Great Day For A Paddle
Although it looked quite bleak it wasn’t cold as we headed to meet at the clubhouse. A nice warm room waited for us to get changed and ready to start. Although there seemed to be a slight nip in the air at first, it wasn’t cold when we set off at 1115 on our first local clean up. We were armed with our grippers and collection bags, with Phil’s craft upgraded with plastic boxes tied front and back to collect rubbish.
We started with the Batchworth Lock area with its surrounding connections and were soon collecting all sorts of rubbish from the local water bushes. One local barge owner queried what we were doing and when she realised said ‘Oh, great. Can you get that plastic shoe that’s in the bushes across from me, as it’s been irritating me for ages!’ In seeking out ‘her shoe’ we found an unmarked paddle deep in the bushes and eventually managed to drag it out. The bargee agreed to look after it for us.
Having covered down to the two weirs (Chess and Colne) and the water company lock area, we portaged Batchworh lock. As we already had two sacks of rubbish by this time, we left it there to collect on the way back. We headed towards Mead Lock collecting on our way. Unusually the junction of the canal meeting the River Gade was virtually clear, so our sometime source of floating tennis balls provided none!
It was slow going as we had the odd chat along the way with dog walkers, cyclists and runners. Overall, it was a nice gentle paddle and a lovely day for it. We collected the paddle and sacks from Batchworth area and headed back to base, nice and relaxed, pleased we had done our bit.
The rubbish will end up at the tip, the glass into recycling and the sack full of plastic will go to Reap-uk.org who recycle discarded aquatic plastic to make boards.
The paddle, which is quite old but functional, is unmarked so it won’t be easy to return to its owner. We will hold it at the club house. This shows that kit should have some form of ID on it, be it club ID, telephone number or email, in case it gets washed away, so that it then has a chance of being returned.
We do paddle all year and it was good to be on the water. Don’t be put off because its Winter. With the right clothes you will be fine.
write up by CRH.