Adventure over - for now.

The nights are drawing in, the Summer is over, School holidays finished and normality is returning to families everywhere and I'm feeling it more than most this year as the past 6 weeks we have been on a mammoth adventure, packing a bag full of clothes and only a few essentials, taking the dog and three children and leaving behind all home comforts, electrical gadgets and throwing caution to the wind and piling our family into a 20ft cruiser on the canals, which became our home for the summer. With only a small budget not big enough to stretch to world wide travel, but a gusto to explore and see new things we were ready to experience something new, already familiar with making the most out of the ordinary we were convinced we would have a great time, despite the small size and limited appliances.

Total madness some might say, how on earth will you all manage? what will you do when it rains? can you cook decent food in there? what about  toilets and showers?

But these things didn't worry us and to be honest we decided to not plan a great deal, not spend too long worrying about the what ifs and where abouts and just give it a go, if we were all ready to kill each other after a couple of days then we would return home,  with the thought that the great outdoors will be entertainment enough, and longing for some quality 'away from it all' time together everything else seemed not to matter.

With no set plan or time scale, we initially intended to get through a week, packing the cupboards with as much as we could fit  as our budget would not stretch to pub meals, a 2 ringed gas cooker with a grill was our kitchen, but from previous camping holidays we were attuned to making gormet meals with minimal facilities.

As the days passed we all fell into the swing of living on board, the space was not an issue, there was room inside the cabin for the boys to spread out their box of Lego and create amazing adventures of their own, whilst Chloe could sit outside happily doodling the sights we saw. Sleeping was cosy but not too much of a squeeze and it was really refreshing for computers to be a background thought as the childrens imagination came alive as they played under bridges and splashed in streams marvelling at the insects and creatures they saw.

The weather was a real mixed bag as we travelled, we had the storms and days where we didn't venture out of the boat at all and the scorching hot heat on others, neither caused too much of an issue, the Wind and rain meaning we couldn't move far but pens and paper entertained us all drawing comics and making puzzles for each other passed the rainy hours.

Then when the sun shined we worked locks and went through tunnels.

Saw wildlife and animals and chatted to hundreds of friendly people, other boaters with stories to tell or passes by on the tow path all intrigued by our journey and ability to be managing without all the creature comforts everyone is so used to.

The days passed into weeks and we continued to enjoy our trip, using the British waterways facilities shower blocks and toilet disposal at regular set out locations along the canal made the journey comfy.
Stopping off to visit local towns to catch up with the real world in library's using the Internet access to keep on top of things, sampling the local farm shop products set out at locks and relishing the freedom away from computer screens and television.

We travelled all the way along the Staffs and Worcester Canal and then up the Shropshire Union turning off onto the Llangollen branch into Wales ,managing to find petrol stations close enough to refill without too much trouble.

The views are indescribable along the canal, natural beauty and it was a brilliant way to unwind from the everyday worries  finishing each day watching the sunset before snuggling down worn out from the days activities.

We continued cruising along and reached the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct a breathtaking stream in the sky, the mammoth structure carries the Llangollen canal over the River Dee a huge 38 meters in height and over 1000ft long it is the tallest and longest Aqueduct in Britain and is worthy of its World Heritage site status, we moored in the Basin for a couple of nights so we could take in the sights around the beautiful area.

I could of happily stayed cruising the countryside for longer but reality calls, so we are home our adventure over, but our thirst for living with nature on your doorstep, learning the lessons only life can teach and seeing sights worthy of dreams is ever present, I have so many photos to look through and memories I want to record but for now it's back to the reality of school uniform shopping and answering emails which were left to one side and dreaming of the next break away.