Hello Folks
It seems with the way things are going I seem to have less and less time for writing blogs and I am beginning to wonder if anyone has the time to read the them so please do let me know if you are enjoying them. The internet and all things computer related seem to take longer and require more attention than they used to.
I recently changed from windows 7 to windows 10 and have found nothing to recommend it so far. I think they named it windows 10 because everything seems to take 10 times longer!
Anyway rant over lets get on with the story.
I got to Barton Turf Adventure centre last Friday afternoon where I found Chris setting up his tent and so I pitched mine to the right of Nick’s event shelter. Nick was out at a conference and due to return later so Myself and Chris decided to go for a paddle once we had sorted ourselves out.
The weather was reasonable and we knew the forecast for Saturday was not going to be so good so It would be a good idea to make the most of the better weather while it lasted.
We decided on a small trip to Neatishead and back as although it was dry there was a bit of a breeze and although it was calm at the put in we knew it would be blowy out on the broad.The put in was unusually wet because of the high water level.
I was interested to see how Dabchick No 3 would perform in breezy weather and although I have taken Peterborough no 1 out here on many occasions the Dabchick is shorter at 14ft and a lot lighter at 19.6 kilos. She is also fitted with one fixed seat and my own design of moveable adjustable kneeling thwart.
We set off into a light breeze and kept close to the right shore as out in the middle it was even windier.
Once around the bend and past the Nancy Oldfield trust pontoons we found ourselves in calmer waters and attracted the attention of a passing swan who came very close to me as we neared the channel that leads us into Neatishead.
This is a lovely tree lined stretch with plenty of kingfishers and with flat calm water it was a delightful paddle.
At the far end the amount of foliage increases and it looks great especially at this time of year with leaves just beginning to turn golden.
On our way back we took a small detour to investigate another channel which led up to a lovely thatched cottage.
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Once back on the broad we noticed the wind had definitely got up but luckily it was behind us and we had an exhilarating ride back.
On our return we found some of our fellow paddlers had arrived and were sitting around an intermittently smokey fire and some even dozed off!
Next came convivial chat and some fish and chips washed down with various beverages.
Later we retired to our tents to sleep.
I was about to sleep myself but it seems the forty mile an hour winds outside my tent had other ideas…
My tent being a Vango Force 10 was absolutely fine, but I could hear metallic noises coming from outside so I stuck my head out of my tent to have a look...
Nicks event shelter had decided it was time for lift off!
I could see it was up on its side and making its way over to the fire which was still glowing and perfectly capable of igniting it!
I rushed out and grabbed hold of it to stop it going any closer and called Nick to alert him to the problem. The wind was still gusting hard but I managed to hold onto the structure whilst Nick began taking it apart. Thankfully we got it down without further incident and in the morning we also discovered it was undamaged.Crisis averted time for bed!
Saturday’s adventure to follow...