Euro Paddler

If you’re a Brexiteer and easily offended, stop reading now as you’re not going to enjoy the first blog of the year. An email earlier today announced a protest to oppose Brexit taking place in France. Ok so you’re not worried yet, only it’s not just the French protesting. It’s the British who work there – ski industry in the winter and a mix of water sports and mountain professionals in the summer.

http://www.boardsportsource.com/2019/03/29/anti-brexit-demonstration-in-bourg-saint-maurice-eurostar-gateway-to-the-alps/?fbclid=IwAR1K5Vw-_byH_T-yolP5yTOI0Q63bbyC0IDR4G7Df47tA19rPzhSLZvVVso

6th April being chosen as this marks the date of the last Eurostar of the season in the direction of London. Highly symbolic, we may lose our last connection with the civilised world. Let’s face it, the UK is no longer a civilised country, not since the far right has been allowed to grow something nasty between its legs and become legitimised. Neo-Nazi has gone mainstream.

Bourg Saint Maurice holds special memories for me – both on and off the water. It is traditional for paddling Brits to head to Briançon, back in 1992 Bill and I headed for Bourg instead. What a trip! The weekend before leaving we had just failed our BCU two star test. Proof that the new British Canoeing Personal Performance Awards are long overdue and much welcomed. How could we fail a flat-water test and then go off to the Alps and paddle grade 3 and 4 water? Just shows how poor the old test was. I failed on support strokes – couldn’t scull with my ear on the water. Screw that, if I’m that low in the water I’m setting up to roll or bailout.

We survived Bourg without much money and with only one car. We also paddled with some amazing paddlers from the UK and France. It was with the local club we ran the lower gorges. Alpine grade IV was terrifying to someone more used to Jackfield and Llangollen Mill. I ran it in my old white dancer, Bill in a Master – hardly performance boats. When I later sold the boat, I threw in the paddle and deck. A colleague called Lynn thought she had a bargain, but couldn’t understand why the paddle had a bend in it and it sent her in circles.

In the gorge, the only option was just to keep paddling and not swim as rescue would be near impossible. This was the first time I had seen slabs of water slide over rocks and still rates as one of the most intense experiences of my life. We shuttled with a French kid’s parents and devoured a packet of rice cakes without the need for butter. Paddling turns you into a food monster and I’ve seen anorexics demand chips after a hard paddle. We then turned to pizza and beer in Bourg and the waiter laughed that the English were in town because of the amounts we devoured.

My next trip to Bourg was in 2001. Only in May rather August. This gave snow melt and high levels. The gravel quarry with a friendly wave where Bill and I played was flooded. The bacon slicer unseated three of our team of five. The two of us that made it did so more by luck than judgment. I got off the river after this.

So, the anti-Brexit protest? I can’t be there; but you have my full support. River don’t respect borders, so why should paddlers. Which brings back to the UK, we are now into an access battle on the River Severn. A Landowner in Ironbridge has decided to exert her rights over the river bank. If you need further details or would like to fill in a Rights of Way form, please contact me.

Plans for this year’s paddling haven’t materialised yet. I missed the winter season due to illness and injury, but I’m biting at the shed door to get the kit out and back on the water. I’ve spent a lot of time underwater playing with the sea creatures and now feel it’s time to get back in touch with the spirits of the water and caress their gentle flow once more. Call me if you want a guiding on the river, learn some skills or just want to paddle.

Back in business!

Paddlemaster’s blog, star date….. Well it feels a bit like that. I didn’t realise it has been so long since the last one. No, I haven’t been travelling at warp speed and arrived five years before I blasted off, but some days it feels like it.

The main reason for no blog is I haven’t been doing much paddling. I did have the opportunity to go a bit further with paddling and finally realised it’s the being outside I enjoy and not placing myself in immediate danger - that is my reason for being on the water. That’s one reason I also go underwater when ever there’s an opportunity. A chance to meet some wonderful creatures, rather than pushing the limits of physics and biology. This has resulted in me becoming a PADI Divemaster.

The second reason has been the ARK accountant. As posted on Facebook – no soul, a swinging brick for a heart and profit/loss spreadsheet for guidance. She works on the basis of no profit, no business. Funny how she’s the one who attends church on a Sunday!

For me it’s spiritual. I could paddle without the business, but it is one way of broadening my coaching. At work and in a club,  I would be stuck with kids all the time. Many of whom don’t want to be there and the activity offered becomes so watered down, it doesn’t resemble the kayaking as I know it. When training as a L2 coach I hated the ‘games’, just learn to paddle the boat or go home was my philosophy. That’s probably why I was crap at sports at school, what is the point in chasing some ball around a piece of flattened field? Get out and explore, there’s no rules beyond the gate.

Also coaching privately has bought me into contact with some wonderful people. Many who have become friends and it has also given me the chance to introduce old friends into a new world. Come join the darkside where flowing water is revered rather than feared!

I would like to thank a number of people out there for their support and encouragement, but can’t publish names for legal reasons. Phil H – thanks for your business advice, you put the soul back into it. Phil T we paddled far too many rivers together, shame he’s defected to bikes. Billy H – we just can’t go there and finally Pam, where can I even begin? Not only has she supported me through life and 10 years of AR Kayaking, but if it hadn’t been for Pam threatening to burn the boat 20 years ago, I would have been out of paddling, growing a beard and wearing pink trousers. The last one being grounds for divorce!

Seriously, if life becomes too serious – get a boat and paddle.

First blog of 2016

I know I’m legendary for leaving long periods between blogs, but this time there was good reason. 2015 is one year Pam and I were glad to see the back of!

After saying good bye to Meg, we then had Mike’s death to deal with. His funeral was especially traumatic, so the next day we went to Cannock Chase for a bike ride and to begin my ease down to the London ride. This ended in disaster with Pam having an unscheduled trip in an ambulance and seven months off work. We probably now know more about nerve damage recovery, MCP structure and alternative therapies than most GPs.

I did eventually ride the Prudential London Surrey 100 mile bike ride and what a fantastic day it was. So, good that I’m doing it again this year! I didn’t get a place through the ballot and will instead be riding for Children With Cancer UK. We chose this charity due to Pam‘s work - teaching children with cancer in their own homes when they are unable to attend school.  I hope to complete the ride in memory of one very special young lady and will make details public once we’ve had chance to speak to her family.

In the meantime if you would like to make a donation, please click on the link at the top of the page.