The Ice Age is here again! But we still paddled!

We visited Tiverton for our long planned paddle along the Tiverton Canal, but came across a minor issue with the weather that hampered our plans.......

Because ducks could walk across it, and our boat is not named HMS Endurance, we did not venture out on to the frozen waterway.  So, to plan B!  Pub? No!  Ok, plan C?  Take boat to Exeter!


Quite frankly, it's fffffffffrrrreeezzzzing out there, and I didn't want to go swimming today.   We phoned AS Watersports (great guys in there, go buy stuff from them if you are ever in Exeter) to ask if polar bears and penguins (I know the 2 don't mix Tom, southern and northern hemisphere and all that!) were hassling passers by, or if the ice age hadn't reached there yet was it safe to paddle?


Well, long story short, there was thin ice on the canal that we reckoned we could break through safely without damaging the boat, or freeing up a crew slot for the upcoming DW2010 by, well, becoming trapped in the ice.  


After a couple of wobbles getting the boat going from the side of the basin in Exeter, we set off along the passage that an earlier boat had broken through.  This was interesting as ice was re-forming in the narrow passage, and we had to cut through the ice with our paddles to actually make any headway.  I found it exciting to say the least!  I have never paddled through ice before, and although I knew we wouldn't tip over, if we had it would have been tricky getting out as we would have to break the ice whilst swimming to the edge.  Very cold I should think!


Anyway, very little of the Exeter Canal was paddleable (is that a word?) so we hopped out of the boat and went for a longer paddle on the Exe itself.  This was a first for Tom as he has never actually paddled the Exe.  We practised some portages, high and low entries and exits, a racing turn (quite a slow one, but we are a racing team in a racing boat so we claimed that one), and a spot of jogging with the boat in hand.


We need to thank the AS Watersports guys for letting us warm up in their shop afterwards, and for looking after my car-keys.  


Tom will add some more pictures and a bit more about our day.  Hopefully he will say nice things about my paddling, but he will probably talk about all his shiny new kit that he was wearing today.


I have a favourite new word for today, 'Pogies'!  Brilliant little things!  Warm hands are amazing!


Rich