Darkness and Locks, a first time for many things

Lots of first being notched up a the moment, we need to cherish the excitement whilst it lasts. We dropped into the Thames at a similar spot a bit further down to avoid some fisherman and then headed off for an hour and a half. The first obstacle was crossed with very little grace. It was fine getting out of the lock and running over to the other side, it was only when we put the boat back in that we realised that the 6ft drop might prove a little tricky on the way back. It was a gorgeous evening and as the sun went down we pushed on down the Thames. With head torches firmly stuck to our heads we started to navigate back and soon realised how easy it is to get lost in the dark on a narrow lake! We managed to pick out the lock arrows and not crash into the bank. Although we only managed to travel 10km in 90 minutes we did 4 portages (2 out and 2 back) and finished the session dry and with a good sense of achievement. (Ok so it was 9.76km and 95mins 12.3 seconds, thanks Garmin)

The Thames

A quick dip in the daylight was required to test the river before we tried it at night. There was a feeling of trepidation about hitting,what we felt was , the open water having only tried the beast on the lake. We went to Lechlade and carried (dragged) the boat to a quiet launching spot. We both managed to get in without capsizing and after a few minutes got into s good rhythm, the only slight problem being steering which was magnified on a narrow, winding river. We got down to the first lock and feeling that we had achieved our goal, turned round and set off back to our launching spot.

She Floats!

Our first trip onto the water was a success, we did not sink and we did not capsize. That is not to say that we stayed dry, far from it. We launched the beast at a lake in the Cotswold water park on a sunny but fairly windy day. Having borrowed a couple of paddles we launched with great confidence into the clear, and quickly very deep, water. After a few minutes we established that she had passed test one, she was water tight, no gushing of water from hidden holes. Test two was also passed with flying colours, he is very stable well we managed to stay in the boat anyway. Test three however was a little more challenging, would we be willing to take her 125 miles and carry her 77 times without collapsing? Probably not! Without a rudder we were reduced to some braking steering which was not good for morale. After about 45 minutes we had to head back to shore to empty out the water which was now up to about half way in the boat, the large expanse of lake and a high wind had managed to fill us up nicely. The second half was a little better and gave us the confidence for the next phase, find a river!