Afternoon all,
Its been a while since i dived, (back in mid november), as im trying to get some trips in for my 4* sea kayak that im sitting in april/may next year.
Cue stupid oclock, load two huge sea kayaks (16.5' long) and a mountain of kit aswell to fill it with, and off we go to the river about 1mile from the house.
Off load, load kayaks up with kit, stick diving thermals on, vest, tshirt, fleece and dry kag. Lee my buddy, decides he is a purist and gets on the water minus gloves, he soon changed his mind as there was a "scum of ice" on the water surface!
The trip was from Yalding, down the medway, to rochester. a grand total of about 32km (20miles for you oldies
). The heat was on as we got on the water at 10am, and high water at allington lock (where the salt meets the fresh water) was at 11:15, that was about 17km from the start! 2hours, no problems we was thinking, but 1)the air temp near the waters surface was nigh on 0C, 2) the water temp was definitly below 4C as there was pockets of ice all along the trip to the half way point and 3) my sodding fingers didnt regain feeling till about 1 hour into the trip! Oh and there was 7 portages to sort out around the locks
After 2 lock gates, and a few miles, we both decided that the number opf layers we had on was silly, so off came the dry kag, and everything, except for my posidon thermal top and buoyancy aid. (nutter).
Lee was the same, t-shirt only.
Cue arrival at allingont at 11:35. Not bad, brew time, quick chat to the lock keeper, and then we find that there is an inch tick of ice. I always wanted to be in command of an ice breaker, and so it shall be on this day
It is rather scary paddling through ich taht thick for the first time ever in 12 years of paddling, as in some places the sea kayak didnt even crack it! what the hell would happen if we went over, there was not to be any rolling up in that water!
All went good, the lock keeper actually locked us out and dropped us onto the salt water section (nice one tim).
The final strech was bliss (except for the stinking paper mills at alyesford and snodland - yuck) - saw so many overwintering feathered things: Lapwings, curlews, oyster catchers, kingfishers, herons, cormerants, golden plover, turnstones, kittiwakes, gulls (shitehawks), and other species i have not seen in years.
Total paddling time was about 2 hours for the upper bit, and 1.5 hours for the lower bit. My trunk aches, my arms feel like they are going to fall out of their sockets and my shoulders need the attention of a blonde swedish bird and some TLC
Anyone ever fancy paddling, i have access to 8 playboats, 15 normal kayaks, 8 openboats
its all good,
oh and merry christmas all