Planning A Kayak Trip Along The Thames

[otolith]

RobM77 said:

I started the Thames Path last weekend, walking source to estuary, and will be doing Cricklade to Lechlade this Saturday. I kayak myself, so understand the depth required. I can post back on Monday if you like? It varies according to the season of course.

I often fish the Thames round Cricklade - haven't bothered much this year, there's been sod all water in it. I did speak to a couple of blokes once who were putting their boat in just upstream of Lechlade and planning the same sort of trip the OP mentions. I think Lechlade itself would be the easiest place to get to and get in and out.

[R500POP]

Anybody know what sort of distances we can expect to cover in a day? We are both of average fitness.

[anonymous-user]

R500POP said:

Anybody know what sort of distances we can expect to cover in a day? We are both of average fitness.

What type of boat do you have?

[R500POP]

bulldong said:

What type of boat do you have?

Non yet, will be whatever I can find cheap on ebay

Edited by R500POP on Thursday 27th October 16:38

[Vlad the Imp]

I did the Cricklade to Lechlade section last Sept in my Canadian open with a friend. The first 4 miles was pretty crap, we walked/dragged most of it as there wasn't enough water to paddle. In fact the river's not that nice at first, you're sunk into a ditch most of the time. Unless it's one of those things you want to tick off I wouldn't bother and would start in Lechlade.

There are more pubs after Lechlade too, an important consideration in any canoeing trip.

[anonymous-user]

R500POP said:

bulldong said:

What type of boat do you have?

Non yet, will be whatever I can find cheap on ebay

Edited by R500POP on Thursday 27th October 16:38

Ok, depending on boat type and flow I would suggest between 25 and 40 miles a day based on 8 hours paddling and a few breaks along the way etc.

[Tango13]

Simpo Two said:

R500POP said:

Jerome K Jerome - 3 Men In A Boat?

Yip!

'It cast a gloom over the boat, there being no mustard. We ate our beef in silence. Existence seemed hollow and uninteresting. We thought of the happy days of childhood, and sighed. We brightened up a bit, however, over the apple-tart, and, when George drew out a tin of pineapple from the bottom of the hamper, and rolled it into the middle of the boat, we felt that life was worth living after all.

We are very fond of pineapple, all three of us. We looked at the picture on the tin; we thought of the juice. We smiled at one another, and Harris got a spoon ready.

Then we looked for the knife to open the tin with. We turned out everything in the hamper. We turned out the bags. We pulled up the boards at the bottom of the boat. We took everything out on to the bank and shook it. There was no tin-opener to be found.

Then Harris tried to open the tin with a pocket-knife, and broke the knife and cut himself badly; and George tried a pair of scissors, and the scissors flew up, and nearly put his eye out. While they were dressing their wounds, I tried to make a hole in the thing with the spiky end of the hitcher, and the hitcher slipped and jerked me out between the boat and the bank into two feet of muddy water, and the tin rolled over, uninjured, and broke a teacup.

Then we all got mad. We took that tin out on the bank, and Harris went up into a field and got a big sharp stone, and I went back into the boat and brought out the mast, and George held the tin and Harris held the sharp end of his stone against the top of it, and I took the mast and poised it high up in the air, and gathered up all my strength and brought it down.

It was George's straw hat that saved his life that day. He keeps that hat now (what is left of it), and, of a winter's evening, when the pipes are lit and the boys are telling stretchers about the dangers they have passed through, George brings it down and shows it round, and the stirring tale is told anew, with fresh exaggerations every time.

Harris got off with merely a flesh wound.

After that, I took the tin off myself, and hammered at it with the mast till I was worn out and sick at heart, whereupon Harris took it in hand.

We beat it out flat; we beat it back square; we battered it into every form known to geometry - but we could not make a hole in it. Then George went at it, and knocked it into a shape, so strange, so weird, so unearthly in its wild hideousness, that he got frightened and threw away the mast. Then we all three sat round it on the grass and looked at it.

There was one great dent across the top that had the appearance of a mocking grin, and it drove us furious, so that Harris rushed at the thing, and caught it up, and flung it far into the middle of the river, and as it sank we hurled our curses at it, and we got into the boat and rowed away from the spot, and never paused till we reached Maidenhead.

http://www.forgottenfutures.com/game/boat/boat.htm

The lesser known sequel "Three Men on the Bummel" is worth a read if you can find a copy.

[RobM77]

R500POP said:

bulldong said:

What type of boat do you have?

Non yet, will be whatever I can find cheap on ebay

Edited by R500POP on Thursday 27th October 16:38

If you're not used to kayaking, you'll be using different muscles (shoulders, arms and glutes), so you may find it tough at first, but that your endurance improves throughout the trip. The other thing I've found is that there's a sweet spot of speed, beyond which you can double your effort and only go about 15% faster, so it's a waste of effort. The important thing is to find that most efficient power and rhythm to keep a good pace up for a long time. If it's a new boat too you may need to fiddle around to get comfortable.

The only problem really with just experimenting is that you need to know how far you're going to go because of parking the car... Unless for the first trip you could go as far as you want to, then get a taxi back to your car or get a friend to drop you back, then plan to do an extra half mile each time you do it.

There are too many variables really to quote a distance, and I've never really measured how far I go. My paddling endurance is similar to cycling I think in terms of time; it's a similar sort of physical effort.

[spitfire-ian]

Jobbo said:

gibbo216 said:

Lechlade is really the furthest upstream navigational part of the thames, although a few years ago you could have started at Tewkesbury.

While the Severn and the Avon meet at Tewkesbury, the Thames doesn't go there

Once there was a Severn to Thames route... http://www.cotswoldcanals.com/

[Jobbo]

spitfire-ian said:

Once there was a Severn to Thames route... http://www.cotswoldcanals.com/

Hardly counts as the Thames though

[R500POP]

This is the sort of thing we are going to buy, right or wrong.........

[rhinochopig]

R500POP said:

Simpo Two said:

NB If you know your literature, take a can-opener!

Jerome K Jerome - 3 Men In A Boat?

Worth stopping at the Bull at Sonning for tea / dinner. It used to be (and I'm sure it still is) a cracking pub with superb food.

[Ayahuasca]

Why connect Help for Heroes with the kayak trip?

I am sure if you asked people would donate without you having to set foot in a canoe.

I am a bit mystified by all the 'I am doing XYZ fun thing, but its for a good cause'.

[R500POP]

Ayahuasca said:

I am a bit mystified by all the 'I am doing XYZ fun thing, but its for a good cause'.

Because it's a challenge, if it was going down the pub, or something equally mundane I couls understand you point, but it's kayaking around 160miles, not an easy thing.

[RobM77]

R500POP said:

Ayahuasca said:

I am a bit mystified by all the 'I am doing XYZ fun thing, but its for a good cause'.

Because it's a challenge, if it was going down the pub, or something equally mundane I couls understand you point, but it's kayaking around 160miles, not an easy thing.

I must confess I'm with Ayahuasca on this one. I give money to charity, but I don't understand the link between doing something hard and charity. I've got a degree in Astrophysics, but I didn't consider getting sponsored to do it Equally, this time last year I couldn't swim more than 50 metres, so to do a triathlon I trained like crazy and got coaching every week, and no I can do a triathlon distance in a reasonable time, but charity never crossed my mind. I'm just not sure I 'get it'. Fair play to you though, it's a worthy cause and if they'll benefit then that's great!

[spitfire-ian]

Jobbo said:

spitfire-ian said:

Once there was a Severn to Thames route... http://www.cotswoldcanals.com/

Hardly counts as the Thames though

Oh I know, but it's slightly more accurate than the Thames running to Tewkesbury

[Simpo Two]

Tango13 said:

The lesser known sequel "Three Men on the Bummel" is worth a read if you can find a copy.

Yep, got that too (both inherited from my father) but haven't read it yet.

[R500POP]

Have just picked up a couple of 12ft ex-hire kayaks for the princely sum of £50, good overall condition structurally, need a lick of paint.

[otolith]

RobM77 said:

I must confess I'm with Ayahuasca on this one. I give money to charity, but I don't understand the link between doing something hard and charity.

It is a pretty weird tradition, with no logic to it at all, but it does seem an effective way of using friendship to persuade people to donate money they otherwise wouldn't.

[R500POP]

Now then, anybody fancy doing us a freebie paint job in return for their name on the kayaks??????????????