Boxing Day 2006
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A few hardy soles decided to brave the Boxing Day weather and go for as paddle along the River Yeo to blow away some of the cobwebs caused by Christmas excesses. There were about 15 of us with a couple of new faces - Nat, who received a new kayak and kit from Santa, and a friend of Angus. We met in the car park opposite the Ship and Castle pub. The banks into the water were the greatest obstacle requiring much slipping and sliding down a 3 foot muddy river bank into even muddier water. A few with short boats successfully managed seal launches, although Pawel lost his helmet and marks were deducted from his cool entry. Alistair caused a stir, when he said he'd applied superglue to the crack he was sitting on to keep it watertight, until he explained his old kayak was in need of repair.
We first paddled up-stream but eventually came to a halt at a large weir. As it was a bit like a large pool we decided to have a game of polo while some tried sinking their boats by filling them under the weir unsurprisingly successfully. The polo game temporarily halted when some bright spark wanted to watch the ball cascade down the weir only to discover the ball actual got stuck in the weir and just bobbed round and round. The game eventually resumed once Nigel managed to rescue the ball with his paddle.
Next we paddled downstream. This was made a little difficult due to the water level only being a couple of centimetres under the bridge where it had a concrete floor. There was some flow down either side but only a small amount more but enough to scrape by. One side was blocked by a dead sheep (not to be mistaken for Alistair with his fleece lined flying helmet to keep out the cold). Nat decided to test the sheep as a brake to slow his speed and test the pointedness of his canoe. Fortunately, the sheep did not get stuck on the end of Nat's kayak like a kebab and he bounced off nicely. We paddled for about half a mile then turned around, saving the rest for another day. What looked like a gentle flow on the way downstream felt like a roaring torrent when we had to paddle back upstream after a mornings play but we managed it eventually and probably lost some Christmas stuffing in the process. The gentle paddle was then followed by getting out and if getting in was hard, climbing muddy banks was tougher still.
All in all, everyone had a great time and felt much better for the exercise.