GRRRRRRR.
The planned Reading to Marlow run was aborted on account of the roads being too dangerous for the support crew to pick us up. Undettered the two of us set off from the club heading upstream to Pangbourne.
Snow was being swept off the fields into our faces and despite gloves our right hands were frozen due to the prevailing wind, we pushed on and portaged early at Mapledurham lock, dog walkers looking on incredulously at the the loons in the river.
We had taken precautions we had a full change of clothes in the boat in the event of misshaps and the temperature had risen above freezing.
The next pound was straightforward and we pushed on past Pangbourne to Beale Park where we turned for the downstream leg.
Matt was suffering badly owing to an imbalance in the boat, I leaned to the left to compensate and things eased a bit, balance is key, Matt admitted he could not carry on with the pain he was feeling, I stopped whacking him with the paddle at this point and tipping snow down his neck........
We took a few points away from the session, notably don't let the pain build up and get absolutely square in the boat after each portage.
The landscape was stunning lots of wildfowl were moving and the snow covered fields were a sight to behold, life's good,
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