PRIZE WINNER ON BOARD

You may recall that just before Christmas we ran a competition to suggest a name for our new hire boat. The prize was a free short break on board the named boat - the name chosen was Aqua Vita which was suggested by Philippa of Sandhurst, Berkshire. Well, Philippa and her family arrived for their short break last Saturday. Their destination for the weekend was Great Haywood but as they were complete novices I took them in the opposite direction towards Fradley Junction so i could demonstrate the workings of a lock. I do this with all novices as our nearest lock going north is around 31/2 hours cruise away and a very long walk back for me! Unfortunately the winding hole at Fradley is at the junction with the Coventry Canal which means that three locks have to be descended before the boat can be turned back in the right direction. The junction can get busy and there's always audience of pub goers outside The Swan waiting for you to make a complete hash of it, so I stayed on board to help guide Richard (Philippa' Husband) through the manoeuvre. He did a grand job of the turn but we just missed out on soaking couple of bystanders with our prop wash (it was pretty breezy) better luck next time! Above - Presenting Philippa with a bottle of Champagne to 'Officially' launch Aqua Vita. Philippa and family arrived back at the marina on Monday evening and although the weather was a bit dreary they still had a wonderful time. This was there first time on a narrowboat and first time exploring the canal network, and they remarked on how friendly and helpful canal folk are. I think they may have been bitten by the infamous Canal Bug (and no I'm not talking about Weils Disease!). It was nice that the prize was won by a family that until now wouldn't have considered our canals as a holiday destination - more folk to spread the good word about our canal network! Many thanks for your suggestion Philippa and here's to 'Aqua Vita' plus many more 'Water Life' boats in the future! Justin.