The Alternative Jubilee River Pageant

We were camping near Rydal Water in the Lake District over the Jubilee holiday weekend. We’ve camped there several times over the last five years with a group of friends. A couple of years ago, the group of children made bark and leaf boats to sail on the river running through the campsite. This year, they were very keen to build more!

The final flotilla consisted of ‘tall ships’ with leaves for sails and smaller boats held together with tape. Outriggers proved vital to minimise boats getting stuck on their journey. As this was the Jubilee weekend, boats were decorated with Union Jack flags, beads and flowers – very festive!

The boats were ceremoniously launched down a rock ramp one by one, and timed to a finish point to see which one was the fastest. Big is not necessarily best and our mammoth effort had a stately journey downstream.

The end result was several pairs of wet feet, one lost boat sailing happily downstream and lots of happy children!