The English love to complain about travel by train, but if they were honest they would admit that the nation’s rail service is nothing short of stellar. Krista and I started our day’s journey toward the head of the River Thames at Paddington station, deep in the heart of London, and just over on hour later were stepping onto the platform at the village of Kemble in Gloucestershire.
We were met at the station by Brenda Turner, an administrator at Kemble Primary School. She took us to the school so that Krista and I could address students there about our journey. One of out themes was that the River Thames, one of the greatest waterways in the world, is as much theirs as anyone’s. The mighty river begins in a field just a few hundred metres from their homes. The students were polite, attentive, enthusiastic, and asked a lot of great questions. “What animal are you most afraid of?” “What has been your favourite adventure?” “Are you getting your food from the ocean?” Krista pointed out that fish have little to fear from us, as we are both vegetarian.
At the Thames Head Inn, our home for the night, we were met by Pete from Whitewater- The Canoe Centre. Pete delivered to us a beautiful sparkling new yellow Venture Prospector 15 canoe which Krista and I will use to get downstream from Kemble until the Thames becomes tidal at Teddington. After a drink (two drinks, actually), Krista and I applied to the canoe a series of adhesive decals provided by our trip’s sponsors, including Pelican Cases and Astrae Natural Sunscreen. Other sponsors were not able to give us decals, but in an attempt to show our gratitude, we used indelible pens to sketch their logos on the hull. This group included Mountain Equipment Co-op, Kokatat, Mountain House Freeze-dried Meals, and Salomon. Given my tumble in the ten mile road race yesterday, we probably should have asked for sponsorship from Band-aid Adhesive Bandages and Bayer Aspirin.
The personnel at the Thames Head Inn treated us like minor celebrities – not exactly Her Majesty, but certain one of the less well-known royals. Ben and Chris provided us with a place to lock up our canoe for the night, and a fine meal. If you need a place to spend a quiet night in the Cirencester area, please do yourself a favour, and stay at the Thames Head Inn.
Before we depart tomorrow, we still need to construct from a twig a small flag pole for the Canadian and Australian flags we brought along. It will be our last formal act of preparation before we start dragging our new canoe along a course that will, eventually, become the River Thames.
A parade of preparations is behind us. Tomorrow we begin.
- Glen