Travel Group Meeting Thursday, 26 November 2015
Annette McLachlan was our speaker at the U3A Travel Group Meeting this month telling us about her amusing experiences on a long boat sailing on the canals in Britain with four other women!! They started in Bunbury sailing down the Cheshire – Llangollen canal.
Annette was the only member in the group who had any boating experience much to the amusement of the men standing around who were convinced that they wouldn’t go far before needing help. She was determined to show those men that she knew a thing or two about boating. Annette took the helm for the whole journey and it didn’t take her long before she was able to steer the boat through the locks without bumping into the sides. There is very little room either side of the boat when in the locks. On the way they went through 21 Locks, under 100 bridges, through 3 tunnels and over 2 aqueducts.
The ages of the group ranged from 44 – 72 years and they were a group of ladies from her Scottish dancing club.
We saw some spectacular scenery of their journey. The boats do not go fast – walking pace only so it is a very leisurely way to enjoy the country-side.
At one point they ran out of both electricity and gas and had to phone the hire company. Annette was able to give the guy her precise location which meant he could come with supplies very quickly. It turned out the gas bottles hadn’t been checked before they departed!
Cheshire Cat's Holiday Boat Silver Moon going over the Aqueduct
To fill in some time before our morning tea break Annette showed us some photographs and spoke about a few different sites in and around London she visited. She saw a few of the markets around the area including the Borough Market where the likes of Jamie Oliver is known to shop and also various museums. Another place visited was Greenwich where she saw the Cutty Sark which was built in 1869.
We had morning tea a little later today as we enjoyed a shared Christmas Lunch together. This was a lovely way to finish our meetings for the year.