If you were to compare the character of a river to a film then our last trip on the River Avon would be a Tarantino film: the setting and our surroundings were beautiful, the characters were quirky but the action was brutal, uncompromising and just that little bit too long. This week’s trip was more of a Spielberg adventure: it started fast, it was unexpectedly good and we went home feeling that we had definitely got our moneys worth.

As all good things do it started with a…

It seemed like a good idea at the time. We’re having a lovely late Indian summer and it would be criminal to let it go by. So we didn’t. No other criminal acts were committed either. If any law enforcement officer were to look over these reports at a later date I would like to place on record that I make a lot of what I write up and anyway you can’t prove anything because we weren’t there and we didn’t do it. What was it anyway?

I also want to point out, early on, that…

Returning to the Severn with Roger in charge was always going to be risky. The river is notoriously difficult to measure, mileages can double overnight depending on which of Jodi and Roger is wearing the contact lenses. So it wasn’t without a certain nervousness that we gathered at the club. The usual suspects rolled steadily in. Roger and Jodi, Tess and Ben, Dave Shep, Carl, Kristyna, Neil, Dave Mac (on his first trip out with the renegades) and new member, Simon were all gathered and…

It is a truth universally acknowledged that when Roger organises a trip you are going to be travelling further than originally advertised. The survivors of the infamous Severn trip last year will testify to the bottom aching weariness that slowly takes over your body, seeping in through the tight cuffs of your cag, flowing down through your shoulders, cramping your feet in the tight confines of your kayak. The draggled remnants of the party that went on the Dove tour who limped back into…