London to Bristol paddle 2011

It was the usual pub chat really.. “Geez..  why don’t we paddle from London to Bristol on that canal?“ “yeah why not…  an pass me the crisps while you’re at it…” andand so last Saturday, after not a lot of planning to be honest.. We set off from Bessie’s tea garden and bar on on the Avon in Bristol…

The difference with this pub chat I guess, is life is different to how it used to be.. with an iphone and free pub wifi we had planned a route, opened just giving pages, a facebook group and blagged a couple of race boards, bought our BSUPA membership and found the first pub to stop at! All a bit too easy… as opposed to the first day!

Saturday 7^th of May – 9am..

Myself – Sean Nolan – a fairly experienced SUP rider.. mostly in waves tho.. and Giles Fletcher a keen rider with about a year and a bit experience, stepped onto race boards for the first time ever and headed off up the Avon… upstream and into the wind!

Heart attacks apparently lead to people doing slightly mad stuff, in an effort to prove “I’m fine thanx!” men often take on silly challenges and stuff… and this was my inspiration! Im 45, pretty fit.. and I had a heart attack two months ago.. I’m very lucky, one – because I’m still here and two – because I have no heart damage… Been an odd couple of months tho, but the docs are happy and so here I am.. wobbling around on a 12’8 Jimmy Lewis Blade, race SUP…

The boards are great… the first thing u notice is they just don’t slow down between stokes.. unlike my Brazillian custom wave board 9’5 x 31.. they are space agey and fast looking.. but into the wind and upstream we only managed 2mph!! Yikes! This was gonna be a long day!

St Annes to Bath is on the Avon.. not much river traffic and lovely scenery… a few too many swans tho! We did’t think about them.. but this time of year they have signets and are protective to varying degrees! Some just look at you and others like the first one chased us for a mile.. even flying at me and banging his wings on the water.. scared the bejeses out of me to be honest because I thought he’d gone!

Locks and locks of locks…

There are 6 locks between St Annes and the entrance to the Kennet and Avon canal. I don’t know if the water level was low due to the lack of rain of late, but at lot of the locks on the river, once u are on the pontoon u can’t reach your board! The JL blade has raised handles u can fit on the top each side of your feet, which was lucky.. with a bit of a rope loop I could hook the rope with the top of my paddle and haul it out.. without a rope the alternative is pulling it u by the leash.. which isn’t easy.. lots of sharp metal and stone about to damage you board.

There’s a nice pub at Keynsham lock, The lock keeper… good food. We stopped here for lunch and hooked up with our support crew… well my wife and Giles’s girlfriend…

Just after Saltford lock is a dead straight section(1km)and unlucky for us the force 6 SE wind was blowing straight down it… I think if the river bank wasn’t steep and overgrown we’d have given up there and then! So after a tough day we arrived at the Dolphin pub in Bath… not the most idyllic pub in the world, but close to the river and easy to get out just before it by Weston lock. A pint of Guiness and the wind faded away…

Sunday 8^th May – 10 am

Started again from the Dolphin. Feeling really stiff… and a little more than precarious on the race board! We paddled the 2 miles to the entrance to the kennet and avon canal. There’s only a set of old slippy stone stps on the right just before the lock.. be careful! We both nearly fell in here..

This was our first encounter with traffic… half a dozen narrow boat owners complaining about the lack of water..  I’m only used to the sea and rivers and I didn’t really think lack of water in a canal would be an issue… but luckily it was only a pound between two locks… A pound is what the experts call a stretch of water between locks.. learn something everyday! Nothing a half a mile walk uphill with the boards wouldn’t sort out!

After another punishing day of headwinds and a few more locks and aquaducts – which were very cool – we finally made it to Bradford on Avon and the Barge pub for a great pint of Boondoggle!

I recorded our journey on my iphone with the runkeeper app… and knowing my battery would die, I found a cool thing called a Mili power prince – from powerskins.. It gives loads of power and no risk of phone dying mid trip..  all kept dry in a 3 litre Overboard bum bag..

A big thanx to everyone who has helped so far… we think it’ll take us at least 10/12 days.. unless we get a tailwind! Aim is to finish on Putney embankment at the pub! There is a theme here with pubs hey! Lol…

So far we have raised over £1000 for charity… I’m doing it for CRY – Cardiac risk in the young… and Giles is doing it for The teenage cancer trust and the Jubilee sailing trust…

Please have a look..

www.justgiving.com/seanthecameraman

www.justgiving.com/user/25865971

And we have a facebook group too… Up a creek with a paddle…

We are paddling at weekends. Mainly because I couldn’t do it non stop as I have quite bad AF too and I’m on drugs that feel like I’ve got the handbrake on! But also so people can come join in if they want… We start next weekend and paddle on sat from the Barge pub, Frome road, Bradford on Avon about 10…

Thanx Sean an Giles…