Owing to a hefty dose of snow and travel chaos our casual Sunday morning paddle didn't go entirely according to plan. With the help of serendipity it went much better than that :)

Plan A was to drive over to Saxon Mill for a park and play. Before we started we'd already decided that we'd probably abandon that due to the road conditions and the additional driving involved: a paddle from the club sounded like a much more sensible option. However, on the morning Janet and Stuart (both travelling from out of town) decided that prudence was best and they wouldn't be moving their vehicles, so when I arrived at the club I wasn't sure if anybody would be joining me. Fortunately Johnny doesn't know what prudence is and travelled from Coventry anyway. Locals Dave and PK were up for braving the weather too, and so 4 of us were deciding what to do.

We'd discussed the possibility of going kayak sledging, and I'd noticed that my local sledging hill is only about a 500m walk from Rock Mill. The plan, therefore, was to paddle to Rock Mill and get out and walk to the top of the hill where we'd go sledging. A paddle and sledging! What could be better?

Everything outside at the club had a think covering of snow, but the river itself was mostly clear. We availed ourselves of the snowy slope to seal launch in from the top of the bank. I discovered there was a little ice on the river by landing on it at speed. It made a very satisfying noise, and my spine can take one for the team :)

All in, we set off downstream. Paddling downstream, we soon noticed that the amount of ice on the river was increasing. At first it was just icy near the banks and we could keep to a clear channel. Then that channel turned to slush and it was hard going, but navigable. But eventually there was solid ice about an inch thick from bank to bank. It was possible to make headway through this, but it was extremely hard work. The knack seemed to be to charge at it until you were on top of it, then bounce on it until it broke. Back up, rinse, and repeat. We took it in turns to lead the charge, but it soon became clear we weren't going to get far like this. Still wanting to get to Rock Mill, we decided we'd take a walk through Victoria Park and put in at the weir. Easier said than done, though. We were on the river right, and Victoria Park is on the river left. It took us several minutes just to make it to the bank!

We were in luck, and the river was indeed clear at the weir. Dave blazed an intrepid trail through the few metres of ice between the bank and the clear water, then it was a simple paddle to the weir. We all shot the weir, and were happy to see that the (albeit very slowly) moving water was keeping the ice at bay below it too. Rock Mill still seemed possible.

However, it soon became clear that the story was the same below the weir as at the club. Within a few hundred metres, the ice at the banks was encroaching on our clear channel. Then we were in slush again, and eventually we were stuck trying to smash through thick ice. This time, though, there was no nice path to walk along. We were stuck, and it looked like the only thing to do was to turn round and head back.

As luck would have it, though, just at the point were we'd become stuck there was a steep, snow-covered bank on one side. With no better ideas, we decided to check it out. We dragged the boats out and went to have a look. It soon became clear we'd found an excellent toboggan run, with the twist that it had a frozen river at the bottom! The frozen river did present a problem, though. It was frozen bank to bank, and about an inch thick. If somebody ended up underneath it, it would be pretty unpleasant. The solution was to send in Sensible Dave first to break us a bit of a pool. That way, if somebody ended up in the water they'd at least have a nice, big, reasonably clear target. That done, we sent Johnny down to find out if it was safe for people. Luckily it was.

The run was about 20m long and very steep: steep enough that you worried as you got into your kayak that you'd shoot your bolt too early. Once you did get going, there was absolutely no stopping. The steep slope ended at a slight ramp which was about a metre above the river, which meant you got a few feet of clear flight before hitting the 'water'. I say water, but it was still full of ice bergs, and landing on it was a jarring experience. That and the more we went down the run the faster it seemed to get, so every so often somebody would clear the pool and actually land on the ice. Getting out of the river was no mean feat either. There was no good landing spot, and the ice clinging to the weeds at the bank prevented you from getting close while climbing out. I have no idea how, but nobody fell in.

Johnny proved what an amazing shot with a snowball he is. On one of my runs down the hill I had to duck a snowball. His most impressive throw, though, was at Dave. Johnny lobbed the snowball from the river while Dave was on his way down at speed. Dave managed to bat it away with his paddle just moments before taking off. Thinking back, I don't remember why we didn't dunk him!

All too soon it was time to paddle back. Getting back was much easier as we'd already cut a path. Up the weir at Princes Drive (again whilst being pelted with snowballs by Johnny), and out again to walk through Victoria Park. For me, PK and Dave, anyway. Johnny chose to get out on the other bank. This was probably a wise move on his part as he was last to get out, and avoided an all out snowball assault. PK got in where we'd originally got out, but Dave and I decided to ring the changes by getting in from the bank opposite the club. There's a decent slope here and a slight rise before a drop to the river. Not nearly as much fun as our previous spot, but worth a go. We also had the benefit of a push off from a passing lady and her two boys, who thought this was a marvelous idea.

With that, we were back. Plan A had become plan B, which became plan whatever. I'm glad it did!