Bank Holiday Monday was set to be a little grey with some light showers, and with the day off together, Keith and I were going to join in with a few others for some morning Kayaking at Knightwick.
Pretty much anyone who knows me, knows that I hardly drink. When I do it's just one or two of my standard Malibu and Coke, something to take the edge off but not really get me tipsy. After the 'Big Day' on Sunday of the bank holiday, I decided to partake in a couple of glasses of wine (well spritzers actually, but still, wine is a drink that is sure to get me tipsy) and then I went for the inevitable 'just one more' (twice), that got me a little merry. Without taking the precautions of a couple of glasses of water before bed, because 'I felt fine', I woke up on Bank Holiday Monday feeling just a little worse for wear! I'm a lightweight, and I'm not ashamed!
For damage limitation, I called a friend to check on my horse so I could spend a little longer in bed, and after being served with a cuppa, some toast and some painkillers, I decided I wasn't going to waste the day on a hangover. (I felt very spoilt getting breakfast in bed, perhaps I should have hangovers more often!) With a little help I could manage to go and get on the water, even if I didn't push myself today, an hour or so of practising the basics would still be better than nothing. So Keith got our kit ready while I just about managed to get dressed. I was honestly going to help, but it was all ready and boats on the car, by the time I got down the stairs!
The drive over to the weir, along some winding country lanes, did nothing to help my hangover, and as I was kitting up, behind the car in a layby once again, possibly giving a few motorists a little smile as I stripped to my bikini, I wondered if I should have stayed in bed. But I thought, I can stay on the flat water if I need to, or I can get out and watch if being on the water was too much, I'm certainly not going to ruin the session for Keith, who handles a drink or two much better than me.
The other two paddlers were well in to their session by the time we arrived, we were very late. So we got on the water pretty quickly, dropped down the weir and got to paddling.
Ok, I actually dropped down the weir, and went and sat in an eddy for a few minutes while I got my heart back in my chest, and my stomach back the right way up. I was as green as the wave.
I did a little practising back and forth across the ripples further down stream from the main wave, not pushing myself particularly hard, but just trying to focus on making everything as smooth as I could. Not just for the sake of practising my technique, but for the sake of keeping the contents of my stomach where they belong too!
It wasn't long before the other paddlers called it a day and packed up, so Keith suggested taking a paddle up stream on the flat water, and doing some practise looking for eddies, breaking in and out etc on the way back. The paddle up the stream was good exercise, and I was finding that I was gradually feeling better as time went on.
In taking this little venture we happened upon a really tiny little weir. Not a man made one, that creates the 'nice' wave they like to play on further down, but a natural line of rocks that gave a little ripple in the water. It wasn't enough to make any 'white water' so I guess this technically still counted as flat water, but just enough to create similar features, that looked very inviting to me.
Keith talked me through it all, the tongue, the green wave, the second wave, where the eddy lines were, confused water, and reminded me of the ideal angle of the boat I wanted, and what edge to use when I break in and so on. After watching him demonstrate, I had a go at ferry gliding across the top of the wave and back again. And here on this teeny little starter wave it started to feel good! Some of the random pieces of information started to fit together. I don't have a full picture, but maybe I've got a couple of pieces together in the corner of the jigsaw.
Then *drum roll please* I managed to surf the wave! It felt a little strange at first, but once I got used to the feeling of being on moving water and not going anywhere, that felt pretty ace too!!
Having achieved more with a hang over than I possibly could have imagined, I felt like getting out of bed had been worth it, and we made our way back down stream, looking for those eddies and trying a little manoeuvring around branches lying out in to the water.
We came back to the main wave where we started and went for going through it as the end bit of practise to the session. I asked Keith to go through some basics again, as without the eddy maker that is in the water when they they are playing on it, the wave was bigger. I had a little wobble where obviously I didn't go quite straight, but a little brace and I think possibly half a draw stroke? and I was through. The wobble and brace didn't feel like such a big deal this time, and my heart only lept half way out of my chest.
As we looked at the wave, discussing it a little in comparison with the tiny weir we had found further up, Keith described the dip and rise that forms the wave as a little bob. I told him that the wave in front of me was a big bob, and the wave I surfed further up could be called 'Little Bob'.
Life lesson for today. Even on a day when you feel like hiding from the world in bed, and you want to cancel all your plans for a little pity party, DON'T. Get up and try. Maybe you won't get everything done that you set out to do that day, but maybe, just maybe, you will achieve something more than you thought you could!
P.S. Then you can go back to bed like we did for a little nap, knowing that you haven't wasted TODAY.
Pretty much anyone who knows me, knows that I hardly drink. When I do it's just one or two of my standard Malibu and Coke, something to take the edge off but not really get me tipsy. After the 'Big Day' on Sunday of the bank holiday, I decided to partake in a couple of glasses of wine (well spritzers actually, but still, wine is a drink that is sure to get me tipsy) and then I went for the inevitable 'just one more' (twice), that got me a little merry. Without taking the precautions of a couple of glasses of water before bed, because 'I felt fine', I woke up on Bank Holiday Monday feeling just a little worse for wear! I'm a lightweight, and I'm not ashamed!
For damage limitation, I called a friend to check on my horse so I could spend a little longer in bed, and after being served with a cuppa, some toast and some painkillers, I decided I wasn't going to waste the day on a hangover. (I felt very spoilt getting breakfast in bed, perhaps I should have hangovers more often!) With a little help I could manage to go and get on the water, even if I didn't push myself today, an hour or so of practising the basics would still be better than nothing. So Keith got our kit ready while I just about managed to get dressed. I was honestly going to help, but it was all ready and boats on the car, by the time I got down the stairs!
The drive over to the weir, along some winding country lanes, did nothing to help my hangover, and as I was kitting up, behind the car in a layby once again, possibly giving a few motorists a little smile as I stripped to my bikini, I wondered if I should have stayed in bed. But I thought, I can stay on the flat water if I need to, or I can get out and watch if being on the water was too much, I'm certainly not going to ruin the session for Keith, who handles a drink or two much better than me.
The other two paddlers were well in to their session by the time we arrived, we were very late. So we got on the water pretty quickly, dropped down the weir and got to paddling.
Ok, I actually dropped down the weir, and went and sat in an eddy for a few minutes while I got my heart back in my chest, and my stomach back the right way up. I was as green as the wave.
I did a little practising back and forth across the ripples further down stream from the main wave, not pushing myself particularly hard, but just trying to focus on making everything as smooth as I could. Not just for the sake of practising my technique, but for the sake of keeping the contents of my stomach where they belong too!
It wasn't long before the other paddlers called it a day and packed up, so Keith suggested taking a paddle up stream on the flat water, and doing some practise looking for eddies, breaking in and out etc on the way back. The paddle up the stream was good exercise, and I was finding that I was gradually feeling better as time went on.
In taking this little venture we happened upon a really tiny little weir. Not a man made one, that creates the 'nice' wave they like to play on further down, but a natural line of rocks that gave a little ripple in the water. It wasn't enough to make any 'white water' so I guess this technically still counted as flat water, but just enough to create similar features, that looked very inviting to me.
Keith talked me through it all, the tongue, the green wave, the second wave, where the eddy lines were, confused water, and reminded me of the ideal angle of the boat I wanted, and what edge to use when I break in and so on. After watching him demonstrate, I had a go at ferry gliding across the top of the wave and back again. And here on this teeny little starter wave it started to feel good! Some of the random pieces of information started to fit together. I don't have a full picture, but maybe I've got a couple of pieces together in the corner of the jigsaw.
Then *drum roll please* I managed to surf the wave! It felt a little strange at first, but once I got used to the feeling of being on moving water and not going anywhere, that felt pretty ace too!!
Having achieved more with a hang over than I possibly could have imagined, I felt like getting out of bed had been worth it, and we made our way back down stream, looking for those eddies and trying a little manoeuvring around branches lying out in to the water.
We came back to the main wave where we started and went for going through it as the end bit of practise to the session. I asked Keith to go through some basics again, as without the eddy maker that is in the water when they they are playing on it, the wave was bigger. I had a little wobble where obviously I didn't go quite straight, but a little brace and I think possibly half a draw stroke? and I was through. The wobble and brace didn't feel like such a big deal this time, and my heart only lept half way out of my chest.
As we looked at the wave, discussing it a little in comparison with the tiny weir we had found further up, Keith described the dip and rise that forms the wave as a little bob. I told him that the wave in front of me was a big bob, and the wave I surfed further up could be called 'Little Bob'.
Life lesson for today. Even on a day when you feel like hiding from the world in bed, and you want to cancel all your plans for a little pity party, DON'T. Get up and try. Maybe you won't get everything done that you set out to do that day, but maybe, just maybe, you will achieve something more than you thought you could!
P.S. Then you can go back to bed like we did for a little nap, knowing that you haven't wasted TODAY.
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