A Challenge

As many of you now know, Claire and I have given up alcohol for the month of January. We thought we could get away with it by just locking ourselves in our house and not going out until February but we were inticed into going to the Dart with the hedonistic Sussex Canoe Club. We claim moral victory over those temptators as not one drop of alcohol passed our lips, making for a very strange canoe trip indeed. Friday night was difficult as we arrived to find Tooooony and Lee rather inebriated having arrived three hours before us, and Mike had beer in the car just waiting to be drunk.

Saturday was easier after getting over the initial need to drink as soon as we got off the water.

It was quite amusing to start off in the pub with stimulating conversation which slowly deminished into unintelligable babble by the end of the night.

Must mention here that Lee and Louise had a snog which involved them getting back to the bunkhouse 2 hours after everyone else! and Thom wins the prize for being the most drunk person. Well done Marco for your new song, even though Sussex were not in their usual singing mood and hardly anyone listened to you.

The Canoeing

Oh yes, there's much more to canoe trips than drinking alcohol! For the first time in years (and Claire and I have been around for a few) there was more than a mere trickle of water going down the Dart. Water levels were medium making for an interesting run down the loop on Saturday. (I opted out of doing the Upper so details of that will have to come from elsewhere.) We had what must have been a record number of swims from our brave beginners - Thanks to you all for forcing me to learn how to rescue - there's nothing more shocking than realising that you are obviously no longer scared when you find yourself drifting backwards down a rapid with a swimmer on your boat and realise the usual mantra (I must not go over, I must not go over, I must not go over, I must not go over) is no longer storming through your brain and you are only thinking of getting the swimmer and their kit to safety.

Sunday produced less swims but I feel that was because a lot of people were nursing hangovers rather than paddling.

Thanks guys for organising an excellent trip, and be assured there won't be another sober one for me and Claire.