Why you should recce your get-off point...

Well, that's the first day over, and what a day it was!
We left from the Rose Revived to resounding cheers, seen off by the Mayor of Witney. After that the team quickly settled into a groove, cruising along at a steady pace.
At the first couple of locks we were greeted by Ricky and Judy, who were being our land crew for the morning. I must say, one feels quite special arriving to cheers, hoots and applause!
We travelled on into the afternoon, singing songs, chatting and occasionally stopping at locks to throw a frisbee around (while waiting for another boat to come through), and arrived only slightly late into Oxford, where a HUGE CROWD was there, and we were again met by cheers and applause. Andy McCulloch: you are a legend, sir.
We made good time down to Abingdon, where we were aiming to stop. Such good time, in fact that we canoed straight past the canoe club we were aiming to stop at (we weren't sure it was the right one) before Andy had arrived in the bus to meet us!
It was only about a mile further downstream that some helpful locals informed us of our error, at which point we agreed it was easier to carry on 'downhill' that turn around.
Well, everyone is packing up around me, so no time to post pics. However, there are some on Twitter (not the Wheel2Wheel ones!) and don't forget you can see where we are on our website.

And then there were 3...

3 days? Honestly, where does the time go?
This is what the world outside our office looks like today:

See all the canoes?

They're going to be canoeing down the Thames.

I'm going to be in one of them.
For 6 days.
My arms will be tired.
So will everyone else's.

What? You want to help?? Thanks! You can support the event here!
Or... you could come and see us on our way. You can find out where we are by looking at this map. We're where the little red badge is. You're welcome, by the way.
We'll also be putting up photos, and more blog-type-thingies as we're going down the river. Check the site for more info.

15 Days?!

If my Virgin Money Giving page is anything to go by, there are apparently only 15 days left until the start of Witney to Westminster! Where has all the time gone?
To be honest, I'm a little concerned that I haven't done much canoeing recently, but I'm sure it'll all come flooding back (see what I did there?) once we're underway. If you're reading this, and you haven't supported me yet, now's your chance! All the money raised is going towards helping Adventure Plus do what it does best: show children and young people how to enjoy the amazing world God has given us to play in... sorry, I mean: look after. But who says you can't do both?
On that note, I'm off climbing tomorrow, which is technically training for me, while most of the rest of the team are actually getting some canoeing practice in as part of a Level 2 course. But while it seems like it's all fun and games, in actual fact, the more training we do, the more fun we can give to the groups we work with. It's a win-win situation!