Oxford to Reading and racing

So its Saturday again and we are up at 6am on our way to Oxford.  We have a campsite booked 35 ish miles down the river and then plan to carry on to Marlow tomorrow.

After a taxi ride to Paddington, a train ride and then a short walk from the station to the canal side we are putting the boat together.  On top of paddling  all of our paddles start and end with us lugging the boat and our kit on public transport and then with the unpacking and building or dismantling and packing of the boat.  The boat weighs 23kg and then add on tents, sleeping bags etc so just getting on the water is no mean feat.

Oxford Locks

We paddled north up Oxford Canal and then along Duke's cut and south back through town on the Thames.  This is almost all of the Oxford Loop, what I used to consider a short days paddle at 6 miles - now its a tag on to what would otherwise have been too short a day!

Heading down through Christchurch meadow we are held up by the university's rowing race and had to stop twice and wait for the river to clear.

We passed Abbingdon and lots of other places that we simply can't remember.  The countryside was lush and green and the weather was very hot.  On the down side there was NO flow so it was a hard slog.

Towards the end of the day we passed this bridge by Days Lock.  This is where they hold the annual poo sticks championships,  Now I think the woods that followed looked mightily like the kind of place you would find Eyeore hanging out.

Benson Lock was our last lock before the campsite and as it was after 6pm it was self service.  The locks are easy to operate and push button so we always do this when we can as it avoids a portage.

After a nights camping in Wallington (and a classy dinner at the Hungry Horse) we were on the water by 8.30 and paddling towards Reading.  It was hot, there was no flow and spirits were not high.

By the time we got to reading there was a Hasler race in full progress lots of FAST kayaks wizzing past.

We were clapped as we reached the finish line - and got to chat with Martin who used to be in our club and had been competing.  He had been in the lead with his K2 paddling partner but they had broken their rudder and retired to sit in the sun.  It was good to see a friendly face.

As we reached central Reading we worked out that at 2pm we were 5 hours from Marlow.  With taking the boat down this meant that the earliest train out of Marlow would have been after 8pm putting us home close to 11pm.

In the absence of a handy middle station we decided it was packing up time.  51/2 hours is a short day on the water but we couldn't cope with getting back so late so we called it a day, packed the boat, had a picnic and caught the train home.

On getting home Sarah was ecstatic.  Whilst she had been training Dan had been on a shopping mission to the sake at Vivian of Holloway and had returned with 4 new 50's reproduction dresses for her featuring full circle skirts, spots and flowers.  What a star.  As a reward I took him paddling on Monday around Wargrave which is on the route from Reading to Henley.

This weekend it's Reading to Kew again and the last of our 2 day paddles as after this we need to start with the packing.