1st Lapworth Guides had a wonderful weekend on Tuptonia. As we are local, we were already familiar with the canals near us, but it was fantastic to see our village from the water – somehow things looked a bit different! We boarded Tuptonia on a rainy Saturday morning, but once we got underway, the sun came out and the showers cleared (generally – it was the 1st of April after all!) The girls loved working the locks – some were more able than others at the start, but with lots of practice and some brute force, all the Guides had a go and four of them got a system in place for running ahead to prepare the next lock in advance of Tuptonia’s arrival. Some of the Guides took the helm and showed their skill in manoeuvring the boat too.
We continued on the Stratford canal, through Lowsonford towards Preston Bagot, where we moored for the night. After dinner, we held a Murder Mystery party, raising funds for Macmillan and all the girls played their part wonderfully. There were costumes and accessories and drinking sparkling grape juice from wine glasses really made the Guides feel grown up! Once we had established who had done the dastardly deed, our attentions turned to some more traditional Guiding: square lashing, snake lashing, clove hitches and reef knots. Using lolly sticks we each made a mini raft to hold a tea light candle and then we went outside in the dark to float them on the water. It was so pretty – and all of them floated (even the one nicknamed Titanic 2, as it didn’t look much, but it did the job!) The Guides then bedded down for the night in their bunks.
The next morning we got underway, while a full English breakfast was being cooked and the girls started to make their nature bracelets. They each had a length of duct tape wrapped round their wrists (with the sticky side outwards, of course), and then picked flowers, leaves and pretty bits of natural flora to decorate them, as they went along the tow path. The weather was glorious for our return home and once again everyone got a chance to man the locks, and steer the boat.
We arrived back at Tuptonia’s mooring on time (all the locks were in our favour, fortunately) and after thoroughly cleaning out the boat, the girls went home, exhausted, but happy!
