Thames Trip Report 2011

Fri 29 July to Mon 01 August

Although the trip was due to start on the Friday, some of the paddlers set off Thursday night to be there early Friday morning. Staying in the Shepperton Clubhouse they managed a half-decent night’s sleep before being walked in on by a group of builders the next morning. At 6.36am, it wasn’t clear who was more surprised; the girls or the builders!

After a fry-up, the cars set off to Hurley where they met with the other paddlers. Setting off were 11 people in 6 open canoes containing all the equipment needed for the next 4 days. However due to a little shuttling of the cars, the drivers all escaped the first leg of the paddle, joining their fellow boaters about a mile downstream.

The day gently passed by with a few stops for coffee, lunch and ice-creams/beer as the weather was nice. We soon reached our stop for the night at Cookham Lock and were joined by our final traveller, Kirsty. Tents were set up and the kettle put on! After teas were drunk, the drivers took off to shuttle the cars to Teddington (our final destination) not realising they would not return to the campsite for another 2.5-3 hours due to awful traffic. The BBQ had been cooked and the majority eaten by the time the drivers returned but enough had been set aside, and to them it was a very welcome sight! Soon after, the light started to fade and we all settled in for the night.

The next morning we set off for our longest paddle of the trip but as the weather was better than Friday’s, spirits were high. Some of the houses along the banks of the Thames made us gasp in awe, especially when their prices were revealed by a handy app on an iPhone! Lunch of a cheese and ham sandwich was eaten overlooking the river before a quick look at the 2012 Olympic Rowing course.

To keep away from some of the boat traffic and add some more interest to our journey, we took a detour though some narrow passages just off the main channel. Luckily the boats were not any bigger as an uprooted tree resulted in a blockage of the path and an obstacle for us to manoeuvre our way under! After pushing our way through, the passage opened up and showed us a lovely view of Windsor Castle on the hill in front of us.

At Winsdor the group split with some staying to buy food for the evening and get ice-creams while the others set off to find the campsite before it shut. The river started to quieten down as we left Windsor resulting in the final hour of the paddle being very peaceful and relaxing. Everyone finally reached Old Windsor Lock where we set up camp for the night.

Sunday morning we packed up camp and set on our way again. Along the river, a couple of tennis balls had been recovered and these became a source of amusement waiting for and when in the locks. The aim of the game was to make other people as wet as possible by throwing the ball into the water just in front of their boat – and it worked with great success! Shepperton Canoe Club was the stop for tonight with everyone sleeping in tents this time so the builders wouldn’t walk in on the sleeping masses in the morning! We said goodbye to Kirsty at this point as she made her way to a luxury hotel while we only had tents (… us? … jealous? … never!). The bravest members of the club went for a swim in the river before dinner either at the pub, or made by Diana and eaten in the clubhouse.

After packing up for the last time we left Shepperton for the shortest paddle of the weekend. The river was very calm and the paddle went quickly. Again the tennis balls were used in the locks but today there could be no hiding as a tennis ball the size of a football was discovered. We stopped for a leisurely lunch in the gardens of Hampton Court before finding our way to the end point at Teddington. Here we packed up the cars, had a cup of tea and set off on the journey back home.

Weather could not have been better for the entirety of the trip and apart from the odd patch of sunburn, no-one came away with injuries (a trip with no injuries?! ... a club first!?).

Suzanne