Before setting out for this 12 mile race I was told to 'think of it as an adventure'. Maybe this was more of a premonition than a piece of advice as the race turned out to be a pretty bizarre experience.
Shob and I got off to a good start, staying with Mick and Leanna and doing some good portages. We worked hard and had a laugh as we went.
Problems started on the way back when you have to remember which way you actually came from and Shob and I seem to have an inability to navigate our way along a fairly simple river. Shob seemed to think that all the giant 'all craft this way' arrows had got it wrong and twice insisted on me taking a wrong turn. I did as I was told and if it weren't for some fisher men telling us to go the other way, who knows where we would have ended up. The second time we made this mistake however (it seems stupid in hindsight but i think there was some sort of logic behind it), there was noone to tell us we'd got it wrong. We soon spotted the lock on the bit of river paralel to us that we should have been on. Deciding to use a bit of initiative, I had a great idea that we should climb up a big muddy hill covered in sticks and nettles and portage back over to the correct side. This might have actually worked if it weren't for Shob dropping her paddles in the water and only realising when they had floated out of reach. Shob ran off with my paddles to try and fish hers out of the water, leaving me to drag a K2 full of water up of a pile of stuff which was gradually collapsing under the weight.
Meanwhile, Shob was unable to reach her paddles and asked a man in a K1, who we later learnt was called Malcolm, to get them for her. He attempted to do so and consequently fell in. Leaving the boat, I went to find Shob looking guilty and Malcolm swimming to the other side. We helped him carry his boat and paddles and get back on the water in an attempt to make up for it all and thankfully, he was ok about it. So we went back, got in our own boat and paddled back with this guy to a crowd of confused NKC paddlers who had long since finnished their race with no such adventures.
Oh well, atleast it will be one to remember and an interesting start to 2008. We even came first in the ladies class! Thanks for another fun day :)
Happy new year!
It was a great idea of George's to paddle up to the Toll Bridge in the dark on the evening of the Wilford Bonfire. There were 44 paddlers altogether, from the Pool sessions, Holme Pierrpont Canoe Club, Dave's Casual Paddling sessions plus a handful of club members. Mark & Rachel brought Jonathan who had the grandstand view from the front of the Topo Duo, Gary was in a plastic GP, Ricky & James paddled playboats & we took the open canoes, some hot soup, fresh home-made bread, biscuits and cakes with a few Doritos, plus quilts and groundsheet and made a picnic of it. It was a lovely evening for paddling - even better for watching fireworks and picnicing! Kath & Shob paddled one boat, while Beth and I were in the other. George & Dave rode shotgun and signalled for help with a variety of parachute & hand flares and eventually the Nottingham Princess came to the rescue. Meanwhile, James was the only casulty when a paddle blade took out his tooth in the middle of a Mexican wave. However it did not limit his ability to out-shriek the "screamer" fireworks.
