Canoe with a View : : Canadian Open Canoe forum

What a day...!

A text from Sir Jamatrad to let me know he's still "Darn Souf", and a quick call to Grizzly confirms that his "Gig" went well..(I think that meant that the toons that he blasted out were so good that everyone was buying him drinks all night...!)...and he wasn't going to make it....

Oh dear I thought, only two of us to accompany "CraftyNoleen" on his inaugural meet...not to worry, at least the weather's good....

Then the sun turned to dark, dark cloud on the way over to Bangor, followed closely by rain....All going to plan then....

Meet time was 12:00 at Bangor, "MaryMary" had promised to be late so I felt comfortable when I looked at the dash clock and it showed 11:32 as we took the final left towards the get in...

As we rolled up the high street I spotted a red Polo on the right with a Blue Prospector on top - maybe "CraftyNoleen" I thinks to myself, then, on the left, a white van with a green Mad River and maroon We-No-Nah on top - Nowt to do with us, there's nobody comming "two up"..

Pulled up at the get in and a possie of three reprobates approached the car with grins and greetings all around, Mary had broken her promise and turned up early with a straggler in tow..."Dave Perry"...(a nicer bloke you could not wish to meet), and Crafty had already made his introductions...

As we were talking a flash of blue caught my eye, I couldn't believe it, me ald mucker "Terry" had sprung the supprise of the day and darted down for a quick outing, apparenty the house has been sold and the computer was packed away on Wednesday, he can't remember his password, so all he can do is read the forum and not post up....

Anyway, after a quick check with the Bar Staff that we were OK to leave the cars in the carpark of the pub on the promise of a beer on our return we were soon ready to get on the water....




Mary took the opportunity to play in the flow below the bridge....




While Terry checked that he hadn't packed his computer away in his drybag...




As you can see, the rain had cleared, and we were soon well away from any of the sound's of the suburbs.




Although Mary did find the odd badly parked Canoe on the river....




The river, although well down to July levels, had enough water in it to provide a reasonable flow of water...






And took us on down to our first Brew-Stop...




Suitably refreshed we were soon off on our way again...




Alan handling his boat well...




And Dave showing that it's not only super-models that are photogenic...




Alan looked a natural with his boat heeled over...




And the Rotary Smolt Counters indicated that the lunch-stop cum future W/C site was near....




We arrived at the lunch stop just in time to stake our claim before the local youths turned up, after a long trek across the fields they had to settle for second best...




As we spread ourselves out, and Alan discovered just how nice a fresh brew is....




An "Arty" shot, just for Warthog...




Mary's head was "in the clouds" most of the day..




and I managed to get a quick shot of Terry before he sprinted off again after lunch...




Alan was rejuvenated after lunch...




As was Mary...




And we all enjoyed the glorious weather down to Farndon...




Where upon a traditional right of passage was performed, enthusiastically...





And not so enthusiastically...




No, matter, The Muff was appeased, and an "Angel" (or, in Mary's words a "Ferry Bunny") appeared to provide the transport back to the put in. I must point out that said Angel, then offered to stay with the boats, enabling ALL paddlers to make good their promise of having a Pint in the Pub, before making our way back to Farndon....A HUGE, HUGE, THANK YOU !!! to Chris...

The final count down...L to R..Alan aka "CraftyNoleen", Mary aka "MaryMary", Terry aka "Terry", Dave aka "Dave Perry", Moi aka "RedFrame" or "Phoenix" depending on which way you swing....



Cheers Guys and Gals, a great day out with another two new faces placed and friends found....

Hope to see you out on the water soon.

Nix.

Thoroughly enjoyable TT Red, and great pics. Glad the weather turned out for the better. The Dee looks like a lovely river to bag, I really must give it a go sometime soon!

Nice one - thanks for posting. This paddling in tee shirt and shorts just doesn't seem quite right given our usual lousy weather. I could get used to it though.

Looks like you guys had a good day.
Would of joined you but i was further down river at sandy lane introducing the family and in-laws to canoeing and succesfully practicing self recue in my Legend.

Cheers
Roy

Looks like a great day out, nice one

Nice one Simon, some very nice pics of the attendees and of the River, its is a lovely River, especially that run I want to do it to Chester only have a camp out one night with Hammock.
Glad to see Muff made some new friends, PG is at the Back of me on the Settee looking on wistfully.
Thanks for sharing Simon, look forward to seeing you soon. in the meantime Happy Paddling and Best regards Bill & PG.

Excellent TT, looks like you all had a great day on the water, Andy.