Citius, Altius, Fortius

is the slogan of the modern Olympic games.  We are borrowing it for this trip.

So, another weekend another training run and we were repeating Reading to Kew.  When we did this a couple of weeks ago we were shattered by the time we got to Old Windsor Lock on Saturday nigh and, to be honest, starting again Sunday am wasn't pleasant.

How different could it be.

We built the boat downstream of Caversham Lock and were soon off speeding past Marsport (see previous post).  We expected this to be a bit monotonous as we have done it before.  It wasn't.











The weather was good, the other boats were great and we had a fantastic Saturday.  It was shinier, brighter, more scenic and quicker.  What's more all of the baby birds were out - and finally we were seeing signets (they seem to be later than ducks and geese).

Esther having an Evil moment in a lock

We got to Old Windsor Lock more than an hour before last time and we were bouncing.  Instead of half dragging the boat to the campsite it was up on our shoulders.  The tents were up and we were chatting to a fellow camper who was kayaking from Letchlade to Teddington.

After our trek to the Toby Calvery (shorter than last time) we had a great dinner (tastier, able to eat more) and whilst pudding was rather disappointing we were more awake and walking home in the light (that'll be quicker again).  Back to the campsite and straight to sleep (perhaps it was quieter).

Steam Cruiser coming through the lock just before bed time.

We have learnt from last time to start off at a warm up pace (slower :-()  and work up to usual so we were straighter.  We were strong with no aches and truly felt great - would it last?  We stormed along with very little other river traffic until we approached Chertsey where rowers were out practising.

Teddington Lock and view of the RNLI base there

We then had a little dispute on whether or not we should be paddling in the trees (what they thought) or a decent distance away from the bank (my view).  As they were not looking behind whilst travelling backwards, as rowers, do they had not seen us and instead of overtaking on the outside (where there was about 60m of river) they had steered suddenly to the inside (where there were trees).  I may have called the screechy woman a rude name under my breath (angrier).

Esther cowers from Richmond attach geese

On we went with very little other incident until Richmond lock where Esther was attached by geese - she did tease them (sillier).  We made it to Kew at 3.30pm which is good going.  The boat was packed swiftly and we were soon on the train home.  We were hyped up and happy that we have done the right training and that being in a boat for days in a row is feeling good.





On Monday I was still strong and decided to skip a day of rest and head to the gym after work where I promptly increased all of the weights by 5kg and made my row and run 5 mins longer - still stronger!

Next weekend is a day paddle and then planning and then we have only midweek paddles, planning and packing and we are flying out.  Let us at the river we're ready for it!