OK, I know this was only a short ‘recreational paddle’ but it was quite fun and warrants a short note to mark the occasion.

Paddlers; Stuart, Dawn and Mark.

First thing was a short safety brief. There were only 3 of us and we all pretty much knew our capabilities, or lack of and it was a peer supported trip so we were looking after ourselves. We were going to Rock Mill, shooting the weirs and having  a play on the eddies. When we got to RM we identified the best places to aim for if any of us had to go for a swim, it may have seemed obvious but at least we were all on the same hymn sheet. 

Mark decided to use the new seal launch, or the area put aside for it. It worked well but I figure it needs pepping up a little and the top needs to continue to the eaves of the club house, maybe this should be suggested at the forthcoming AGM? Perhaps not.

So we set off downstream towards the first weir. The water felt cold but the weather was sunny(ish) and quite warm at 8 degs. The pace was quite sedate for the Burn and the GTX but that may have been because they were trying to sit in the stumpy play boats wake. It worked for short while. Interestingly Mark managed to bulldoze the same size wake whether going forwards or backwards quite an achievement I think.

We all shot the first weir without incident, there seemed to be a larger than normal drop on the first step from the top, I guess the water level  must have been lower than what I’m used to.

On the next stretch down to where the Leam and the Avon meet we saw 3 Kingfishers, a large raptor of unknown origin (where is Bill Oddie when you need him?) and all the other usual riverside inhabitants. As we approached the Avon we had to negotiate a plethora of fisherpeople, a competition was on and we weren’t helping. We had a bit of a natter with a few of them and even got told that paddling mid stream wouldn’t have been a problem. It was nice of him to say but probably a view not shared by all his comrades.

We signalled right and started upstream on the Avon.  No Labradors to rescue on this occasion but I did recover a pretty large fishing spinner and several meters of line from a tree. In the true tradition of glasnost I offered the equipment to the nearest  fisherman I could find (well I had to get rid of this huge triple hook somehow). I’m not sure the fisherman’s expression conveyed thanks or frustration because he’d had to reel in his line to allow me to approach – hey ho! Worth noting that the shopping trolley’s continue to do well in the Avon and seem to be procreating slowly but surely, we left them to their own devices. Next time I must bring some WD40 to feed them.

We arrived at Rock Mill and had a scout around. I figured that the river right was probably a little too grabby for us so we played on the other side. The level was up slightly from our last visit a week ago but this had seemed cause a lot more back wash. Mark and myself took it in turns to shoot the weir. Shooting the weir was very straight forward but we felt the brakes being put on as we paddled through the bubbly bits at the base, it really was quite grabby. We didn’t have a camera with us which is a shame really since another opinion or two of the conditions could have been useful.

We all took a roll or two at the weir but no one went for a swim. Most of the time was spent breaking in and out, nattering then more breaking in and out.

The way back to the club was easy, we had the wind with us. Some of us, well mainly one of us, had problems getting out of the boat to get up the weir and in the associated fun and games managed to allow the wind to blow the boat away. It was smartly rescued and we set off on the last leg.

The last 100m turned into a bit of an impromptu race. In the interests of fairness Mark in his bulldozer got a 5 second head start, then Dawn another 5 seconds and then myself. We arrived in order, albeit with closed up gaps and fell out of our boats, literally.

Job done and time for some hot chocolate  J

E&OE  ;)