Tuesday 9th February, AVON EPIC! Day 2

47 miles completed, 103 to go.

The true stoics (Rae and Mike) bivvied out in the true spirit of the adventure and woke up to find a dusting of snow on the ground. After another fine breakfast at the Keech's we were off.......The day started early with the team on the canal by 8.45 am. There was ice in places and some people felt a little achy but the main diversion was Pete's impressive dive in at the end of the 1st leg (he claims he was surfing the boat!).
After the usual rendezvous issues team and minibus were re-united and a smaller contingent set off down the River Avon (resembling a ditch). This section saw the team slaloming through shopping trolleys, traffic cones, lap top bags and limboing under trees. A few small weirs and some tight bends made this an entertaining section. Ewan and Rae kindly waited by a very low bridge that was completely blocked by debris to warn us before we handed over the baton to the next team.
Thinking the river was going to get wider and deeper after the ford we set off only to discover more trees including some river wide blocks that we had to negotiate. (The art of tree climbing in Kayaks has been invented.)Then we handed the baton to the canoeists...
We started off with a death defying six foot vertical drop down the bank and into our canoes, luckily we all landed in our seats and survived. Our paddle journey was superb and picturesque, canoeing whilst the sun is setting always seems like a good idea. Our journey involved lots of bridges and wildlife, but the best bit was finishing at a lovely pub with a roaring fire and sampling the local hospitallity. Meanwhile the kayak team were.....setting off into the jungle once more - or at least it felt that way. The river went through many wooded areas and then opened out just enough to fool us into thinking we could get through. Many trees were climbed over and freezers bypassed before the long walk out in the dark meant we finally found mike and the minibus at 7.00.
The day ended with a gorgeous curry and by 10pm most of the team were in bed tired from their long paddles.