A tiny adventure

It's been over three weeks since my last canoe outing. I've had several trips planned but they've all been put off because of pain etc. Each day for the last three days I've intended to venture forth but Saturday & Sunday I was exhausted (insomnia and driving down to Gatwick) and yesterday I could hardly move for pain. All of which has left me feeling very frustrated with myself and guilty for not trying harder. Today the weather was not great; cloudy, showery, humid and windy. Enough was enough however and so I loaded my gear in the car, manoeuvred the boat onto the roof bars and off I went.

I badly wanted something more adventurous than last month's easy slip way launch and placid little paddle down the main channel of the Thames so I drove to a put-in I hadn't used before - into the Mill Stream running through the ruins of Abingdon Abbey, and then off for a little explore of the shallow, leafy back water. Hardly the "jungle adventure" I'd been planning down the medieval Swift Ditch (see for someone's else's experiences there to give you an idea), or down the River Ock, shooting weirs and fighting through vegetation choked streams. Common sense got the better of me, after all this is the first solo outing for a long time - it didn't seem like a good idea to put myself in "interesting" situations that might require awkward, improvised portages, swampings etc etc especially when the last little trip revealed little problems like my legs becoming completely (and mercifully temporarily) paralysed after an hour sitting on/kneeling off of the low, supportless seat of a canoe. So a compromise! The Mill Stream involves some relatively trivial problems that I'd have to work out and I've never paddled it before, a tiny adventure.

The chosen put-in looked easy - a fairly gentle slope down to a low bank - but it was deceptive! Submerged rocks meant that once launched I couldn't bring her close in to the bank to clamber in. The gap wasn't huge and to most people wouldn't have been a problem but I'm afraid my numb, weak, clumsy legs weren't up to it so I decided to drop down into the water and climb in from the shallows....only it wasn't as shallow as it appeared!....fortunately no one was looking! Soaked through I paddled away, pushing my way out from under the low branches of a tree. Once clear of it I found myself in a beautiful little stream, what sunlight there was intensified by being glimpsed at the end of the dark tunnel of trees reaching down to its surface. There were shallows to negotiate - the hull grating its way across the unseen river bed - submerged logs, tangles of bushes, the swift cross current of a couple of weirs, low bridges to squeeze under...and the pads and yellow flowers of "fringed" water lilies stirring lazily as my paddle made its way through them...

It was a wonderful afternoon, the only sour note the fact that I had left my camera in my dry-bag and was a little too busy to fish it out to capture the many beautiful shots that presented themselves. I had to content myself with this awful shot of The Kakapo back on dry land (and on her trolley), ready to depart.

I am now really exhausted and, I have to admit, in a lot more pain than expected from such a short trip ( not having Catie paddling in the bow made a BIG difference) but its all in a very good cause :)