In a series to celebrate XPENG’s partnership with new movie A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, four writers share memories of the journeys that made them who they are.
Stepping on to the navy and black painted narrowboat that would be our family home on the Kennet and Avon canal for the week, a jolt of nostalgia hits me as I realise that I haven’t set foot on a canal boat since I was 12, around the age my kids are now, when I took a similar trip with my parents.
Today, we drove from home to the boatyard at Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire, as I’d done with my folks all those years ago, though back then our clunky car ran on diesel and not an electric battery as modern vehicles like ours do now. To a soundtrack of Abba, my mum’s favourite, playing in the tape deck, we would have found our way using a crumpled old map and road signs, rather than simply typing the postcode of our destination into the car’s touchscreen, which also plays whatever music we wish for.
Things feel much easier now – our three-hour journey from Brighton is a breeze with no wrong turns or unintended detours. The A-Z, while wonderfully nostalgic, would be a nightmare now. Instead, our satnav constantly offers up the fastest route. Plus, everyone gets a chance to play their most-loved songs on the car stereo, which keeps the boys happy in the backseats.
But as my kids rush giddily around the cabin, the gentle sway of the water when we set off further unlocks this core childhood memory – and I feel a palpable sense of awe and excitement for the voyage ahead.
Until we hit our first lock that is. My husband is steering, the kids are bouncing around on deck and I’m trying to jump on to the bank without stepping into the water as I famously did when I was 12 – a funny memory my parents joked about for years but not something I feel like repeating 20 minutes into our journey.
I make it across but have no idea how to use the windlass to open the gate paddles, which control the sluices, despite watching a video tutorial online before our trip. Did my parents somehow just work it out!? Luckily a kind lady offers to help and spare my blushes, and we pass through the lock without incident.
As a kid I loved everything about our canal boat – the bunk beds (were they, was I, really so small?), the portholes, the novelty of having dinner on the boat, but also being able to moor up beside a pub for lunch and feel like some kind of intrepid explorer of inland waterways.
When we tie the boat up at a pub for a bite with our kids they seem similarly thrilled, though stop short of sharing my passion for a ploughman’s lunch – a strong memory from the childhood trip – instead preferring to order burger and chips.
I’d forgotten how slowly you travel – narrowboats only go at 4mph – which leaves plenty of time for relaxation, contemplation and soaking in nature all around. The canal is lined with high trees on either side, and we see herons, dragonflies, lines of little ducklings out for a paddle, and swans. Did my dad really once promise that we could get a dog if I leapt into the water and caught a swan?
My youngest’s favourite spot to unwind is on the bow of the boat, where he sits cross-legged gazing at the water ahead, a place I used to love sitting too.
Who was that girl back then? I can remember the headline traits of my personality – I had lots of energy and enjoyed riding my bike and running around in fields, not so different from today – but what was I really like? What did I think about from moment to moment on that narrowboat holiday? Did I revel in the tranquillity, stop to swoon at sunsets, or pause to consider the dappled light coming through the trees as I do now? Or was I too busy thinking about school dramas or whatever pop star I had a crush on that week? Can we ever truly know our former selves?
Up ahead we see a rope swing on a tree beside the canal, so we let the boys get off to give it a go. Another memory flashes up – of a rope swing over a river and my dad joining a queue of teenagers to take his turn only for the stick of wood to break when he jumps on, sending him crashing into the water below. He styles it out, pretending it’s part of the plan and that he hasn’t scratched his legs on the rocks. But I still teased him about it for years, especially when he brought up my fall into the canal.
Our week may have had less in the way of mishaps – except when I was steering, my kids would argue – but it was still rich in laughter and special family time, and it felt like an epic adventure far from civilisation, as my childhood trip did back then. But when we got home and I traced our route on the map on my phone, I saw that we had barely travelled any distance at all and were close to roads and towns throughout. I decide not to mention that to my kids – I don’t want to spoil the romance of their recollection of our time there, however that might look to them in the future.
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
Some doors bring you to your past. Some doors lead you to your future. And some doors change everything. Sarah (Margot Robbie) and David (Colin Farrell) are single strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and soon, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves on A Big Bold Beautiful Journey – a funny, fantastical, sweeping adventure together where they get to re-live important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present … and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures.
XPENG, the high-tech global mobility brand, collaborates with A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, the highly anticipated romantic adventure, only in cinemas 19 September 2025. Together they share the spirit of discovery and transformation through cutting-edge technology, reflecting on defining moments and life-changing adventures. Just as the film’s protagonists Sarah and David embark on a fantastical journey that allows them to revisit pivotal moments from their past, XPENG’s ultra-smart vehicles are designed to take drivers further – enabling your very own big, bold, beautiful journey. Discover more
