River Avon - Saltford to Keynsham

Several of us had managed to get away from work really early so we were able to get a car with several people's dry kit in it at the car park in Keynsham before we made a start. We met at Saltford Shallows car park and initially 6 of us set off down to the Jolly sailor weir. The river was fairly fast and a lot of water was running over the weir. The first three paddlers made it down the chute over the weir upright, then one-at-a-time the next three paddlers all proceeded to capsize at the bottom of the weir. Dave recovered each soggy paddler and the paddlers were taken to the exit and were able to climb back into boats. Andy did his first seal-launch of the jetty. we then played in the weir for a while waiting for another two paddlers to join the trip. They managed the weir staying more-or-less vertical. Another paddler ended up swimming in the weir- but again Dave came to the rescue.

We then set off at a reasonably brisk pace down to the next lock. We had a tennis ball, and two lively teenagers- so there was a lot of fun chasing each other and the ball while developing skills at attempting to avoid each other. At the second lock we climbed out and portaged the boats. Martin decided to seal launch into the lock- about a ten foot drop, but the rest of us seal launched from a much more modest foot or so. We then set off again for Keynsham and made very good time. As we re-entered the water there was an egret in the tree only a few feet away. The first time I have seen an egret on that stretch of river. There was still a lot of fun throwing the tennis ball for people to chase, and we made very good time down to Keynsham. When we got near to the get-out point I felt really disppointed that we were alread near the end. We all stayed in the water for a while chatting and/ or playing with the ball. We then climbed out of the lock, carried the boats back to the pub car park and wended our weary way home. A great fun evening of paddling, mischief and fun

(Paddlers: Kyle, James, Dave, Ruth, Martin. Mike, Mike and Andy Organiser and chief rescuer: Dave)