Along the Thames…with a kayak and your ‘man’
(…and a ‘surprise’ ending)
Two years ago, Danny, my boyfriend and I, went to Halifax in Canada. It was there where we both start kayaking. With an Italian friend, we went along a beautiful river. It was an unforgettable lovely experience. It was my first time in a kayak.
Since then, even though we had travelled a lot, we never had the opportunity to ‘paddle’ again. Until, a month ago, when we both decided to buy a kayak and all the equipment needed to go with it. We bought a two-seat yellow kayak, and we named it with a bottle of champagne, with the Spanish word: ‘Poquito’ (which means: a little bit). We weren’t sure where to start ‘paddling’. The weather in England usually doesn’t help to make plans, but the river Thames seemed the best place to start. The Easter weekend was around the corner, so we decided to go kayaking along the Thames for three days.
I have been living in England for the last twelve years and it wasn’t till this Easter weekend that I have discover how beautiful the Thames and his surroundings are.
I have always liked and admire the English countryside, and even though sometimes appears very much organised, I must admit that the good thing about this is how well is kept and looked after.
When Danny and I, decided to go along the Thames, neither of us thought it was going to be so enjoyable and peaceful: like a honeymoon!
Because it was our first time kayaking, Easter time and one can’t never be sure of the weather, we reserved a couple of riverside hotels. For the first and last night, we agreed we wanted something special, different, so we chose a county house hotel overlooking the River Thames in Marlow-on-Thames, the Danesfield House: at least we knew we will be arriving to a warm, gorgeous room!
For the second night, we also reserved a hotel, the Shillingford Bridge Hotel, near Wallingford. We didn’t have any idea where we will be the third night.
Our plan was to start kayaking from near Oxford, from Sandford Lock (near Iffley), all the way along the river until we got back to the hotel in Marlow. We had three days, 80 kilometres of river to paddle, lovely weather forecast and lots of enthusiasm.
We arrived to the Danesfield House Hotel on Thursday evening, just in time for a swim and dinner: (‘would that be our last hot meal for the next three days?’).
The following day, we arrange with the hotel for a car to take us near the Sandford Lock. At 9 o’clock, a driver called Ian, picked us up from the hotel and drove us to our first lock. By the time we arrived, secure all the food and clothes in the kayak, wear all the waterproof gear and actually put the kayak in the water, it was already 11.30am.: the weather couldn’t be better: I couldn’t think of a better way of spending three days: sunshine, peace, my man and a bottle of Rioja ! What else!!!
We didn’t paddle much; the current was on our favour, so basically we just let the river drive us along and we just enjoyed the peace and tranquillity. We only stopped half an hour for a picnic and we arrived at the Shillingford Bridge Hotel at 5.40pm.: not so bad for a first day: 25.2kilometres!, we were cold and tired. It was very nice to arrive to a warm room and to be able to have a hot bath. It was a great feeling when we arrived at one place we didn’t know …by ‘kayak’.
The Thames is more than a leisure destination, it is an important wildlife habitat too, and during this trip, we could see a great number of swans, all kind of birds and ducks.
The other feature that I personally found unforgettable is the locks. Every lock is different; some have a range of facilities for boaters and other visitors; others are more modest. All are manned by resident lock keepers who take great pride in their locks, many have been on the river for years and they are very friendly.
Our second day was more difficult, more tiring because the wind was against us, so we did have to paddle a little bit more, and also more adventurous: we didn’t have a clue where we will be sleeping (there are not many riverside hotels along the Thames!).
We left at 10am from the Shillingford Bridge Hotel, and we arrive at seven in the evening at the Holiday Inn Hotel, next to the Caversham Bridge, in Reading, this time we did 29.67 kilometres along the River: another record for our book!
We did stop for a nice lunch, for almost an hour, in a beautiful boathouse, called The Beetle and Wedge in Moulsford-on-Thames, where they prepare the more delicious grilled fish. It is amazing to go on a kayak and be able to stop for lunch by the river, like if we were driving a car and we decided to stop for lunch in a local pub.
Our last day kayaking, started at 10am from Caversham Bridge and finished at four thirty in the afternoon, when we arrived back to the Danesfield House Hotel, this time we did 25.3kilometres, but we did have the wind and the current with us, so it was more relax and enjoyable that the day before. We also stopped for lunch on the way, by one of the river pubs in Henley-on-Thames, called the Angel, a lovely pub.
Being our last day, we did open and drank our bottle of Spanish Rioja in the kayak (we even carried a proper glass). When we finished the wine, we wrote a secret message that we put inside, with the promise of a dinner in London.
Apparently, also that Easter Sunday, it was a kayaking race happening, of which we weren’t aware of. When we were arriving to the Marsh Lock (near Henley), people were actually cheering us up: they thought we were part of the race and they were all waiting for the last kayak to appear: it wasn’t us, but it was quite nice to be cheer up.
The whole experience was absolutely unforgettable, lovely, memorable, and personally I would recommend it to anyone, to everyone. You don’t need experience, or lots of money to have a weekend out of the ordinary, you do need to be a little bit adventurous, enthusiastic, and don’t mind to get a bit wet at times.
Four days after we got back to London, I received a phone call: they had found the bottle and my message, with my phone number!, Allistair, from Maindenhead who also happened to be kayaking found it, and hopefully next weekend we will meet up in London: isn’t life amazing!!
Ruth Bermudez / Danny Gillard
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