September 2009 Pool now open September 2009 Welcome to this Autumnal issue of the Newsletter. There’s not much news in this edition as it’s really to remind all mem- After the month long pool closure in August, bers about the AGM that’s taking place on Thursday 15th October. don’t forget that the pool is now open again It’s open to all members, so feel free to come along and have your say every Wednesday from 7:45pm for all your about the running of the Club. warm paddling needs. Midland Canoe Club 58th Annual General Meeting Thursday 15th October 2009 19:30 at the Clubhouse, Old Lane, Darley Abbey Agenda To agree and approve the minutes of the 2008 AGM Chairman’s report Secretary’s report Treasurer’s report Election of Management Committee (MC)& ‘Volunteer’ (V) posts Chairman (MC) Secretary (MC) Treasurer (MC) Membership Secretary (MC) Newsletter Secretary (V) Pool Manager (V) Coaching Representative (V) Site Maintenance (V) Equipment (V) Trips & Social Events (V) Club Welfare Officers (V) Election of four voting positions on the committee from the volunteer posts Appointment of President & Vice Presidents Appointment of Auditor Presentations of Honorary Life Memberships Presentation of Club Awards Members’ wishes for the forthcoming year Slide Show & Chilli www.midlandcanoeclub.com Page 1 Midland Canoe Club Annual Thames Trip This was the third annual MCC Canoe trip on the Thames. We were on the first trip but didn’t manage last years due to other commitments. The trip format is similar each year, consisting of a good campsite base and two paddles on the river. This year Kev had found us a base at ‘Thames Young Mariners’ which is an outdoor centre run by Surrey County Council and is located between Richmond and Teddington right next to the river a few hundred metres downstream from Teddington Lock. We were the only occupants of the camping field other than in the early hours of the morning when the fa- mous colony of ‘wild’ parakeets in Richmond park would wake us with their squawking. The endless procession of aircraft landing at nearby Heathrow provided surprisingly little disturbance. The journey down on the Friday afternoon was lengthened due to traffic and due to Matt and I trying to find a chip shop. Such a thing doesn’t seem to exist in West London, the local tastes being catered for by anything from sushi to Turk- ish or Indian restaurants. Eventually we gave up after finding a Sainsbury store. The plan on Saturday was to take advantage of our location and finish paddling next to our base. So Chris Clifford towing a trailer loaded with boats and several cars headed over to Shepperton Lock. Kev had been in touch with the canoe club there who were run- ning a ‘fun slalom’. The plan was to participate in the canoes but their slalom course seemed a little more technical than our own so this plan was abandoned in favour of drinking all of their tea and cake after leaving a generous donation in the honesty box however. The lock keeper gave us some friendly advice prior to letting us through the lock including advising us of a rowing regatta downstream at Sunbury. There are 44 manned locks on the Thames between Lechlade and Teddington. Below Teddington the river is tidal. The lock keepers are a friendly bunch and always managed to fit us into the locks despite the heavy pleasure boat traffic. We had our boat stickers prominently displayed as this is a requirement of paddling on the Thames. Your BCU membership includes a boat license sticker but without this a boat license costs £20. After leaving Shepperton lock we paddled off past some pretty impressive riverside properties and boats, one house having a life-size figure of Spiderman on the roof and ‘Batman’ and a Dalek in the garden – only visible from the river. The next stop was ‘Whitewater – the Canoe Centre’ at Shepperton Marina – a very well stocked shop with lots of goodies to tempt us. With Temptation generally avoided we ate lunch on the jetty then set off again downstream. As it got warmer, the number of pleasure boats seemed to increase and Sunbury Lock was quite full as we passed through. Below Sunbury all traffic was kept even further to river right as a rowing regatta was taking place not with the familiar long thin boats but with wooden clinker built skiffs. There was one slightly hairy moment as we paddling further to the right than normal we were drawn towards an intake for one of Thames Water’s reservoirs, some hasty hanging draws to the left side keeping us clear of it. Above Molesey lock there were some superb looking house boats. Just below the lock on river left we tied up briefly to look over the fence at Hampton Court Palace – very nice! The afternoon sun was soon taking its toll on our thirst so in Kingston we moored outside a waterfront pub selling Sam Smiths beer – not quite as cheap as The Abbey but better than most London prices at least. This stop also al- lowed us to stock up with supplies at a nearby Waitrose. The last leg was down to Teddington lock. Rather than pass through the lock we used the portage rollers. These allow you to slide the boat out of the river onto a trolley which then allows you to pivot onto some more rollers and slide into the river below. However you need to push like you were pushing a Bob Sleigh to get even a slow speed. A few hundred metres below we got out at sandy beach by our camp site. After fetching the cars from Shepperton we had a Barbeque to finish the day off. On Sunday, the plan was to paddle from Windsor to Chertsey but the combination of a lengthy shuttle, exorbitant parking prices in Windsor and the time taken to break camp led us to change the plan to a 3 hour paddle around Windsor. We launched at the public slipway by Windsor Leisure Centre. The grassed areas around the river were packed with tourists and locals enjoying the sun, and the water was busy around the town too. A riverside pub was advertising a two course roast lunch for one person for £20 – what a bar- gain! We were just squeezed into Romney Lock alongside two large Dutch Barges and some cabin cruisers. The lock cut takes a sharp turn outside the lock so we had to watch out for their prop wash. There are signs alongside the right bank here prohibiting ac- cess as this land all belongs to the Queen and is part of her enormous back garden at Windsor Castle. The tranquillity of this stretch of river is broken every 15 seconds or so as planes take off from nearby Heathrow airport. After an hour and a half it was time to turn back to avoid getting parking fines. We stopped briefly for an ice cream at Datchet and then continued back to Romney lock. Due to the large number of boats it took a while for the lock keeper to squeeze everybody into the lock. This lead to some nervous glances at watches as the time was running out on our parking tickets. However we all got safely back to the car park with no sign of traffic war- dens. Time to load up the boats on the trailer and head home. Special Thanks to Kev for organising the trip and Chris for towing the boats. Andy Rodgers – September 2009 www.midlandcanoeclub.com Page 2 A short paddle on the longest day After the journey from hell, and several days being a tourist, myself and Paul managed to slip away for a brief paddle on one of the (many) local lakes. A bit of background... A while ago, possible towards closing time in the pub, She Who Must Be Obeyed (Coral...) and myself looked at going to Finnish Lapland for the Midnight Sun. We've been to area on previous occasions - We were married in Finland in the snow and we'd had a fantastic time skiing there as well - so as the alcohol slowly disolved various important neurons, we hatched a plan to visit the area in the summer, and in particular to go for the Midnight Sun when there's a big, big party involing drink and bonfires After lengthy discussions, we ended up with eight of us heading north - SWMBO, Paul, plus various in-laws. We'd settled on driving there, as air travel for the masses seemed very ex- pensive as it's the low season. So we loaded up the big blue Fun Bus, headed down to Folkestone for the Chunnel and then turned north and travelled north for two days until we arrived 100 miles above the Artcic Circle, in the ski resort of Levi. So, after 2000 miles on the road, a few days of being a tourist, and many mosquito bites (Although we did manage to sneak off to the Mart- tiini Knife factory), we slipped off for an hour on 11pm in Levi one of the local lakes, (possibly...) Immeljarvi At the get on Heading down the lake Looking back at the put in 'ello Paul www.midlandcanoeclub.com Page 3 Trees... More trees, and a nice house As we headed down the lake, the weather changed and the wind picked up. As the lake was small, so were the waves, but there were white horses appearing and as we were heading down wind we decided to cut the trip short, head across to the lea shore and paddle back up to the van.