Sunday 2nd July 2006 a group of 16 of us paddled down the river Thames. We met at the centre at 10:00 and left at around 10:30 in a mixture of kayaks and canoes. So we set off at a leisurely pace.

We went through the first lock which was very interesting if not a little confusing for a person who has never been through a lock before (I still don’t understand how they work).

We went down St Patrick’s stream, bypassing Shiplake lock, trying to avoid the fishermen. Down stream we encountered a fallen tree, but Marion got out and hauled us all over, if she hadn’t done this Steve had a saw just in case! Everyone was looking out for the metal dragon in one of the gardens.

We took a 20 minute break for lunch in Wargrave. Then carried swiftly on, passing lots of lovely houses in Wargrave, I have now found my dream house!!

Through a few more locks and we were on to Henley. This weekend was the finale of Henley Regatta so it was quite busy. It was very entertaining paddling down the side of the racecourse, watching the people moored up to watch the races with their Pimms! And the large boats going past created waves in all directions.

Once through Henley we were on the home straight, to the ‘Flower Pot’ pub where we met the parents who were giving lifts back to the Centre to get the trailer.

The weather was great, and I think we all topped up our tans, while having great fun.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, and thank you to Marion for organising the trip.

by Lisa Symons

Wokingham Canoe Club Trip on the Upper Thames

In the beginning there was just me. I got on to the water from a convenient pub car park just by the bridge in Lechlade at about 8am on Saturday morning, intending to paddle upstream to fill in time before meeting up with the rest of the group at St Johns Lock, barely half a mile downstream. I worked against the current, and turned round in plenty of time to make the rendezvous. As I was passing back by Lechlade Bridge, I stopped to admire what looked like a car club rally in the recreation ground - dozens of vintage MGs and Triumphs. Very pretty they looked in the sunshine.

I went through St Johns Lock, where the lock keeper was very keen to see my licence, and very keen that it should be easily visible for all the other locks. Having explained that I was meeting the rest of the group, I paddled round the moorings, into the weir stream, and back to the lock. Marion rang to say that actually everyone else had decided that it would be easier to go back to Lechlade and paddle down to St Johns Lock, so I tied up my canoe and sat on a convenient bench and dozed until they arrived.

And then there were 9 - Marion and John in her canoe, me, Brian and Tim in canoes and the Lucas family in four kayaks. We paddled on as the sky got greyer, and ended up eating lunch while some sheltered in their boats under a little wooden footbridge and some braved the rain (oh yes - the kayakists had to get out to stretch their legs). The rain through the afternoon was pretty persistent, and there was much putting up of hoods. Landfall was at the Trout Inn at Tadpole Bridge - about 10 miles and 5 locks for the day. The Lucas’ and Tim left, leaving the rest of us to pitch camp. And then there were 4. Happily it had stopped raining by this point. Some cooked and ate al fresco, some ate in the warm, dry pub.

Sunday morning dawned warm and sunny, and the Cascarini’s joined us with their brand new, never got wet before, canoe. As we got sorted and shuttled cars, we were overwhelmed by Weybridge Skiff and Punt Club on their annual childrens outing - about 15 canoes of varying shapes and sizes (and ages), with matching paddlers. They were finally sorted and off just before us. We took things gently, stopping for some coaching along the way (How do you make a brand new canoe go in a straight line?). And then there were 8 - one kayak, one solo canoe, and 3 tandem canoes. We swapped around a bit, with the younger Cascarini’s showing their independence - what’s wrong with baling from the river into the boat? Why can’t I do draw strokes to bring us into the bank when I want to? We stopped at a convenient bit of bank for lunch in the warm sunshine, and Brian’s stove proved it’s worth once again. Steph and Zoe and the boys left us at Bablock Hythe Ferry where they had left their car - and then there were four. We saw the Skiff Club here, who mentioned that they had only had one capsize! We paddled on to Pinkhill Lock, where there is a campsite on the island between the weir and the lock. There is no public access by road, and we had the very pleasant wooded site to ourselves. We sent the oldest member of the party to sort out camping fees, which is probably why we got such a good deal - including use of the recently installed shower in the wooden hut.

One of our number was up at his usual early hour on Monday morning, but the rest of us weren’t much later. Not having cars to shuttle, we were ready and on the water just as the lock keeper came on duty at 9 o’clock. Marion and John left us at a boatyard a mile or so downstream as they apparently had better things to do. And then there were two. Brian and I paddled on towards Oxford, observing how the river had suddenly become much wider, and the weather apparently much windier. We could hear the noise of traffic, and all too soon we were in the town. We went past small terraced houses, smart university buildings, modern offices, lots of university boathouses, and arrived at Donnington Bridge at about midday.

In total, we paddled about 35 miles in 3 days with 11 locks. The weather was as good as could be expected, the company was pleasant, and the organization superb as always (thank-you Marion!). Now when are we going to paddle the rest of the Thames?

David Palfrey
27th - 29th May 2006

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.

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On a chilly March Saturday in Mid Wales, the hardened few set off for Concrete Bridge. Six kayaks and an open launched on to fairly perfect water conditions.

A few gentle rapids and play waves gave way to continuous Grade II with the occasional large boulder to avoid and overhanging trees to catch the unwary.

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The weekend started with two cars with 2 canoes each getting stuck in jams on the M4 as we left Reading. Nothing unusual there, then.

We were staying in Llangorse near Brecon. Friday night saw 4 people staying in a bunkhouse that sleeps 24, using the cookers to heat the kitchen on account of the idiosyncratic central heating.

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Saturday 19th June was a bright sunny morning and saw me driving down from Reading to Poole to meet other members of WCC for my first club trip. I’ve only been kayaking since I did the one star course in April and wasn’t totally sure what to expect or who else was on the trip. I’d been up late trying to scour the house for what camping gear I had and getting together everything I thought I might need with the constraint that it all had to fit into the two small compartments of the Sea Kayak I’d just been introduced to by Marion down at the WCC boat store.

I arrived at Redcliffe Farm where some of the group had camped on the Friday night to find Jonathan and Stuart guarding one of the canoes. I met John, who’d kindly brought a kayak down for me since my soft-top is totally impractical for this sport as I have begun to realise! It was a pleasant and gentle start to the morning and people gradually arrived. Mark and Jim had been round to Studland head to drop Jim’s car, ready for the next day. Steve and Marion arrived from Reading and gradually the group assembled and packed their kit into their respective kayaks and canoes - Tanya with her own sea kayak, Harry, Hanna in borrowed boats and Stuart in one of the canoes.

By about half eleven or so we were ready to go and our flotilla of seven sea kayaks, most of which Steve had managed to borrow for the weekend, and four canoes set off down the Wareham river toward Poole Harbour. It was only my second time in a sea kayak but it did not take long to get comfortable with the way it handled. Compared to the kayaks that I’d done most of my training in, the sea kayaks were pretty easy to keep in a straight line! To turn them I just had to remember to lean out from the direction I wanted to go - slightly counter intuitive until you get used to it. By the time we got out into the western end of the harbour we were ready for a snack so everyone rafted up for a mid-morning break although it was getting closer to lunchtime! A gentle breeze from the north pushed us steadily but there was plenty room to drift into and we were heading away from the Wareham navigation channel.

Most of the sea kayakers pulled ahead of the canoes with Steve leading the way as we rounded Gold Point Heath. We met a couple of Sea Kayakers out trialling some boats from a local shop. With Brownsea Island in the distance we started to turn south toward our objective for the afternoon - Long Island. We seemed to be heading into the wind now which gave me my first bit of sea chop to handle but it was satisfying to push through this establishing a good paddling rhythm.

We beached the boats on arrival at Long Island and set about offloading the kit and setting up camp. Long Island is a private Island available for camping by prior arrangement. We’d booked it but there were a few “unexpected guests” who were persuaded to move away. Although it is a reasonable sized island only part of it is above the tidal line and most of that has dense undergrowth with only a few areas suitable for pitching a tent. Steve, Stuart and I went back out in our kayaks to see if any of the canoes needed a tow against the headwind but they had made good progress and soon everyone was ashore. Having set up the tent I went for a short wander around the island. Looking across the reeded tidal flats you get a good view of the extent of the harbour and can enjoy the peace of the bird life.

The next few hours were occupied with a mixture of cooking, drinking, digging (to restore a former camping spot that someone had dug a large hole in for no apparent reason) and generally sitting around chatting. The younger members of the group - Hanna, Harry, Jonathan and Stuart - kept busy building fires on the beach nearby. Jonathan seemed determined to not sleep in his tent, in turn building a beach bivouac and then stringing up a hammock. The culinary delights ranged from the full gourmet creations of Marion, Steve and Pete, through Mark’s meat feast barbeque with enough hash browns to feed an army to a few meat ball delights (naming no names!). The fact that you are camping seems to be no excuse for dumbing down the menu in WCC! Marion, Steve and Jonathan headed off for a late night paddle round the little creaks in the west of the harbour making the most of a very peaceful evening with a crescent moon low in the sky. After the first day’s paddling I slept very soundly.

Sunday morning was lightly overcast with a slight breeze and we headed off mid morning toward Furzey Island on the south side of Brownsea. We bumped into Pangbourne club who were old friends to some in our group. We meandered our way around the moored yachts off Goathorn Point having stopped for a rest on the beach below the cliffs on the west side. There was a bit of a breeze blowing from the east as we headed across the north end of Brands Bay. It was heads down as we ploughed through the low chop that the wind picked up on the shallows of Stone Island Lake to come ashore among the house boats of Bramble Bush Bay.

Once Jim had driven the drivers back to Redcliffe to pick up the cars, it was back to South Haven point to pick up the boats, the people and the kit before heading off to catch the chain ferry shortcut to Sandbanks and the way home. As we did so the rain took hold so we really had been lucky in getting the best of the weekend’s weather for our trip. I’d thoroughly enjoyed my first proper trip with WCC and got a taste for the sea under paddle. Here’s looking to the next time!

Doug Stewart
Tuesday 23 November 2004

Present
Roger Harris (coach), Ian Culver (coach), Pete Armitage [canoe], Stuart Hemstock [kayak], Tania Spicer-Short [kayak], Paul Jeanneret [kayak], Paul Bandy [kayak], Geoff Rippington [kayak], Sam Rippington [kayak], Craig Scampton [kayak], John Bennell [kayak]

Trips are always the same. Friday night in rush hour traffic we drive away from London towards the hills. Traffic is awful, and it always rains. And there’s normally an accident causing traffic jams.

Or you get up really early on Saturday morning if you prefer to drive for a few hours before getting on the water for a days paddling.

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Now I’m not one to whinge (much) - but do you know how far Exmoor is? Well, it’s longer than you think, take my word for it. It could have something to do with the fact that everyone else had left two hours earlier and were already sitting in the pub trying out the 4 different tap beers; it could also have been something to do with the fact that everytime I went over 70 miles an hour, the trailer tried to imitate Concorde taking off. But I don’t believe it - it’s just a long, long way. Of course, part of it was fear and trepidation - five of us in the car (myself, Liz, Sam (wife and daughter), Paul Jeanerette and Sylvie) - all of us had paddled for a while, but none of us had really been on small river white water before. And then, of course, we were getting these stories, there was flooding, “big, big waves”, (Pete A), “there was no water at all” (Steve F) - “we would have to go mountain climbing” (in a Kayak?) - so I really needed a drink.

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