It’s not in my pocket… – Andy and Lindsay

Now that I was able to go paddling again, I spent most of last week organising a weekend of kayaking. The plan was to hit Hurley for a couple of sessions on Saturday, head to Birmingham on Saturday afternoon/evening to watch the rugby and enjoy a few drinks before heading across to North Wales on Sunday to paddle the Tryweryn. As the weekend drew nearer it became clear that this well thought-out plan was not going to work quite so smoothly as anticipated. For a start, on Thursday we got the news that there was going to be no release from Llyn Celyn, meaning that there would not be enough water in the Tryweryn to enable us to paddle it. On Friday it became apparent that Mother Nature was not intent on us just having our plans for Sunday disrupted when all the rain which fell during the week raised the Thames to almost flood levels – Hurley was in the stanchions, Shepperton was washed out, Sunbury was washed out and even Mapledurham, which works when the Thames is in flood conditions, was washed out! Luckily the levels started to drop on Friday evening and Mapledurham started to come back into condition.

Even with the revised plans things didn’t go quite right on Saturday. The idea was to meet at Mapledurham for 1000, paddle for a couple of hours then head to the pub for lunch. After lunch, we were to get back on the water for an hour-or-so before leaving for Birmingham to watch the Rugby. Things were running behind before they even started with both myself and Tim not due both of us setting off late. Unfortunately for Martyn he managed to get there slightly early so had a bit of a wait on his hands.

Upon arrival at the weir just after 1030, we commenced getting changed and no sooner had I put on my IR Union Suit than I realised that I had left my drysuit and paddles back on the drive in front of the garage at home! Martyn and Tim got on the water while I had no option but to return home and collect my kit, before returning to Mapledurham for an afternoon session with Tim. Rather than getting changed back into my normal clothes, I decided to drive home in my union suit, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake as it is a really good thermal and I simply roasted in my car!

I eventually made it back to Mapledurham for about 1315 – a full two and a half hours after arriving at the weir first time around. Tim and I managed to locate a pub just down the road for lunch before getting onto the water at about 1445 for our afternoon session. The river level was quite high – around 12’11” with an ideal level for Mapledurham being around 12’6″ – which made getting onto the wave slightly tricky but once on it was a nice wave to surf. In order to make it Birmingham in time for the rugby (1730 kick-off) we got off the water around 1530, followed by a quick change and loading of the cars.

Mapledurham weir

We had arranged to meet Emma in Watlington to give her a lift to Birmingham but we had mis-underestimated just how far out of the way Mapledurham – we didn’t get meet Emma until approximately 1620 which meant that there was no way we were going to make it for the start of the game. A rapid shuffling around of boats ensued, with Emma pausing to show off her new Palm Torrent drysuit. We made it to Birmingham just in time for the start of the second half and watched England make a concerted effort against the Welsh but in the end were unable to pull a win out of the hat. The remainder of the evening was spent eating pizzas before heading off to the Gosta Green pub for a few drinks. Sunday saw a bright and early start with us meeting at the store for 0830. Out of the original list of 10 people, 3 people had dropped out by the time we left Birmingham for Wales (Martyn -too far for a day; Jethro – too drunk; Joe – too under-the-thumb). To avoid potential confrontations regarding access to the Conwy with some local landowners and people acting on behalf of fisheries we decided to meet up in Betws-y-Coed to get changed and organise ourselves so that when we got to the get-in layby on the A5 all we had to do was take the boats off the cars and get on the river – with minimal fuss. Seeing as it had been quite an early start, added to the fact that there was no danger of us getting two rivers in before darkness fell we decided that we had enough time for a civilised cup of tea before getting ready. We got changed at a sensible pace, sorted the boats and kit so that we could just drop one car in the layby at the get-out on the way to the get-in but then Emma reminded us of her special skills. The bung for her boat was in her purse on the drive across to Wales and whilst getting changed she decided to put it somewhere safe. Unfortunately, once she was fully changed could she remember where that safe place was? Not a chance! We started with the sensible places – her purse; the pocket on her BA; the pockets on her drysuit; the seat she had been sat on in the car…. the list went on. No success. Then we completely emptied and searched the boot, before getting down on our hands and knees to check it hadn’t rolled off under one of the surrounding cars. No success. Amy went back to the café where we had our cups of tea asking about a “little piece of black plastic” which we had lost – she got some weird looks upon asking that! Still no success though. Time to start being methodical. We asked Emma if we gave her a bung now, where would she put it? “In here”, she replied pointing at the pockets on her drysuit, “but I have already checked in them”. As she said this she patted down the pockets to prove they were empty. However, she had not counted on the pockets being very deep and, upon prompting to check them out from the inside, the look on her face became very apologetic. She had found it. We had spent about 15 minutes looking for the bung and it turned out to be in one of the first places she had looked! With bung safely located, we headed to the get-on. Swiftly unloading the cars, we were on the water launching downstream within five minutes of pulling into the layby. The river level was low, but perfectly runnable. Emma, being her usual self, still managed to get pinned on a rock just around the first corner. The river itself was fairly uneventful – no swims or serious pins (although Emma did manage a few more minor pins) – until we reached the get-out eddy. The landowner has erected a barbed-wire fence and a sign stating ‘Private Land’ preventing us from egressing here. In addition, there was a 4×4, parked at the top of the cattle track we usually use to get up to the road, whose driver kept a keen eye on us. We decided that we would not risk getting out here so paddled across the river and got out just below the bridge. As we were walking up to the road from the river bank the 4×4 drove towards us across the bridge before stopping and the driver taking photos of us. At no stage did he come and inform us why he was taking the photos, but as we walked up the road to the layby he drove of in the opposite direction.