Back in the days when councils had money to spend on leisure activities Lancashire County Council bought Tower Wood on the shores of Windermere (then in the county of Lancashire and now in Cumbria). My colleague's husband works there and I was told about the Water Days last weekend. We made it on the Sunday and it cost us each £6 for a day of trying out various activities on the lake.
As it was a wet activity I couldn't take a camera on the water which was a real shame. My daughter first of all headed off in a one person dinghy and was soon getting the hang of sailing. My son and I went out in a double canoe that I was assured was very hard to capsize! He wasn't too keen on this mode of travel so made me come back in quite quick..
Then we went on a funboat which he was steering and I did very little! There wasn't much wind so we had to be towed back to shore...my son really loved the sailing.
We queued for ages for the metal Canadian canoes then neither child wanted a turn! So I joined the queue to be taken out to one of the larger sailing vessels whilst the children paddled in the water. Eventually we were taken out to The Legend in the safety speed boat:
This was one of my favourite parts of the day as I got to steer her backwards and forwards across the lake! I could have spent all day out on her.. Instead I once again queued up to go on the Funboat with my son at the tiller. My daughter opted for a second go in kayaks - her favourite activity of the day despite (or because of) capsizing and getting a swim!
Sadly the day ended and we had no more time to go out on the water. My daughter now wants a kayak and my son a Funboat so they had better start saving up! I'd love to encourage them to continue making use of our fabulous water sports up here so hopefully I can find some way round the cost..
