My granddad and uncles are all sailors and have worked with boats either in the military, commercially or building them. So naturally they built a fantastic wooden catamaran that could be collapsed so it would fit on a single trailer, it provided two berths to sit or sleep in and a canvas at the front that you could lay on and touch the water.

I was fortunate enough to sail it fairly regularly during my childhood, both under motor and wind power. I'm sad that I never got to go across to France with him and his friend, but we would travel up and down river and have some great memories out of it: like getting stuck in the mud for hours because I followed their exact directions, leaving them to get muddy trying to free the boat whilst I managed to escape spotless.

Or the time I was in charge of the dinghy and had to rescue a girl who had fallen off a wall into the water, I completely forgot about that until he reminded me a few months ago.

There's some great people to meet out sailing, it really is like having a little house on the water and getting invited onto somebody else's boat for a cup of tea puts a fun twist on going over to the neighbours house. My wife and I would like to try out canal boats, maybe that could lead to hiking and camping throughout the country.