Thames Kayak Camp

On Sat 11^th of November 23, Dave Jai and Pete set off from Oxford on a two day, one night kayak camping trip towards Culham.

The river Thames was on red boards all the way from Cricklade to Teddington, some 130 plus miles, so the flow was with us as we were paddling downstream all of the way.

The weather was sunny with very little wind although the maximum temperature predicted was a mere 10 degrees and dropping to 2 degrees at midnight, and light showers on the Sunday.

With the fast flow in mind, we were not in a rush to get on the water as distance was not going to be an effort.

After packing and loading the boats at Dave’s house, Pete returned to his, to collect the last few things he needed and return his car to his wife, as it was on the way Dave and Jai would pick him up.

As we arrived at our get in we were met by about a hundred geese that could have been the results of the last time we did this trip, when the island we were camping on was shared with many nesting.

As usual we had a full safety briefing, warm up and double checked our kit, Dave and Graham done the shuttle run placing the van at our get out point.

As usual (on Daves trips) the sun was out, we had blue skies with very little cloud, no wind and the Thames seemed paddle perfect.

A short paddle to Iffley lock, also named Jesus lock by us due to the fact that a short portage is necessary and its the point you realise how heavy the boats are and most people mention Jesus at this point.

As we progressed to Sandford lock, we didn’t need to paddle much just use our stern rudder to steer as the flow was, although gentle quite fast and making progress was not an issue.

We normally go through Sandford lock but on this occasion couldn’t as the gates seemed to have malfunctioned, we spoke to the lock keeper who confirmed that due to the levels being all over the place at the moment the gates were temperamental, so we decided to portage and go around.

We were making really good time due to the fast flow.

On reaching the island we were camping on there was significantly less flow around the back, and it seemed really peaceful so that’s were we decided to make camp.

The get out was a little tricky, as Dave found out, and decided to exit his boat and swim to shore, before hauling Pete and Jai onto the bank backwards, not on purpose may I add.

We set about our camp, putting tents up, and erecting our group shelter that consisted of a throw line and tarp.

Also we dug a hole and collected some dead branches and with the tinder and kinder Dave and Jai had brought, the fire was soon alight.

The fire was lit and drying Dave’s wet boots as Pete went about toasting the socks. I must stress that he was not bullied into it, he was helping.

The temperature was dropping but the heat of the fire compensated for it, somewhere close by was having a fireworks display and we could hear the loud microphone as we went about cooking our dinners, but it surely beat the sound of pile driving we had last time we did this trip.

Laughter and great conversations kept us amused until bedtime, as well as drying Dave’s kit, we all retired to our tents and had a peaceful night.

Dave as usual, was up early with the kettle on, giggling to himself and asking everyone “whats ya name?” It wasn’t until we saw a video clip he produced on his phone that we knew what he was going on about but he had woken up with it in his head for some reason, and this led to many laughs on our journey.

We were visited by a family of swans looking for breakfast.

All packed up and the campsite left better than we found it, we proceeded back onto the Thames and downstream we went, a fast but gentle paddle past the entry to Swift Ditch that was roaring, and soon arriving at Abingdon Lock.

Another Portage was required here and we put all our rubbish into the bins provided and again had a great chat with another lock keeper.

We re-entered the water below the lock and it was pretty turbulent due to the flow from the weir.

Jai set off first looking for slack water and Peter followed, Somehow Jai decided to collide with a red buoy and test his self rescue skills, with a short swim back to the bank, Peter decided to try and beach his boat head on, and ended up sideways but everyone managed to safely return to the bank and regroup, Oh what fun we had, Passer’s by commented “Oh Dear” and walked off.

Take two we were all back on and soon nearing Jubilee Junction the entry to the Culham Cut and the last leg.

A nice gentle paddle brought us to Culham lock, the end of our journey, again the lock keeper was really helpful and allowed Dave to bring his van in so we could reload the boats and kit easily.

Yet another great time was had by all.

Write up by Dave.