The time of year has arrived when I find myself paddling on The Mere fairly regularly. Whether it be for skills courses, team building, schools groups or parties, The Mere is a great venue for a broad section of people. This morning was the second canoe party of the year. Much warmer than the last one, but still quite breezy which was always going to cause a few issues.

Once kitted up, we messed about on the Mere side for a while getting everyone warmed up and having fun before venturing onto the water. We tried to head straight for the shelter of the trees, but some of the girls found the going rather tough and needed a bit of a tow, while others managed surprisingly well.

With a bit of still water, we were able to play some games, have various races and a few silly challenges along the way. The girls seemed to like throwing wet balls at me, which was a source of great fun, and probably became the favoured game of the morning – and I thought girls were supposed to be nice!

Having made our way back to the put in, it was time to give the girls a chance to get wet. I gave them a number of options for challenges, and it was interesting to see different people favouring different tasks.

The balancing challenge in the picture is a common favourite, and is usually achieved successfully, but these two quickly found out just how cold the water still is after the winter.

We may not have found any olympic paddlers, but certainly had a lot of fun. Thanks girls for letting me be part of it. Happy birthday Abi!