Taking the Plunge by Patrick Forbes

Patrick Forbes is eighty six years young and taking the plunge learning to paddle(canoe and kayak) with Canoe Trail for a charity fundraiser for dimentia (Taking the Plunge)

Taking the Plunge

In my early eighties I discovered the joys of kayaking. Okay, so I’m a late developer.  When we moved to Clapham, Bedford, my wife Annette had been diagnosed with dementia, and we discovered the wonderful charity Tibbs Dementia Foundation. Tibbs saved our lives, we went to three of their activities each week, two Music4Memory sessions and one arts workshop,  until Annette was taken into residential care last December.

I had my first kayak lesson  with Canoe Trail in Kempston, about half a mile from Annette’s care home.  Launching the two person kayak I was to paddle with instructor Calum, I slipped and fell into the River Great Ouse. Cold and wet, I continued with the two-hour lesson and was beginning to thaw out by the end and changed into the clothes I had brought with me.

I was not at all put off and already had shared the mad idea of kayaking with an old friend from Bedford to Kings Lynn to raise money for Tibbs Dementia Foundation.

I had some more lessons with Calum, and he told me of an inflatable double kayak on sale in Norfolk. I bought one, we pumped it up and set off for its maiden voyage up to Kempston Weir.

Fitness clearly matters if you’re planning an over 80-mile sponsored paddle, so I signed up for Canoe Trail’s three day April canoe and wild camping trip on the River Tweed, canoeing from Kelso to Berwick on Tweed.

I last slept in a tent in the late 1950s, and I wasn’t clever enough to get advice on the size of rucksack I should buy. I bought one which was twice the size it needed to be, filled it up with clothes and nearly crippled myself while trying to catch four different trains on the way North to Berwick.

The canoeing was fabulous, hard work as the four canoes were filled with all stuff, tents, cooking gear and food. I slept well in Canoe Trail’s single person tent. I didn’t master the clever putting up technique but was some help taking it down!

Swans and their cygnets were using the Tweed as their Top Swan training area, we saw herons and mergansers, some deer, and the weather was kind and sunny. The food and company were excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Rich, Canoe Trail’s founder is a great teacher and thought I did well. I could be their oldest student at 86. 

Back in Berwick I bought a rucksack half the size of the first one, and Canoe Trail kindly brought the large one home for me.

I look forward to many more adventures with Canoe Trail before we set off for Kings Lynn on August 11^th. If anyone can kayak with us for the odd day as safety boat, please let Canoe Trail know.

Patrick Forbes