‘Look dad, swan up ahead!’ goes my daughter’s excited cry pointing from the front of the boat as we glide along the canal at dusk with the early evening sun disappearing behind the trees.
Only hours into our five-day adventure along the Shropshire Union Canal and she has already got up close to horses, a field of sheep, cows and a dragonfly on the bank.
Britain has 3,000 miles (4,828km) of canals that twist and turn through sometimes secret landscapes.