This morning I met the kid’s from the Adventure + programme at The Mere in Ellesmere, ready to go canoeing. Having got there early, I was able to get all the canoes and kit ready before they arrived so that we could crack straight on with things.

After a few silly warm up games, designed to get the blood pumping as well get everyone stretched, we spent a bit of time looking at how to paddle the canoes before getting on the water. I hadn’t bothered with last week’s group, as most of them had paddled with me before, but today’s group were a bit more of an unknown.

Shortly after we got on the water, an awkward breeze started blowing across our launching spot which caused a few problems. Most boats managed to overcome the difficulties it presented but, ironically, it was a pair that had paddled with me last week that had most difficulty and needed the most help. As a result of the wind, we didn’t get much opportunity to go for much of a journey, and found ourselves playing games in the shelter of the trees. However, after each game, we found ourselves having to paddle into wind to get back into the shelter as we were still getting blown away.

As the session was more dependent on games than usual, I found myself rather wet by the end, as these things tend to deteriorate into ‘let’s get the instructor’ mentality – all good fun!