Newbury to Reading

We drove to Wharf Street car park right next to the Kennet & Avon Canal and unloaded the boat. It wasn't obvious to us which way to go towards Reading but as it was morning we reckoned we should head towards the sun. I walked into the canal cafe in my paddling gear and said to the lady at the counter "I know its a daft question but which way to Reading?". She kindly confirmed our reckoning was correct.

There were a couple of changes for todays trip. Len Funnel was my partner and we were trialling a new pair of Werner paddles. Both sets of paddles are of very light carbon fibre/resin construction but one set is for a strong flatwater paddler and the other is for extended sea trips. This was a big mistake. The paddles look like they have a similar cross sectional area but the sea paddles were like paddling with a couple of lolly sticks. We pressed on.

Having not paddled on the canal before the first shock came at the third lock when we went to put the boat back in the water and it looked a long drop from the bank. We decided it was too much of a drop and walked along the bank until we found a shallow area where we stepped into the water with the boat. Later we were to appreciate that such drops are normal.

The lack of any appreciable flow was interesting and we had a lot of problems with drag from leaves collecting on the nose. Jumping up and down and leaning back had no effect. The nose is too long to reach the leaves with the paddles but when we went over a small stick it cleared the leaves instantly. We then had some exciting times running over grass and small bushy outcrops as part of our clearnace strategy. The drag from the leaves is quite considerable, slowing the boat and producing a heavy wake. We are definately going to get a 45deg nose fairing to fix this problem.

Fobney lock was a nightmare of our making. We saw the stream on the right, bridge and muddy bank but rejected it as a launch site. We ended up manhandling the boat above our heads to get down the tight steps to the mill stream grating. Not good and we knew it. Of course I checked out the DW lock notes later at home and the correct procedure for Fobney is burnt into my mind.

The various swing bridges were interesting. A couple of them were very low indeed and we learnt that we can get much lower by leaning forward than by leaning back limbo style. We slowed up to a virtual standstill for all the low bridges as a serious head injury seemed odds on if we took them at speed.

One very large and impassable swing bridge looked like it was on a B road. Portaging on the right tow path side is fine but you have to cross the bridge and launch from the left bank otherwise you end up in the driveway of a school.

Paddling along the canal through the centre of the Reading shopping area was fun and we soon joined the Thames. We paddled the few hundred yards to the Reading Canoe & Watersports Centre and went into Marsport. They very kindly stored our boat overnight and called a taxi for us to get back to Newbury - thanks guys. Very good of you. They had a manikin dressed in all the required DW kit so there are bits and pieces I will be buying tomorrow when I get the boat.

The trip took 4hrs 45mins for about 20 miles which seems slow. There are three reasons I can think of: paddle issues, no flow, various portaging mistakes.

The taxi got us back to Newbury and on leaving the carpark we had a demonstration of the darker side of life. It was Cheap Street about 5.10pm and dark. The swearing first alerted us to about 15 youths squaring up to each other in the road to the right of the car. A big guy in a parker (fur round the hood) strode up hands by his side and hit one of the other scroats with such ferocity that it pole-axed him and he collapsed on the road. There was no movement apart from his hand twitching. His mates picked him up and he started to walk of a fashion and then they all started to disperse. I hope he is OK.