Posted on: May 19th 2016
On Thursday 12th May Forms 5 and 6 went on an astonishing trip on the Floating Classroom where we had a trip on the canal from Little Venice to The Camden Locks. We went on the coach to Little Venice and we saw many unique and colorful boats brightening the canal. We headed to our boat, which was blue and decorated nicely inside. We all boarded and made ourselves comfortable and met our guide Katie, who gave us a brief safety explanation and the route in which we were taking and what buildings we were passing by. Then the skipper started up the boat and we went on the front and back deck and looked out for different types of birds on the avery like canards, swans, mallards, geese, and tufted ducks.
We continued on through the lush wildlife of regents park until we entered a tunnel. Little did we know how spooky it would be. When we were outside of the tunnel it didn’t look very long, but when we entered it seemed to stretch out endlessly before our eyes! It was almost pitch black apart from the little light coming from the end of the tunnel and from the headlights of the boat. There were cobwebs dangling from the ceiling and it was as if one was going to drop on our heads any minute… We were told that in the past the boats didn’t have motors so horses had to pull the boats, and when it came to a tunnel there would be two men called the leggers who would use two long sticks and they would push them against the walls to move the boat along. Eventually we saw the light properly and came out of the tunnel and it was a relief for a lot of us. We then came out to London Zoo. We were able to see the water hogs and the vibrant parrots and birds in their immense cage! We continued on through ‘Blow Up Bridge’ which was a bridge that had a story behind it, and as the Form 6’s had already been on the Floating Classroom we had already heard the story, so we told everyone else about it on board. A brief summary of it is this. It is officially known as Macclesfield Bridge, but it got it’s nickname of Blow up Bridge when a barge carrying gunpowder blew up underneath it in 1874. Although the bridge was destroyed, its supporting columns were saved and repositioned the 'wrong' way round when it was rebuilt, and that is why it is well known - one of the columns has been built the wrong way round! Then we headed to the Camden Lochs, which was probably the most exciting part! So we approached these big gates and they opened up slightly to let the water go to the other side, and as they did so we went lower and lower by the second so the water on each side was even. The gates opened and we went through, and then it happened again on the other side. The gates closed, and then opened slightly and the water seeped through, but this time we were rising on the water, and we went up until the water was even again, and then the gates opened and we went back through the gate, and then we stopped for the best part of the day. Lunch! We scoffed our food down and went back through the canal and past all of the attractions. I really enjoyed this trip and hope that the future Form 5’s and 6’s do to!
Marissa Form 6