Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Back on the water. Heavenly.

Wow.

Can you say funover or what?

Let's stick to just one topic for today, cause there is so very much to say.

Since I am such a boat-y water-y kind of gal, I thought I would ponder, punt around, piddle about and talk about punting on the Cam.  That'd be the river in Cambridge, UK.

Can I just say, every bit as cool as it seemed.

Can I also just say that it is way harder than it looks.  I am a boating kinda person, I've poled upstream in a canoe, I can sail just about anything, row a dingy, you get the idea.  This was not easy folks.

The pole weighs quite a bit in fact, and directional stability is a challenge.  That said, the learning curve was steep, and the sailing experience paid off, in that I could use the pole as a rudder in order to correct my direction from a badly placed punt shove.

We saw one guy who'd fallen in, and another go in.  (Higher than normal stats.)  He got the top of the punt stuck under a bridge and the bottom on the bottom and decided not to let go when the punt kept on going.  Like the man said, "If the punt gets stuck, let go.  It dries off a whole lot faster than you do."

It would be not too hard to fall off at first.

Youngest was working at it, she was coming up to one bridge with the punt crosswise in front of her.  The bridge is narrower than the punting pole.  Sweep. She got it sorted out in time.  She really did quite well in fact.  Eldest was less persistent.

The UK is lovely, honestly, it really is.

Saw lots and lots of narrow boats.  This has been a longtime obsession of mine....I even have a cruising guide somewhere!

Wonder what Chuck would think?

7 comments:

Beth said...

You are such a water baby!
And a boat lady...

Anonymous said...

I would love to see a picture of you punting on the Cam! What do these boats look like? How large are the poles?

Anonymous said...

oops! I see it below. Funny though, it actually looks like I thought it would.

J.G. said...

What a wonderful adventure! Did you laugh when the guy poled in? (Is there boating etiquette about that?)

oreneta said...

Beth, I was thinking similar things, I just love being on the water, I really do.

Carla..there you go! Though that isn't me punting anyway.

JG, it was fun! We actually didn't laugh. Not quite sure why.

Helen said...

Friends had a narrow boat holiday and then went and bought themselves one Now retired they went all the way across Britain last summer.

oreneta said...

Helen, can't say I'm not sorely tempted, a great way to see the land, no?