Guidepost Trust - Day Trip

“I like river” said Kim, as the curtain of willows glided smoothly over the roof of Dawn Treader.

Guideposts Trust had brought a group of nine service users for a six hour trip on Dawn Treader. The plan was to head upstream to Harlow Mill, have lunch in the pub, and chug back for half past four.

Several of the group were keen to steer and help in the locks, and the highly trained professional crew were happy to help them. The weather forecast was not promising, but as it turned out the sentence “we’ve been lucky with the weather,” Getting involved, waiting for the water to fill the lockwas heard on several occasions.

Service user Jonathan Stratton was first up on the helm. Jonathan had done quite a bit of boating before and quickly took to Treader’s interesting steering characteristics.

The picture shows Jonathan in the capable hands of skipper Roger Nesbit.

The locks were ably handled by a team of Jonathan, Chris Ruckoff, Alexis Rathbone and Danny Goddard. The picture below Canal Boat Hire shows Alexis and Danny working their magic on a lock gate.

We arrived at the pub in good time and enjoyed an excellent lunch. The crew were intrigued to discover a landing stage at the back of the pub which might be accessible from below the lock.

Roger went off on a recce.

Back on board the traditional hot drinks were brewed and we set off home. Alexis discovered the hooter and amused us all by honking at unusual moments and watching her friends jump!

Chris, Robert Bailey, Alexis and Kim Newman all had goes at steering. As a result group leaders Christine Abuzaid and Helen Cooley were able to collect lots of seeds for their gardens….

Canal Boat Day TripBack at Burnt Mill on schedule I asked the customers what they thought of the day. “Brilliant”, said Danny. Jonathan gave a two handed thumbs up. And group leader Christine said, “a really fantastic day, the way the crew work with the people really added to the day.”

We look forward to seeing them all again soon!

Steve Swailes

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