Summertime trip to the Thame
Last year we had a very pleasant trip down the river Thame from Stadhampton to the Thames at Dorchester, paddling in the Summer sunshine and pushing our way through the reeds. To get away from the reeds, John Bennell arranged the next paddle earlier in the year - hitting the weekend when the clocks go forward.
Accordingly, it felt like 7.30am when we met at the club to collect boats and kit, put boats on cars, and set off in convoy for Waterstock, near the town of Thame. John had negotiated a secret get-in by a personal visit with the local access officer, so we had easy access from the garden of a very picturesque old mill. While the cars were being shuttled, the opportunity was there to play under the roadway in tunnels that were wide enough for a paddle, but not wide enough to turn a boat round.
We set off through open farmland, passing under the M40. At the next mill, some chose to portage over the overflow slipway, while some followed Jim’s lead and braved the chute alongside. The main feature of the day was not banks of reeds, but fallen trees forming strainers across most or all of the river. We managed to free enough of the jam to get through most of these, working our way through the impromptu slalom courses.
We ate lunch just after we shot a broken-down sluice. As we were getting back on the water, Jim showed just how easy it was to sit on the wave! From the map, it looked as though we weren’t much more than about ¼ of the way, and it had taken nearly two hours. We pushed on - literally where we met more trees! One strainer we had to portage involved a scramble out onto a high bank - mud everywhere. The get-out for the last tree was easy enough - the get-in was the difficult part. We carefully avoided getting too close to the dead sheep caught by the tree.
We finally got off the water at the bridge where we had got in last year, with a nice easy climb up to the road. It was only while the cars were being shuttled that the rain fell heavily.
We paddled nearly nine miles in about six hours, negotiating lots of obstructions. The weather was very mild, but the late Spring meant the banks tended to be bare and muddy. Our thanks to John Bennell for his diligent and thorough organization. We look forward to the next time!
David Palfrey
26th March 2006
