midweek paddle

The streets is number one in the charts with “dry your eyes”.. yep yep,

Also im doing safety boat practice tonight, after my first regatta practice for the village regatta..

Went to the bull last night in wargrave with dad, a few pints of special then went up to the weir pool at shiplake lock by canoe to read.

Caught up on some more of the “art of happiness” >> it’s a lot more easy to read than “the road less traveled”. Both interlink with regard to discipline, truthfulness and loving kindness. Came home when it was too dark to read!

I didnt expect that kind of night :)

upper thames water weekend

desparetly trying to get thru friday afternoon at work, go for liquid cider lunch with some colleagues and spend rest of afternoon looking at the easyjet website.
 
on arrival back in wargrave i load up the car with the boat and camping equipment then rest in back garden to wait for jon fox's arrival. When he arrives we travel to other side of oxford to tadpole bridge and the trout inn. brakspear bitter on takeout, put tent up by riverside, and sit on boat on lawn.. jon and i catch up on the past few months activities.. more cider gets enjoyed and a warm glow surrounds us as we settle into the oxfordshire rhythm. 
 
Saturday:
after a great nights sleep we rise and shine to the gorgeous scene of the thames river, and the lush green environment encapsulatiing it. breakfast is chilli pork & sun dried tomato sausages and bagels on the camp stove then after a quick wash up we head downstream.. we begin out journey.. yeeha!!
 
to our advantage we find the wind is blowing west as well as our journey heading in that direction.. so out comes the golfing umbrella.. so gentlemen.. feet up please, heineken export cracked open and off we go... slipping past secret wildlife havens bankside and overtaking canal boats..
 
pubs enjoyed along the way, old speckled hen and the sun makes the head slightly fuzzy, good thing the wind is still with us.. "thats cheating!" say a few other motorboat owners, but surely having an engine on your boat is cheating too!
 
we arrive ay Eynsham around 17:30pm, leaving tadpole bridge at 11am, not a bad time at all for 14 miles. i was fortunate enough to teach jon a few basic strokes, however it didnt feel like we paddled at all because of the sailing.
 
that evening we attended a house party in wallingford, where we premiered "Riverquest" on DVD to our friends.. It is a documentary on the river wye which i was lucky enough to be involved in.. that evening, or should i say the following morning we put up camp across the thames from wallingford town.
 
Sunday:
the following day we had breakfast on the bank downstream from our camp and enjoyed the last of the cous cous from the party, and a mug of earl grey. little did we know we were on the side of a fun run course, pretty soon we had 300 runners pass our breakfast spot. i hope the smell of the frying sausages didnt ruin their running pace too much!
 
finishing the tour at goring lock we had a few more brakspears, then parted company knowing that next time we paddled we had gained some tandem paddling hours, and also the skill to judge when the umbrella was needed for that most relaxing of experiences.