It’s been a few months since I last did a session with the pupils from Concord College, in Acton Burnell. I think the wet, cold weather over the winter put them off! However, now that we’re starting to head into the Summer, there seems to be a renewed interest in getting out.

Today, I had the chance to spend the afternoon with 11 6th Form students. They’d actually spent the morning sitting an A level maths exam, so getting out and doing something completely different came as a very pleasant change after the pressure of exams. We’d arranged to meet by the River Severn at Shrewsbury weir, ready for a canoe journey downstream to Atcham.

I’d invited Chris Hughes to come along as well. Chris runs his own outdoor business and is a very experienced paddler. We’ve become good friends through working with each other, and like to get out for a paddle, climb or walk together when other commitments allow. In fact, in was only a few weeks ago that we actually paddled this very stretch of river together.

I’m guessing that the students had rushed out of the exam room and on to the minibus, as it seemed like everyone suddenly needed the toilet on their arrival! After sorting all the personal admin, fitting buoyancy aids, a warm up and a quick briefing, we were on our way. The weather had been quite threatening in the run up to the group arrival but, by the time we started, things were looking up. As is normally the case, a few canoes seemed to be able to paddle straight from the word go, whilst others pin-balled their way down the river for a while. A short race caused carnage at the start as all the canoes tried to get the better of each other but, in the end, it was those that could paddle straight that cruised to an easy victory. It goes to show it’s not all about muscles power.

A 10 minute stop to recharge the batteries, soon had the students throwing stones into the river. It wasn’t long before skimmers were bouncing their way across towards the far river bank with varying degrees of success. Chris was quick to point out that I seemed to be the most enthusiastic when it came to this particular activity – he was probably right but I wasn’t going to give him the pleasure of admitting it!

With another 7km to go, it was time to get our heads down and make some progress. On the whole, everyone seemed to be making more efficient headway until we rounded a corner and found ourselves paddling into a strong headwind. A few canoes seemed to cope fairly well, but several found themselves going backwards and unable to keep the canoes straight. One boat was actually flipped when the wind caught it at the wrong angle. After a few adjustments, advice and some hard work, everyone managed to make it the 300m into the next bit of shelter – well done everyone.

From here on, everyone seemed to get into the rhythm of the journey and progress became a much more laid back affair. There are a couple of short sections of slightly bumpy water, which gave them a bit more to think about, but nothing that they couldn’t cope with. We arrived at Atcham about 5-10 minutes after we’d predicted which wasn’t bad after the episode with the wind.

There seemed to be plenty of smiling faces at the end, as there had been throughout the trip, so we must have done something right. Well done everyone. I hope the rest of the exams go well!