P is for Punting but it can also stand for Peaceful and Picturesque.
What is punting?
Punting is simply travelling along a river in a flat-bottomed boat (known as a punt) while a guy or gal uses a pole to steer the boat. I guess it’s the English equivalent to one of the gondolas in Venice, although a professional punter (is that what they’re called?) might disagree.
It’s quite a popular thing to do if you visit Cambridge (punting on the Cam) but as we live a lot closer to Canterbury, our punting experience took place on the Great Stour River.
Our trip was booked through Westgate Punts and was very peaceful and relaxing. I kept expecting the Boatman to start singing but then I remembered that this isn’t that kind of place. We saw plenty of nature including ducks, moorhens and their little fluffy baby chicks, as well as beautiful blue dragonflies that kept bobbing around near the boat.
Much to our amusement we also saw a large husky type dog swimming in the river at one point, with me joking about it being the weirdest looking duck I’ve seen. Don’t panic though folks – the dog soon got out of the river and rejoined his owners!
Our boatman also pulled over to pick some blackberries off a bush which he and hubby ate. I was pretty dubious but sounds like they were quite sharp tasting so I didn’t miss out on much there.
I’ve visited Canterbury many times but seeing it from the river showed me parts of it I had never seen before. Our boat ride lasted around 50 minutes and was a pleasant way to start the day!
If you enjoyed this then you might like some of my other alphabet dating adventures, which you can find right here.