Touring

Night Paddling

Paul Wainwright

I've actually made some progress and certainly Its been an interesting paddling year for me - although it might not look like it to the outside world, I feel I’ve done some things I haven't done before.

A lot of my increased confidence and enjoyment has come from sorting out a boat I enjoy paddling. I was conscious that I was becoming a bit of a moaner, always complaining that I didn't have enough leg room in various boats and that being in a boat for which I felt too big made me feel unstable (well, that's my excuse for regularly falling out of a Cirrus). Then one day some time back I got out one of the two Rapides the club had bought second hand and fiddled around with the set-up and lo and behold - I fitted! Not only were my legs nearly straight out in front of me, even with the seat right back there was space behind me. The Rapide is a very stable boat, although in its day it was a top class racer, and finding myself in a boat in which I had more than enough room, that was light and stable was a revelation. My whole approach to paddling changed and I found it much easier to keep my arms straight (-ish!) and my paddle high (-ish!) and generally found I was going much better.

So when Andrew suggested a night paddle I thought "that sounds like fun" and signed up for it. About nine of us met at 5pm at the club one Saturday, with the light fading rapidly. We were very impressed to see some of the Touring group coming back from their day on the Basingstoke Canal and clearly intending to paddle with us as well. We all fitted lights of various descriptions and varying candle power to either our boats or our bodies and got on the water.

There was a fair flow on the river, it was cold and windy as well as being dark, but my new found confidence in the Rapide got me as far as putting it in, at which point I found myself floating sideways briskly down stream, with Valerie nearby saying "Yes, there is a bit of a flow!". I got the boat pointing up river and we all set off, in what felt like quite choppy water. For the first few minutes I admit to feeling a bit tense, and even wondering if this was really where I wanted to be on a Saturday evening. But I persevered, chatted with Clive or Valerie and others as the opportunity arose and gradually settled down. There was a bit of banter about the outflow that enters the river a bit upstream from the Club - various people admitted to having fallen in there, which was cheering - but we all made it safely past and paddled up as far as Sunbury Lock. The portage was under water and some people clearly felt that honour had been satisfied and could now be rewarded with a much faster paddle back to the club.

We got back in fine time and style, rounding off with a circuit of Taggs Island, then put the boats away, got changed and retired to the pub for supper. The Old Bell, across the road from the Club, has changed hands fairly recently and we can report that the owners are friendly, and the food and beer excellent. All in all an excellent Saturday evening!

On Saturday December 15th we resurrected a run that we haven’t used for a few years, to wit Newhaw on the River Wey to St. Johns on the Basingstoke Canal. This involves a short paddle from Newhaw up to the junction with the canal then 300 metres and the first lock of the six of the Woodham flight is encountered, the pounds are all paddleable although the shortest one can be walked; Babs and I did, and it warmed us up well. On the first two pounds you have a good selection of Moored Narrow (and other) Boats, some in an extremely run down condition, a few with plastic sheets drawn under the hulls to stop the leaks; some in very good shape, one painted up like a gypsy caravan. Some could have been mistaken for bungalows and one even for a two story house, and remember this is a narrow canal. On from the top of the flight there are a series of expensive dwellings some being built with their own thatched, round, garden sun houses and one with its own dock and brand new Narrow Boat. Then along a wooded section and into Woking, past the Peacock Centre and past the Bridge Barn restaurant (where Babs and I got out rapidly to answer calls of nature) and on to the bottom of the St Johns flight before returning to the BB for lunch. On the return paddle we had many enquiries as to where we had come from and where we were going and Babs thought she spotted a kingfisher. Our paddlers were Ivy and Bernard, Christine and Babs and me.

Boxing Day was disappointing in that there were only Andrew and Barnet out but they enjoyed the run especially the conditions below the half tide lock at low tide which Andrew described as ‘interesting’; having done that I would agree.

New Years Day Babs and I were first of the eleven paddlers to arrive at Blackboys Bridge, ready to paddle to Pyrford or Newark depending on your inclination; we forgot it only took ten minutes to drive there . Then followed Tony and Liz, Andrew, Clive and Val, Chris and Bob, Barnet and Annette and Paul. We were joined at the Anchor by Doug and Jan Evans, Frank and Jan Stevenson, Mike and Kiko Jones, and Fred and Eileen English, all ex members having walked various distances and of course Bob who had been for his usual long walk.

On the 5th we set out to go from Newark to Triggs lock, but DEFRA upset our plans with their exclusion tapes across the towpath entrance, so it was back in the cars and off to the Wey KC for yet another trip to Cattershall and back; a little flow on the river that made the return a bit faster. Our paddlers were Chris, Babs and me. Now come all you prospective touring paddlers this is a nice run on a pleasant river with a warm café for lunch with a good selection of the usual light meals or soup, or of course you can always take sandwiches, but you will have to eat them on the grass over the other side of the water. All you need is a river licence or a BCU basic licence of which we have a spare for use by any club member. Don’t forget a BCU licence gives you access to the Wey, Basingstoke Canal, the Medway, and all the British Waterways canals as well as the Thames plus the magazine and a £5,000,000 third party insurance.

Feb 9th we set out from Blackboys and turned at Walsham Floodgates. Our group consisted of Chris, Tony and Liz, Angie, ex member Mick Miles and Babs and me. It was a quiet paddle and we saw several K1s and K2s out, probably from the Addlestone club. Lunch was taken at the Anchor out in the sunshine.

Since then due to other commitments the touring group have been split and doing their own thing or in our case not getting any paddling in at all, what with the canoe show and family visits, which included a walk over Staines Moor where we encountered more DEFRA tapes stopping us due to Foot and Mouth.

However back on the water on March the 1st when Chris, Babs and I embarked again at Blackboys to paddle to the Anchor where we stopped for a Guinness in the sunshine while Chris pressed on to Walsham floodgates before catching us on the way back.