“I want to go to the very end of the canal”, my five year old Alice said to me one day in spring. I thought about it some and decided why not give it a try and see how we get on. In the lead up to the trip we talked about the distance we would be cycling, what we might see along the way, the bits we were looking forward to. The day before our adventure began we packed a bag, two spare sets of clothes each, some PJs, underwear and travel sized toiletries.
Finally the day of our trip had arrived, we had a big breakfast, popped snacks and bottled water into the backpack and off we went. It was a speedy start to the day with excitement running high. Along the way we met so many wonderful people, Alice learnt about how the locks on the canal worked, we stopped to chat to people here and there for breaks. I was really moved to see the support people showed, often clapping Alice on up the steep hills, offering us snacks and joining in with our excitement.
When Alice was starting to hit her limit we would plan our final stop for the day and sleepover. It was a trip of adventure, connection, endurance, and definitely fun and excitement. For anyone looking to do something connective with their child/ren I would definitely recommend hopping on a bike and seeing where you end up. This will be the start of a new tradition for us, a different cycling adventure each summer.
This post was written by Jade Belton
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