Helen Annetts, plus crew Wayne, Charlie and Joe Statham, navigate the city’s canals.
What better way to spend a sunny Easter Sunday than aboard the high seas of Birmingham! It was with some delight, and a small amount of trepidation, we set off to try out Birmingham’s newest attraction to the canals – GoBoat
There was A LOT of debate on route as to who would Captain the boat. On arrival, it turned out that you need to be 18 to drive the boat however, it being the day after his 10th birthday, it seemed only fair that the youngest took control of the Captain’s Hat – you don’t have to be driving the boat to be in charge.
After an initial health and safety briefing and a reminder that on the canals we were basically at the bottom of the pecking order so everyone from canal boats to canoes gets right of way, we were off! The excellent GoBoat team joined us for the first part of the journey to offer some one on one training and positive reinforcement as we navigated through the first tunnel, past the Tap & Spile toward the Mailbox.
Turns out, as excellent as the one on one advice was, the minute our guide left the boat, I completely forgot everything I had just been told so a very slight breeze plus an inability to recognise my left from my right, backwards from forwards meant we were literally going in circles, to the amusement of the very many people enjoying the city centre on a sunny bank holiday weekend.
Step forward our new Captain – Wayne Statham – who had initially feared sea sickness (yes, really, on the canal) – who took over the driving and steering, leaving the rest of us to the far simpler task of navigation.
There are two routes you can take on your GoBoat adventure and we opted for the route that took us out to the University of Birmingham. In theory in two hours you’ve time to do both routes – the other takes you on the Soho loop, but we didn’t maintain our four miles (knots) per hour speed so our trip took longer.
The journey out of town took us under bridges, alongside the train line and gradually became really quite green and lush! We were reminded how long it had been since we had taken our bikes along the canal and that you don’t have to travel far in Birmingham to find green spaces.
We sailed along past moored canal boats (only nudging one or two), enjoyed some excellent graffiti (whilst making a point of not deciphering the swears) and all enjoyed the oohs, aahs and water dripping as we went through the longest tunnel on our route – the Edgbaston Tunnel. We also got the Brummie buzz of spotting the BT Tower as we made our return journey – looking much more like we knew what were doing as we went back past the Tap & Spile.
Everyone is friendly when you are on a boat, there was much waving to bikers on the canal towpath and to the people pottering at the end of their gardens on the other side as we got nearer to the University. And, to the children’s embarrassment an extended exchange with a group hanging out under one of the bridges enabled me to prove my point that if you talk to enough people on a day out you will eventually speak to someone from West Yorkshire.
It really was a lovely couple of hours, the boat was spacious for four (it takes up to eight), it was steady once someone actually was in control of it, and the table meant there was plenty of space for snacks and drinks. We would all recommend it as a fun activity – for families as a special treat (for us the cost would mean this wouldn’t be a casual everyday activity), or for enjoyment with a group of friends as a way to get a different view of the city and to scratch the itch of wanting to sail the high seas, in your home town, just for the afternoon.
We took the trip as guests of GoBoat. Information and boking details can be found here.