Our Inland Summer 9. ‘The Boys’ Journals’

One of the surprises of our recent trip inland was the Boys’ sudden fascination with pens, pencils and little notebooks. During our time away they diligently recorded our various activities in their own mini journals. It wasn’t something I’d suggested but an activity that came from them. The result is a very different record of our inland journey, as I hope the following images show.

Their mini-journals seem to divide into five distinct themes – trains / lists / maps / observation drawing / plans & designs. Here are a few pages from their books.

TRAINS

Boats and trains? It’s such a natural pairing, we regularly use trains to re-connect with the boat when it’s on an outlying mooring.

As far as the Boys are concerned trains are the best thing since a sliced bread, including sliced bread! The close association between canals and railways, with them often using the same surveyed ground to avoid obstructions, isn’t lost on the Boys and they eagerly look over every hedge hoping to catch sight of a train. A ‘local’, an express or freight train, each one delights them and causes them to stop whatever they’re doing to simply stare in awe…

No, we didn’t actually see a steam train but Joe was in a ‘What if we did?’ frame of mind when he drew this…

LISTS

A list of boats we passed and challenges we faced one sunny morning…

A list that pretty much sums up a towpath walk, though worrying no boats caught Fin’s imagination!

Joe became fascinated by the Nicholson Guide and happily copied down information he found there.

Joe’s bridge checklist. ‘Just in case any have gone missing.’ The numbers only being added when we actually passed under a specific bridge – ‘…and no cheating!’

MAPS

The Boys used the Nicholson to create these wonderful sketch maps of our evening moorings. On this one for example there’s a sketch of the village church, and a note that we’d bought jam at the Wharf Shop!

On this one the spidery black markings are Joe’s symbols for the camp fire we’d made last time we passed this way, and the location of stick dens the Boys had built…

Such neat writing and concentration from a holidaying five year old…

Part of the route back to Banbury… Fin had picked up the icon used in the Nicholson to denote a lock.

OBSERVATION DRAWINGS

PLANS & DESIGNS