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Devizes to Westminster the \'Easy Way\'

Pete James / 28.04.2003

This was not a happy swan. It\'s huge white wings were arched over it’s back and neck stiffly erect. Our three kayaks swept past in tight formation, each paddler focused intensely on nothing but the boat next to them. I became aware of a sound I hadn\'t heard for a year - strong wings beating on the water. As if in a bad dream, I twisted in the cockpit of the boat and turned towards the sound, paddle stretched out for balance. The blade of the paddle connected with a large, angry bird that I knew was more than capable of breaking my arm, barely a foot away from me. The swan retreated. My heart racing, I paddled hard for a least a kilometre before calm returned.

The same swan had chased me in the same place the previous Easter. Then I was competing in the 125 mile long Devizes to Westminster canoe race in a K2 (2 person racing Kayak) with my Canadian friend \"Super Dave\" Norona, so dubbed by those in the know for his incredible all-round sporting ability and undaunted enthusiasm for adventure. That had been a non-stop paddle through a day and a night. In the solo race we would (for safety reasons) cover the distance over four days. Swans aside, this lends a very different character to the race.

The non-stop race had been a comparatively leisurely affair, with a relaxed level of paddling effort appropriate to going the distance. For the solo race we paddled harder, but for \"only\" 6 hours a day. In the non-stop race we were fed little and often by up to five support crews: two full-time and three \"guest\" crews, leap-frogging each other along the course. For the stages race we needed less looking after, and mostly relied on one crew for our two separate boats - Phill and Ashley handing out drink bottles and stuffing the food into our baby bird mouths. FEED ME!!!

The standard of the top paddlers was awe-inspiring. They covered the 35 mile stages in less than 5 hours, with low water levels and a head-wind to contend with. Not to mention all those portages (77 in total).

The character of the race changes pleasantly over the course - from the narrow channel of the Kennet and Avon canal, to the river Kennet (part canal, part easy moving river), a few pleasant twists and turns through old buildings in Newbury and views of the White Horse on the chalk down-lands. In Reading bars and restaurants float over-head, as you slip by almost unseen. As you leave the Kennet at the impressively named \"Dreadnought Reach\", the mighty river Thames seems somehow too small. But it widens quickly enough, and by the time your reach Wesminster you are flying down the middle of a vast waterway at almost twice the speed, trying not to think about how far you will have to swim if you are unlucky enough to fall in.

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