Boating in the UK

Finally it rained! 2 gates at Hurley last Wednesday evening, which surprisingly didn't feel too cold (this could have been because I avoided going upside down for the first 40 mins). It went up to 4 gates on Thursday which was good fun for some looping practice, which definitely did feel cold. On Thursday and Friday I managed to work during the day, earn a load of money, and still get a boating session in during daylight hours - supply teaching, fantastic (except for the annoying children, but I guess there's a downside to every job!). This meant I could avoid the queues on Saturday, safe in the knowledge that I had already paddled my playboating heart out for 3 days in a row (a rare occurence in this country at the moment). So we headed down to the River Dart for a bit of a party. It was good to catch up with lots of people down there. The Upper Dart was a sea of plastic on Sunday morning, but despite having rained all night the river level had not gone up at all. Still, there was at least just enough water to get down the river, and was good fun for my first upper dart trip since Christmas 2004 (and, I guess, will be the last until next season starts in October)! If only the water levels were more reliable.....

Hurley is back down to 1 gate, so it was a short but very pleasing few days of paddling, and all in all not as unpleasant as it could have been only a few weeks after returning from Africa.