It's been a good month for mileage so far and it could yet be a lot better. With a week still to go I've just topped my previous best monthly mileage and have two further trips booked which as long as the weather is reasonable should still count towards this month.
I've also signed up to the Go Canoeing mileage event which is taking place this last week of May and will enter in that whatever miles I'm able to do up to the 31st.
Last Wednesday's club paddle was from Hampton down to Kingston and return. I had watched what the weather seemed to be doing most of the day and it was as near perfect as you could get with hardly a breath of wind, until that is, the off from the clubhouse. Sure enough right on 6pm the wind kicked up forming wavelets against us and black thunderclouds formed overhead. Too late to back out, we headed off downstream, but against the wind. Once past Molesey lock the reach is quite exposed and curves around to the left so that the the wind was coming across sideways most of the time. Nevertheless our ground speed was quite good and we got to Ravens Ait in fairly short order, turning back around the far side of the island.
At that point it was as if a switch had been thrown and the wind turned off. But there's always a payoff, and the current that had helped us down was now against us and it took some steady and prolonged paddling to make our way back to Hampton Court. Luckily the Bungee and Ergo sessions that I've indulged in recently seem to have helped and I coped quite well with it. The threatened rain held off and as the attached picture shows, we were treated to a fine sunset as we passed under Hampton Court bridge.
Although it was only six miles I was quite pleased with the performance under conditions which I might well have backed away from at another time.
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