A night paddle for many people is something that is often talked about and never really done; it is a great way to see the water from a different perspective and even a well-known river becomes virtually unknown as the shadows and darkness cover landmarks both near and far.
On what can only be described as a ‘fresh’ 1st December 11 paddlers met on a very dark and shady car park just upstream of Stratford upon Avon, faces that were familiar became only recognisable by voice in the dark. We swiftly kitted up and got onto the water, some looking more like Christmas trees because of the assorted lights and glow sticks attached to them, and headed off into the darkness. The trip down to Stratford, goes past several rather nice houses and we had chance to peer into the windows on the way past as the occupiers threw another log onto the fire in their warm cozy houses making several people quite envious. On the water the swans were very curious to see what had disturbed their peace and quiet and were keen to investigate these night travellers. Guided in by the bright lights of the Shakespeare theatre we were soon into the town section where we dealt with a capsize and headed past the bright lights and back into the darkness passing Holy Trinity Church which looked very picturesque all lit up.
Once at the lock and weir pool, the group split into 2; those that wanted to run the weir and those that were quite happy saving the weir for daylight. I headed off with the weir group and once we had negotiated the floating barrier that prevents leisure boats heading over the weir we assembled at the top of the weir. One by one the group headed down the weir into the roar of the waves below (OK so the weir isn’t that big but the darkness amplifies the noise to a roar) the three other boats made it down the weir totally uneventfully, leaving me at the top of the weir and my turn to go down. Well I could go into detail but I won’t, the fact is I swam out of the open boat and blimey that water was chilly! After a swift re-entry we had a brief paddle at the bottom of the weir and decided it was time to head back upstream towards the cars.
As I mentioned earlier, the darkness can make even well-known rivers seem alien, and several times on the way back upstream we all found ourselves heading into the bank or up into dead ends as the river slowly meanders. By now the mist rising off the water and being illuminated by torchlight was looking spectacular and creating scenes off horror movies but just as the moon was adding to the effect we reached the car park and the get out point.
We would like to thank everyone who came along and took part – we had a great time.
Keep an eye out on our facebook page and blog for details of other trips, courses and night paddles in 2012.
Keith