what's possible.

What do you mean? Hiring a boat and and crew and just using the boat
for the weekend? or taking one yourself?

If the first, you are going to be pushed fopr space on most hire boats
- they are not usually designed to take large parties.

If the latter, you will need to find a boat, that is suitable - there
are a few Scout and Guide boats, but they are not so easy to track
down. You will need an authorisation certificate for the boat - which
with your experience you should have little difficulty obtaining - IF
you can find someione in Scouts, or possibly Guides to asess you.

That is before you take kids on the boat.

The boat will have a license saying how many it can carry, and how
many may sleep overnight - one locally is 13 and 8 respectively.

We have taken all ages on the canal, and our experience is that for
Cubs a short trip is probably best. If you are lucky enough to have a
target destination locally, you could go by canal, visit your
destination and return by canal.

You could double your participants by having some cycle, and some go
on the boat, when you reach your destination, you swap over and go
back to where you started.

It can be fun, but for some kids sitting on a boat birdwatching can be
a drag. So just because you have one or two who find the whole thing
fascinating, don't forget that some will be bored once they have done
the second lock gate.

We did one trip from Wakefield into Leeds and back, However, there are
long straight stretches of river and canal, and the gates are all
automated. So although it was our longest trip, it was our most
boring. Better a shorter trip with lots of lock gates, bridges and
so-on.

If you want to add some real adventure, leave an oily rag on the
exhaust manifold and wonder where the smoke is coming from half an
hour later! It does get everyone doing evacuation drill rather quickly
:-)


Ewan Scott

.

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