Trying

One of the many marvellous things I got in the deal with Lady V is that she came with a paddle board.

I had initially been quite dismissive of these devices because it seemed like round here EVERYBODY had one and EVERYBODY wanted to stand up and float about on water - depending on your sources, there was only ever one person who did that successfully. I think I had dismissed it is a fad and wanted no part of it.

Like so many other things where I have based an opinion on something of which I have zero experience, I was entirely wrong. Having mounted Lady V’s paddle board just prior to the last heat wave, it turned out of course that paddle boarding is actually tremendous fun! Post the trial session, I ummed and ahhhed about getting one for me and the children and did the usual deep dive on Amazon reviews and what not, before finally settling on one that came with a seat. I also treated myself to an accompanying wetsuit.

Having taken delivery of both, the weather promptly turned and the timing didn’t work out to get the board out on the lake and so both have sat unused in my backroom….until this evening!

5pm hit and I was out of the door to get to a spot I knew on Coniston. It was a beautiful evening and on arrival at lakeside in next no time, I was pumped up and out on the lake. As the sun made it’s inevitable journey to hide behind the Old Man of Coniston it was absolutely wonderful to be floating out on the middle of that lake. I can’t say I’m a fan of standing up on the thing (it feels very strange), but I’m happy to kneel or sit or paddle about with everybody else.

I moved against the flow of the lake to begin with and then, as I lay on the board taking some photos let the natural undercurrent caress me back to my starting point. Aside from a slightly panicked moment where the zip failed on the - brand-new - wetsuit and I feared that I might be encased in it forever, (I was able to extricate myself and clad only in a pair of shorts, head back out onto the lake), it was perfect.

I may have found the perfect antidote to the poison of a trying day and am already looking forward to getting out on it again later this week - hopefully in the company of her ladyship!