Well listeners. This year has so far seen a few new Swindon experiences for me. One of them being the subject of this post – taking a trip on Dragonfly on the Wilts & Berks canal.
Earlier in the summer I visited the Secret Garden in Queen’s Park for the first time and got a ride on the miniature railway at Coate Water. And today I’ve achieved another first with a trip in the delightful Dragonfly – a narrow boat that ploughs a watery furrow along a stretch of the Wilts and Berks Canal.Â
And should you wonder why it’s ‘Wilts & Berks’ rather than ‘Wiltshire & Berkshire’ wonder no more. It seems that a one-time lazy draughtsman couldn’t face the effort of writing the county names in full several times over. So he shortened them. The document got passed into law in that form and bingo!
Swindon is mid point of the waterway which linked the Thames at Abingdon with the Kennet & Avon Canal near Melksham.
About Dragonfly
I’ve written about Dragonfly in both Secret Swindon and my Born Again Swindonian’s guide book – thus I’m not going into too much detail here. But I will observe that Dragonfly is a narrow boat rather than a barge. A barge, broadly speaking, is a flat-bottomed vessel. They’re capacious – to carry freight or passengers – and generally get pushed or towed.
Purpose built for the Wilts & Berks canal trust, Dragonfly carries a maximum of 12 passengers with access for one wheelchair. A gang of around 20 volunteers operate the pleasure trips either crewing or skippering.
The Trust’s patron, the Duchess of Cornwall, named the boat on 8th September 2010. That date happens to be my birthday. I share the date with Swindon Battle of Britain hero, Harold Starr and Dragonfly’s Christening date. What illustrious company I keep.
The Wilts & Berks Canal Trust
As the trust’s website explains, there’s much more behind the boat trips than having a jolly time messing about on the water:Â http://www.wbct.org.uk/boat-trips
‘The boat trips have a number of important roles to play for the Trust. They raise awareness of the project and provide local people with a way of enjoying their area from the waterway. Without regular boat traffic the canal will quickly become over grown and become neglected. In addition the boat trips hope to generate new members as well as funds for the Trust.’
Upstream/downstream
Thanks to Chris and his crew member, Cyan, I had a lovely time floating gently along the canal. It really is the pleasantest of ways to spend an hour. And you get a coffee. Phew!
We were joined by a very friendly – for that read ‘hoping for some bread’ – cygnet who came swimming up if you so much as looked him/her. And how do you tell? In either case he/she will be a very fine swan indeed before too long.
But cygnets, swans, water voles and herons are not the only items of interest on the trip. There’s much to look out for when taking a trip on Dragonfly.
There’s a lovely stone bridge rebuilt and restored by volunteers in the year 2000. Yes listeners – Swindon has it’s very own millennium bridge!
There’s also some gorgeous old railings where it appears that, whoever welded them, had a sense of humour because they worked snails and mice into the railings.
Photos below courtesy of Daniel Thuysbaert.
Activities on board and souvenirs
As well as the ‘ordinary’ trips such as I went on today there’s Santa trips. And you can hire the boat for pirate parties. I really want a pirate party! And of course you can buy souvenirs including the ubiquitous mug and tea towel.
