Plans change

Blimey well what was meant to be a quiet weekend (ish) turned into some late plans being made, all on Friday! Those can be the best sort..

 

Swim still on Friday which was nice, but harder work than i remember! Then some grub and collapse into bed. Sat was a dentist app for me (hmm lovely). Then helping a bit in the garden before i needed to pop out for the evening to Thame, ox. Wifey continued in the garden for a bit then welcomed Jon/BB/Georgie for some tea and a chat. They were down in Ware for a wedding and stopped in for a visit since they were down this way. Wifey really enjoyed the company for the arvo and the catch up.

 

Sunday was more late planning, but an early start to get over to marlow/henley way for a canoe! Mark, who'd lent us his back in apr for our exped fancied a short day out. But that didn't mean it was going to be easy. With the river Thames in good flow heading upstream for the first bit was hard work, but good fun. Then we had a wiggle down a tiny tributary. We got back to the main flow and charged downstream for a bit, before again turning off onto a tributary. This was upstream, but not too bad. Until a low bridge... Unfortunately with the higher than expected river it was a bit of a squeeze through this. On knees and pulling on the underside of the bridge to get through.. Well that was interesting! A quick pint and lunch before the final power upstream, across the flow and into Shiplake lock to get to our exit. Fantastic fun, hard work, and an unexpected surprise. It was a bit strange being 3 in a boat, but it made for a bit of easier work for the upstream sections! 8 miles in about 3hrs

 

Even more so was my Saunders partner Don being in the area guiding a charity walk on the ridgeway. Since he was 30 mins away, popped in for some dinner and a cheeky run! We'd goaded each other into a bit of a quick pace.. Which meant a bit of unexpected walking (uphill) and 37 mins for 6.8k. This is pretty much his 5k pace, just over a longer distance! So can't have been too bad.

 

A curry, few beers and a chat seem to have meant the welsh 3000's that was planned in a fortnight has changed into leg 3+4 of the Bob Graham round so he can get some nav knowledge for a support he doing in a couple of weeks. Plus i might have been arm twisted into the hathersage hilly tri. Hmmm, yikes?