Leisure paddle trip to Winsford Marina 5th Feb 2023 by Allan Blanchard (led by John Fay)
A big thank you to everyone who turned up, Diane Rogan, John Fay, Jacki Jenkins and myself. A bigger thank you to John for leading the group and taking us on an expedition up the ‘Orinoco’!
The 4 of us met up at the Winsford Marina carpark at 1000 and were all on the water by 1030. We Paddled around Bottom Flash, wishing one of the caravans in the caravan park could be made into our r Club hut back on Coburg Dock. We then set off up the river Weaver where we enjoyed weaving around a few downed trees that were causing a bit of an obstacle. We all safely managed to paddle around them with John encouraging and supporting us to paddle against the faster flows further up the river.
We earned our stop for lunch when we discovered the river was getting shallower and faster. John enjoyed his pork pies whilst the rest of us watched on.
Once we were all back on the water, we paddled back down the river and back onto the Bottom flash, watching for local wildlife. We decided to paddle North out of the flash and down the Navigation Weaver. We all had a bit of a play in the ‘waterfall’ coming into the Weaver near to the Salt Mine. After paddling around the next corner, which was never-ending, we headed back to the Marina carpark. It had been a great paddle with great company and a paddle enjoyed by all, away from the Docks, again.
Allan/John
