Owners of canal trail boats built by Wiltshire’s Wilderness Boats will converge on the Kennet and Avon Canal, near Devizes, over the May Day weekend to mark their club’s 25th birthday.
Wilderness Boat Owners Club members will come from as far as Norfolk and Devon as 18 boats gather at Pewsey Wharf on Friday, May 2, to begin the cruise along the canal to Devizes for a pub buffet on the Saturday.
On Sunday, a group descent of the Caen Hill lock flight will be followed by the club’s 25th anniversary meal at the Barge Inn at Seend.
Manufacture of Wilder-ness trail boats began in South Wales in the late 1960s. Production later moved to Corsham and, although new ones are no longer built, the company is based at Seming-ton Dock, where the cruise ends on the Monday.
Nearly 400 craft were built between 1969 and 2001 and are in use throughout the UK and in Europe. The club was started in 1989 by Audrey Baker, of Kent.
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