DW 6

In the very early hours of Friday morning, the support crew rose somewhat blearily from bed or floor and got final items ready while Craig carried on dreaming for a while. Eventually, a little like a Chinese puzzle, everything and everyone fitted into the car and rolled South Westish for a 100 or so miles. All the "check in" bits went smoothly with some friendly advice from Ian White & Paul Ralph. (Well you may as well ask the real experts.)

Craig was so eager, that he set off before I was even aware that he was on the water, so his start time was guessed by how far he had got down the canal. (20 seconds actually)

He was running close to his schedule and all the usual frenetic activity of supporting followed as we rambled around the Wiltershire countryside aided by Mark Burton. The SatNav got lost a few times and was quite frustrating as it kept trying to make us go back to an early portage for about 20 miles and I couldn't work out which! Fortunately, Beth mostly didn't get lost as frequently and in the rain & drizzle & mud our progress was mainly towards Newbury. On the canal, Craig's progress was entirely towards Newbury, so we met up at most of the prearranged places, poured carbo-drink down him & poked jam sandwiches in the general direction of his face, some of which found their target, other fed the ducks.

After missing a turning, I casually reversed into a grass bank and modified the back of the car a little - the bank remained unchanged. I didn't like to mention too frequently that the brakes felt rough, but my driving was mostly more sedate than usual. I suspect it was just the ABS working in the slippery mud, but the gears got more hammer than the brakes until I was sure they were going to stop us when required.

Graham Holmes, from Rabbit Independant Paddlers (No. 215) accompanied Craig for much of the day and he deserves special mention, having started 30 seconds ahead of Craig and finished a few minutes behind him. Quite apart from very gentlemanly dropping off the wash and moving round the back to change sides, so we could feed Craig, he finished with a correct time, an important fact as will become evident!

It was rather disappointing and unsettling to find that there was some dispute over Craig's finish time when we got to Newbury, but after registering our disagreement (well mine really, I'd better not blame anyone else) Craig, Beth & Shob went for a high priced Newbury pasta after pitching their tent. I settled down to boil kettles, wash the food & drink containers, mix more drink & do all the missing calculations on the schedule to confirm the time I was certain Craig had done. The "evidence" that confirmed my suspicions about the time problem, was Graham's of 6 hours 6 minutes, which made made nonsense of the one they eventually gave Craig of 6 hours 16, about 10 minutes behind Graham.

The 3 campers returned with tales of Shob's "thrifty" treatment of the pasta bill before turning in and I settled into my sleeping bag in the back of the car, dreaming that people were nicking the paddles off the roof, trying to steal the filthy, slimy, dripping bits of kit like paddling shoes and "camel pack" from where they were draining (drying was out of the question) under the car and messing around with the times & positions in the senior K1 race.

For a more interesting account of Friday & Saturday, come back in a few days time for the film version. Meanwhile, thanks to those mentioned above for the advice, in Mark's case serious running bits, like Crofton locks and Graham for being there. Thanks also go to Beth and Shob for catching the odd photo & video clip between jam sandwiches. (Particularly Beth for the video - see DW 7)