This is it. The time has finally come. We are doing it again. It is the third time within the last five years that I stopped being a teacher for few months and became a kayaker. Only this time my decision of stopping has been final, the school could not give me another leave of absence without pay, I resigned. We are calling it an expedition. When we paddled around Britain we were, and still are, calling it a journey. We launched close to our home, made our way down the river, turned right and continued until we made the last right turn to paddle back up the same river. It has been a journey as we slowly transformed from occasional recreational paddlers to hard seasoned kayakers. The second venture has been a trip, the preparations were rather simple, we were counting in weeks rather than months. We went on a trip with unknown finish. We had to change our plan half way through, to make the most of the conditions and opportunities, and returned happy and content and wanting more. This time it is different. The complexity of logistics are making us to call it an expedition. After all we do have to transport the kayaks a considerable distance prior to launching and paddle. We are embarking on a journey in the unknown of a foreign country. And we do think that we would have to change our C&C journeying style to a more hard core Non Coffee and Cake at Every landing spot Expeditioning.
So far the preparations haven’t been hard hard, only a bit lengthy and complicated making everything to slot together in the right moment. The most important part of all was the same as previously, the decision to do it. Then came the aim, but as always, we are aiming high, wanting to accomplish another circumnavigation, we are very fond of those. The next important part was to find the time, when to do it. And of course, as we also like our life in London, and wish to keep our place, followed the need to find new flatmate. That was the moment while cleaning the bathroom prior to the flat viewing, I realised that the second stage of preparations has started.
The boats also needed sorting, we have high expectations of what we want from a boat, and so wanted to paddle in our trustworthy Paces. They were shipped last month and are still waiting to be released by customs.
We were lucky to secure help from Kokatat for our paddling clothes and buyoncey aids; Astral supported us with shoes, and Ortlieb with dry bags. We have the same tent but treated ourselves to new sleeping mats. The second part of the mission is almost accomplished. Next week us and our equipment will be on a plane.
Then, once we all group and regroup, we will be ready to paddle!
