Surprisingly there were some club paddlers, who didn’t feel they’d gone far enough on the water this year. So it was decided to do a longer outing: 19 km on a different section of the river Thames.

Fourteen club members drove up to Oxford and launched in canoes for a new adventure. There was a light sprinkling of rain first thing and a usual morning chill, but we didn’t let that deter us. Our perseverance had its reward: the sun shone and stayed with us for our whole journey.

We quickly passed the cows as they tried to cross at the ford – a new sight for us, for sure; swans and ducks looked much the same. Passing through a town and a couple of locks, we found ourselves in the Kings Arms just in time for a delicious lunch.

Post lunch, we carried on our paddling journey to Abingdon, enjoying the views on our way down the river. We observed nice, peaceful sections, then a surprisingly loud display: motorcycles racing up the hills. By the time we got to our destination we were all nicely tired and grateful to our lovely, talented coach, Nigel, who organised such a great event and made it possible to enjoy this beautiful day.
By Timi Muszkáné Paczolay