Well, Coltishall was blooming cold; Great Hautbois was wet - mostly - but spirits were undampened, even if there was considerable use of the black sacks for over-skirts and ponchos! Never forget the black sacks!
The CanoeMan staff were super helpful, ferrying us around and loaning at least one adult waterproof. Thanks guys!
So - the well-known first day's paddle down from Aylsham to Great Hautbois - 14.4km by Google Earth. Grandparents, Daughter and 3 grand-kids in two canoes! Which bit did the grand-kids like best? The Chute at Aylsham of course! A broken willow tree added an extra portage....... One of the little ones (aged 4!) fell asleep in the boat. Not surprising really.
Here's a couple of them in my boat, meeting swans and cygnets ......
Day two; daughter and grandsons had to head home; sad. SWMBO had really had enough on day one - better safe than sorry. But The Old Man had spoken to the 8 year old grand-daughter the day before and she was up for the trip to Wroxham. The wind had gotten up overnight; we seriously thought about calling it off but I reckoned I could always steer the drift downstream. Wrong!
Wrapped up against the cold (12.5 degrees), and fighting hard against the wind, I overheated. And the seat wouldn't let me kneel and my lower back was murdering me (excuses, excuses....). So we pulled in to the bank and swapped seats - slowly; I really was very uncomfortable.
And my co-paddler had lost the plot a bit. So she turned round to face me and played Lady Muck and we sang, and she admired a demoiselle fly that had taken up residence on her hand; and I found a comfortable twist to my back and we paddled on (or I did).
And we got to the public mooring by St Mary's Church at Wroxham - and the wind really hit us.
And my excellent paddle-partner answered the call, turned round and dug in.
Young people never fail to amaze me; she had never paddled for real, either single or double-blade, until the day before. And now she was making a real difference to the speed and steering of the boat. Mercifully!
Made it! Warmly received by the staff, who had very kindly transported Kingcup to the office the day before. And who then fashioned a "leash" for the little boat (it really was VERY windy) and off she went - and the boat...
Brilliant.
This is a great little boat; light as a feather, stable, steerable.
Ratty would be delighted.
