Becky, as you may guess is a girl, and I work with her at a well known French electricity company in Exeter. We went out in Green Gerty last Monday, and we made pretty good time on the Exe, probably faster than Tom! However, tonight's plan went awry when Becky decided to go shopping, and having a head full of summer sales bargains, forgot about canoeing completely.
Simon also stood me up, although he has got more of my sympathy because he is having to smooth a possible problem over with the current girlfriend after a minor scare worthy of a Jeremy Kyle episode.
Tom did visit over the weekend to pick up some of his spare socks, and exchanged some of his technological gadgetry that he discovered in a box in the garage. Normally Tom would view such things as iPhones and personal computers as disposable items, but on this occasion decided that the almost new charger for his spare phone would do for now............
So, 3 canoeing partners down, I vowed to soldier on. I reported for action at Double Locks on the Exeter Canal at 1640hrs. I changed out of my normal shirt and tie and into board shorts and manky t-shirt. I then proceeded to lift the SS Green Gerty from the roof of my car, and carried her manfully on my shoulders. A few passerbys and curious swans probably thought that a very strange hermit crab was making its way out of the car park. A few patrons of the pub opposite my launching spot decided that the local ale was quite strong after all, and had to peer very carefully across the canal to see that in fact there was a human being underneath this enormous carapace.
And so I skillfully left my home port of Double Locks, and set off into a strong headwind in a 19 foot long Canadian Canoe. Usually these have 2 crew members shovelling away to move the massive vessel forwards, so as you can probably imagine, this was always going to be a difficult paddle.
After what seemed like mere minutes, I passed beneath the Countess Weir swing bridge, 1 mile from the start. Then the headwind got even stronger, and the high sided canoe decided to go whichever way the wind blew it. Add to this mix some incredibly thick weeds, and the recipe here is getting very tricky. This was turning into an epic paddle, and I still had about 7 miles to go.
(Picture above is Turf Lock) I reached Turf Locks, which has a very unique pub which you cannot reach by road. This also marks the end of the Exeter Ship Canal, and my halfway point. Having battled against strong winds and rain showers all of the way out, I expected an easy paddle back with a following wind. The weather had other ideas, and decided that it wanted to turn into a clear, windless evening. To be honest the wind dropping was almost as good as a following wind, and I made it back to Double Locks in about 1 1/4 hours.
That is making approximately 3.5 miles an hour average the whole way, even with a headwind and a stop for jelly babies and water. I am extremely pleased with my evenings work, and I don't know how I got Gerty back on the roof, but there was a reverse of the launch, but with more muttering and swearing, dropping boat, more muttering, dropping boat on car, loud swearing, and finally the boat strapped down on the roof and muted cheer and a handful of jelly babies to celebrate.
I am now a complete physical wreck, and my only salvation is a healthy salad with boiled eggs and tinned salmon. The usual after-paddle fayre that Tom goes for is more on the side of Mr Kipling and Snickers. Tom will struggle to understand why I have gone all healthy, because he says that he is not due a salad until 2012 because he ate a raw carrot last February.
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