The Little Trip Boat looking out towards a canal lock

If you’re looking for a mini adventure on your doorstep, look no further than The Little Trip Boat. It’s Aylesbury’s floating retreat at the Waterside Canal Basin, just moments away from the hustle and bustle of the town centre. The warm and friendly Liz runs one and a half hour trips along the canal, and I clambered on to her own cosy narrowboat home, ‘Impetuous’, to chat all about “canal time” over a steaming hot cup of tea…

“The Little Trip Boat is a happy and relaxed place. I like to call being onboard canal time cause life seems to slow down once we set off. It’s a leisurely way of travelling, and we do so much rushing about that people who come on these trips want to wind down and actually appreciate what’s around them. At the moment I’m running trips at 1pm over the weekend, so you can do a spot of shopping in the morning before whiling away the afternoon in peace. Families love it, but we’ve had everyone from babes in arms to the elderly.

The Princes Risborough Community Bus come as part of their day trip schedule which is really nice, and we also get quite a few people on the Autistic Spectrum who find the boat trip calming. Whoever comes onboard can expect a cheerful reception and to be well looked after and engaged with. I always start with a funny team talk just to let people know what will happen during the trip -most have never been on a narrowboat before so it’s the novelty that’s really exciting for them! We travel through 2 locks and let people have a go at working one themselves, which always goes down a treat.

       

The trips have been getting more and more popular ever since, and this year we’ve had a proposal, wedding celebrations, baby showers and hen parties! It’s lovely when you get to be part of someone’s special day or tradition. I’ve hosted a teenager’s birthday party 3 years in a row and I once had a big group of Brownies. That one made me think a bit outside the box as the boat only sits up to 12. We ended up splitting them into two sets of children and had one group running alongside the boat to the canal society! We turn around there, so we just swapped them over on our way back. Two other different memories also stand out for me. The time we helped a groom surprise his wedding guests with a narrowboat convoy to their venue at the Aylesbury Canal Society; and the time we had a lad’s trip, complete with crates of beer and blasting music!

As you can probably tell, no two days or groups are the same, but everyone leaves happy and smiley, saying they’ve had a brilliant day out even though it’s only been an hour and a half! As the weather gets better I’ll be running trips more regularly, on Fridays during Spring and then every day during the school holidays. Keep an eye on my Facebook page for info on different trips, or if you just want to see some great pictures of people enjoying the onboard fancy dressing-up box. We love to smile and wave at passers by as we float past, especially the grumpy ones, so be the one who’s smiling and come join us!