I love going for a walk along the canal. It always brings back happy memories of going on a narrowboating holiday with hubby in our pre-children (and pre-marriage!) days. We keep saying that one day we’ll go again with the girls. We’ve yet to really make any firm plans to do so. In the meantime though, I just enjoy going for walks along the canal with my girls instead.
With Jessica at school, it was just me and Sophie enjoying a walk together. She likes seeing all the boats moored up along the canal and pointing out the ropes that “stop them floating away”. A walk with Sophie is never quite complete unless there are dandelions to pick along the way. As usual she managed to gather a small dandelion bouquet along the way!
There were also lots of bindweed flowers along the tow path. I used to call them “Granny-pop-out-of-beds” as a child. I showed Sophie how to squeeze the base of the flower to make it pop out. She loved it so much that she wanted to stop and pop every flower within reach which made for quite a leisurely pace!
Naturally when we reached the canal bridge, we had to stop for a game of Poohsticks. Sadly it doesn’t work very well with the canal as there is no tide to help the stick drift under the bridge. I think half the fun for Sophie is just throwing the stick in though!
We stopped to take a closer look at the canal itself. There were water lilies to see, snails and damselflies on the lily pads and we spotted a pond skater skimming the surface of the water.
I had hoped to find a couple of geocaches en route. The one we passed on our walk wasn’t very easy to find though. Trying to hunt whilst holding a little hand and making sure a little person doesn’t go too close to the water can be challenging! I gave up quite quickly – it’s one to look for on another day instead!
This year we’re taking part in #30DaysWild – a challenge from the Wildlife Trusts to get outside each day in June, do something wild and connect with nature.
Looks like a lovely walk. Glad Sophie managed not to fall in! Do you have another year before she starts school? My Emily starts in September and we are rapidly running out of our final days when it is just the two of us 🙁
#countrykids
Thanks Karen. We’ve still got another year before Sophie starts. Hope you enjoy those last few days of having time just with Emily x
Looks like a lovely stroll #countrykidd
Thank you Rachel 🙂
This looks like a lovely place to take a walk, I bet Sophie loves walking along the canals taking in the scenery! There aren’t many canals around here to follow but there are some lovely rivers to explore, that used to be a favourite of my lot. Sophie looks like she really enjoyed your walk by the canal, such a happy smile in the last photo.
Thanks for sharing with me on #CountryKids.
It’s lovely to explore rivers and canals – there’s so much to see. Sophie loved this walk – next time I want to further along the tow path as we were limited with time on this walk 🙂
Oh canals are fabulous places to take a stroll. There is normally so much going on to keep the little ones interested. We particulalry love it when we come across a lock and someone is working it. Mich x
I love watching boats going through locks too 🙂
lovely photos again, I’ll have to go back and read all about your #30dayswild, it looks great!
we live just by a canal too, we actually live in the city centre & having the canal – Sheffield basin – just 5 minutes away is lovely, doesn’t feel like you are in a city at all. my son gets mesmerised by the boats, and there’s ducks too! #countrykids
Thank you, we loved doing #30DaysWild. It’s lovely to live near a canal and to be able to watch boats and ducks 🙂
I’ve always wanted to holiday on a canal boat but was to worried about being so close to the water with my more then inquisitive children! #countrykids
That’s something that worries me too – I think we will probably go with the in-laws so we have some extra pairs of hands (and eyes!) 🙂