This morning I had the pleasure of spending some time with the staff from the Birmingham branch of the Pegasus Planning Group, based in Sutton Coldfield. Today was their chance to get out of the office and let their hair down with an ‘jolly’.

When they originally contacted me, the plan was to spend the morning on the River Severn, probably doing the trip from Shrewsbury weir down to Atcham. However, as it became apparent how tight their schedule for the day was, combined with the expected traffic caused by the V Festival at Weston Park, we ended up opting for a canal journey instead.

Due to having a group of 22 going on the water, I also brought in Chris Hughes to help me out for the morning. Chris is a local instructor that I have worked with on a number of occasions, and we have often been out onto the rivers and mountains together.

As with many office ‘bashes’, by the time they arrived at our start point at Lower Frankton, many of the group seemed well loosened up, judging by the number of cans of lager they had in tow. It took a little while to get everyone kitted out with buoyancy aids, and I didn’t bother giving them any instruction on how to control the canoes. I figured they were out for a laugh and it was all part of the fun anyway. At the end of the day, being on a canal rather than a river, create a bit of a safety margin anyway.

As expected, many of the boats were all over the place to start with, but they learnt quickly. This learning process was probably accelerated by the desire to stay well away from the boss, who seemed determined to get everyone else as wet as possible. In their over zealous determination to cause havoc, he and his paddling partner ended up going for a swim on several occasions. At one point, I set these two the task of paddling over the top of another canoe. They relished the challenge, but whilst they performed this precarious act (surprisingly well actually) many others took the opportunity to paddle as far away from them as possible.

Once we arrived at the Queens Head, our pre-arranged get out point, the group all dived into the clubhouse of Shropshire Paddlesport, where hot showers and drinks were on offer. However, I did notice less interest in the tea and coffee than in the beers stored in the coach!

Thanks to everyone, both to the group and to Chris, for making it a great morning.