Paddling for water storage tanks at Mutemwa Leprosy Care Centre Zimbabwe: day four on the River Stour

We just wanted to give you an update as to how our fundraising is going. We have now reached a total of £3,688.00! This is fantastic! We have passed the original target of £3000 and so with extra sponsorship, we will be able to buy even more water tanks for the Leprosy Care Centre. Thank you so much to all of you who have kindly sponsored and donated so far, we couldn't do this without your support. Please spread the word and share the link (here), if you can.

Well, in four days we have paddled 35.8 miles, which means that we have just under 100 miles to go. 

A landmark in our progress and we have made a good start to our sponsored canoeing adventure, in support of Mutemwa Leprosy Care Centre, on our beautiful little River Stour.

 The official day for starting this paddle was going to be July 1st (which is the usual time that I start my solo Thames trips.) For several reasons we started a bit early.
 1. Because of the extremely good weather that we have had recently.
 2. Was because it was a good idea to show James the full river before July, as he hadn’t canoed much of it before. By the time six laps have gone by he will know it intimately!

Yesterday's paddling was cancelled due to very strong winds and it is just as well, for today we came across another huge willow tree that had been blown over right across the river, (about half a mile up river from Boxted Mill not far from the other one that we had to duck under). This new fallen tree was still fresh and the inside of the trunk, when looking up where it had split off from the main trunk, was still a yellowish colour compared to an older fallen tree we had seen that was white, bleached by the sun in time perhaps. We discussed what a loud crack it must have been when the tree broke and crashed down. Luckily, although it is right across the river, there was a gap for us to paddle through.

Today was much less windy but rather overcast, which does not give such colourful photographs but still, even though the sky was grey, our Spirits weren’t and we had a really enjoyable day on the second half of the lower river. 

There were not many other people out on the water but we said hello and chatted a bit to those we met and waved to those we passed.

The cut reed floating island, after Anchor Bridge in Nayland,  seems to have doubled in size and was so heavy that we had to haul the canoe over the top of it today. The little rain that we have had in the last day or two has also made a difference to the level of the river and there was much less having to get out to walk the canoe over the stones that can really damage the plastic bottom, so that was easier.

There were many swallows about, drinking ahead of us on the wing and the skylarks were singing away around Langham Hall’s water meadows. I saw a Kingfisher and a huge Heron took off in flight just ahead of us. The Moorhens have all got chicks who are very sweet to watch. We took some time to admire the blackberry bushes full of lovely soft pink flowers that are being enjoyed by bees and bumble bees as they fly from flower to flower, sucking up the nectar while getting their back legs full of pollen which then pollinates the next flower. Whatever would we and our planet do with our beautiful busy bees. 

The reflections on the water were still there today, but are not as sharp as you will see, because of the dimmed light from being so overcast with clouds. However, here are a few anyway along with some other interesting river plant flowers.

Going through Boxted Mill pond again, we paddled a bit closer to the Archimedes screw, so that we could get a better photograph of the motionless screw as it was still and not in use today. We wondered why. Only the weir next to it was flooding over. 

So, there we are, that is about it for today's paddle. Tomorrow we will do the same again to get some miles in. The reason that sometimes we stay closer to home and paddle the lower river more often, is because our 'driver' drop off and pick up is my daughter who is now back to work two days a week on a Tuesday and Wednesday and so we have to juggle the trip around work commitments. She is an English School teacher and the schools are all trying to get back to some sort of teaching.

When on the Thames adventures, Nicola would drop me off at Cricklade, at the navigable source of the Thames and say “ Goodbye Mummy, have a good trip and see you at Teddington Tidal Lock in London” and off she would go and I would be on my tod for the next two and a half to three weeks living wild and never knowing where I was going to find a piece of suitable river bank or island to make an overnight camp. This is one of the reasons that I love paddling the Thames. You live in the moment totally and life just ‘happens’ perfectly!

All the best

Teresa and James

Teresa Yonge and James Perkins are doing a 134-mile sponsored Paddle on the River Stour in East Anglia, for Mutemwa Leprosy Care Centre in Zimbabwe for water storage tanks. You can read their previous blogs chronicling the journey here and here. You can donate to their campaign here.