First Trip in Our Canoe

We took our newly purchased 2nd hand canoe out on the river for the first time this weekend. We picked up the canoe a couple of weeks ago, but it has taken until now to get buoyancy aids for Natalie and Mum, and to sort out a river permit for the canoe. It is a large Canadian open canoe, suitable for three adults. So Natalie had plenty of room to roam about inside. After a quick test with just Dad on board, we loaded up the canoe and put Natalie in the front with Mum. Natalie was a little uncertain at first, and kept falling over as she tried to walk about. But once we had got her sitting comfortably we set off up the river, and she delighted in seeing everything. Boats, ducks, Swans with cygnets and lots of different dragonflies and damsel flies.

Natalie sat happily on the seat with Mum.

We paddled off up the river, and after a while Natalie looked very tired and soon dropped off the sleep. We lay her down in the boat and paddled on. We were making great progress, and after an hour or so Natalie woke up and had some lunch. In fact she ate really well. Mum remarked that we should always try feeding her in a canoe if she ate that well. She is playing up a lot at meal times at the moment!

Natalie slept for over an hour as we paddled along

She will sleep anywhere when she wants to!

We decided to turn around after 2.5 hours of slowly paddling down river. This had mainly been against a gentle breeze, so in fact going back up stream was quite a bit easier. Natalie had got quite confident in the boat by now, and was coming to the back to see Dad, and then going back up the front to try and squeeze onto Mum's seat with Mum. This made paddling a little difficult! Then she discovered she could just about reach the water with her hands if she dangled them over the side. She loved that, squealing with delight as her hands got wet. At this point she suddenly leant a bit too far over the edge, pivoted on her life jacket on the side of the canoe and plunged head first into the river! At least we now know her life jacket works properly. She bobbed up to the surface and it flipped her over onto her back very quickly. Dad was able to grab her as she floated past the back of the canoe and haul her back aboard! We changed her into some dry clothes, and within 10 minutes she was smiling again and trying her best to fall out again as she would not sit down. So she was not put off by the experience. Next time we will take two spare sets of clothes so we don't have to confine her to sitting for half the trip if she falls in again.

On the way back to where we launched, we met a cow who had fallen into the river and could not get back up onto the bank. The rest of the herd were all looking on concerned, and this poor cow was getting rather tired. We knew the bank was lower further along, so we spent a while gently herding the cow along the river to try and get her to safety. Then just short of the easy way out, the cow decided to swim across to the other side, and we had to pass her, come around and herd her back across. Mum was concerned the cow would try to climb onto the canoe and capsize us. But we eventually managed a successful cow rescue before the poor beast became too exhausted to get out. Quite an adventure for our first 'quick try' with the canoe!