Aka the lure of the Gastrobus.
Time and tide wait for no coastal paddler, which wasn't the first thought that went through my head when I woke up to see 05:40 on the alarm clock on a Saturday morning. Breakfast but no coffee as the machine would wake everyone else up, maybe there's something to be said for instant...? Decant board and paddling stuff from the house to the van as quietly as possible and wait for Tom to arrive. Vehicle Tetris to get him off the double yellows and off to collect Paul.
07:20 and Bantham car park is quiet, a few dog walkers (just a bit jealous) and some paddle boarders waiting for us. Time to inflate and go.
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| Let's Paddle |
Real selection of boards on the water in the group, all from Red Paddle Co, we could have been running a demo day for them. One 2014 10' Surfer that Dan was trying out on his second paddle, 2 old 10'6" Rides with Paul and Tom, a 2011 Race with Russ, a box fresh 2014 Race with Rich for it's first outing and my 2012 Explorer.
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| Rich and Dan taking length and width. |
High tide was past us but the water was still slack, we had a tail wind and no desire to go play at the river mouth so we drifted upstream with no plan, other than to get back to the GastroBus for breakfast later.
Last time I was here we had an aim, the bridge at Aveton Gifford. Now there was more time to look around along the banks on either side, no sign of kingfishers today, we were probably chatting too much.
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| Limbo? |
Even with 'the big fin' fitted the opportunity for some really shallow paddling is always tempting, usually to see what might be living in the shallows, but one of the the mud flat / mash on one of the river bends proved to be a little shallower than I thought.
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| Nose ride. |
The balance board I invested in must be doing some good though, walk to the nose and paddle on, fin clearing the water at the back. Not sure I'd get away with that in anything other than glassy conditions.
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| Road SUP |
We got to the tidal road just below Aveton Gifford before deciding to turn back, not before a quick slalom between the poles and a set of half hearted sprints along the length of the submerged section. Plenty of debate on how passable it might be at high tide before heading back. Even from here I could smell the bacon.
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| How far forward... |
This far up river there's a wealth of wildlife; cormorant, mute swans, Canada geese, mallards and other ducks I couldn't identify with any number of small waders and the unseen cackle of jays and the song of wrens close in to the bank.
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| Canada, not Canadian Geese |
Whist checking if the plural was 'Canadian' geese I ended up back in Uppsala courtesy of
Carl Linnaeus, 3 degrees of separation from work.
The return, as always recently, was into a headwind making progress slower for the shorter boards and less experienced paddlers.
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| Turn around, direction and camera |
Catamarans. Just too tempting not to pass under them when the opportunity arises. Even when there are fried breakfast products nearby.
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| Russ hiding, badly. |
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| Russ, me, Paul. Red Paddle Catalogue Shot. |
Most of the way back was in the lee of the hill behind Bigbury but as soon as we left that protection for the last leg to the quayside conditions deteriorated, not massively but enough for a proper workout and a mini race with Russ.
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| Keeping an eye on Russ in the bacon race. |
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| Dan learning about RSS batons from Rich. |
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| Waiting at the bus, bacon out of shot. |