Saturday we had a short wizz round the basin so I could get my back up and working again. At the basin it was snowing - big fluffy lumps of snow and some folk from our club were out doing their level one coaching course so we did our best to complete our measured circuit without getting in their way.
After a couple of hours on the water we spent some time with the official race maps and google maps plotting the paddle and distances to certain places. This means that as we go we are able to determine how well we are keeping to time. We tried to do this as authentically as possible whilst drinking tea and eating the remaining Christmas cake in my living room. Ok I'll admit that it all descended into silliness when Dan suggested that I should be wearing my canoeing hat.
Breaking it down into chunks makes it look a lot more do-able although the 8 hours we expect to spend on the lake is not overly welcome.
I suspect that getting over the lake will need my entire Abba medley which I kindly demo'd to keep me going as the painkillers started to wear off. I feel sorry for Esther at times like that trapped in a boat whilst I warble along.
Now just down the road from our basin is Greenwich where
this was recorded. I think we need to get out on the river to test our resolve against the seal who clearly wants a water fight!
After a couple of hours on the water we spent some time with the official race maps and google maps plotting the paddle and distances to certain places. This means that as we go we are able to determine how well we are keeping to time. We tried to do this as authentically as possible whilst drinking tea and eating the remaining Christmas cake in my living room. Ok I'll admit that it all descended into silliness when Dan suggested that I should be wearing my canoeing hat.
I suspect that getting over the lake will need my entire Abba medley which I kindly demo'd to keep me going as the painkillers started to wear off. I feel sorry for Esther at times like that trapped in a boat whilst I warble along.
Now just down the road from our basin is Greenwich where this was recorded. I think we need to get out on the river to test our resolve against the seal who clearly wants a water fight!
Hahahaha....sorry :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent work there, the more you know the maps the better it will be when you are tired. We do write estimates on the map check points as to our "wish" time to pass as well as last years time.
I spent most of the afternoon marking the most commonly taken routes round the islands etc...some complicated photocopying and laminating to work I feel! (might use your times Ryerson, to aim for :)
ReplyDeleteAim higher! :)
ReplyDeletestudy the maps and learn what you can from other paddlers and river travlers. More often than not the fastest route is not the obvious one. I have been down the river 20 times or so and followed a group down a channel that I was sure was going to be the slow one. When we came out we were a good distance ahead of the paddlers that went the other way.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ray. We've been looking at Google Earth, following the race tracker from last year all along the route, and then just making our best guess.
ReplyDeleteNothing beats talking to people who know and have been there though!!