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

Dear friends and members of John Bradburne Memorial Society,

Both James and I are so very grateful for all the wonderful, kind and generous support that we are receiving through this sponsored paddle for Mutemwa water storage tanks. It is just wonderful.

I know Mutemwa well and it holds such a big place in my heart. The community at Mutemwa are a joy to be with. There is so much love, joy, faith and laughter as you take a walk through the centre, even though many are living alongside the effects of Leprosy. There is always a buzz in the air!

What I love about this idea of paddling for water tanks is that there is a connection between paddling through water on our River Stour, to achieving water storage tanks at Mutemwa, ‘precious water’ being the key word, whether it be going with the flow of a fresh water river or filling up a water storage tanks.

We know that every penny that is given through your sponsorship and the JustGiving link, will definitely be used for buying and setting up these large water storage tanks, so with your kind generosity and efforts, there will be photos to come, and it will be a great pleasure to show you how your sponsorship has made a big difference to the water storage situation at Mutemwa.

Being able to help our Mutemwa community in some small way leaves us feeling so grateful and humbled at the response we have had. Thank you to you all.

Let us all hope and pray for this project to be successful and that we manage to reach our goal.

Yesterday was our fifth day paddling on the River Stour and again we made good progress and although the wind was still up, it was blowing WSW (west south west) so a lot of the time the wind was behind us and helping us along. We started off at Nayland again to a beautiful sky of blue and white clouds reflecting on the river as we dropped in and started the day's journey.

The cut reed blockage (just after Nayland Anchor bridge) seems to be getting bigger and is getting more difficult to push the canoe over it, for the river drops down quite deep on the left hand side and so it is trying to avoid slipping and going under as we heave the canoe across. Still, neither of us have fallen in deep yet!

In one of the photos you can see is how high the river level goes up after a lot of rain for the reed is caught up in the high branches. I have seen the Stour in flood and it is best to stay off it and let it wash through, for it can also be dangerous when passing under low trees and also the low metal bridge just before Wiston Mill, that you have to duck right down to get through and under even when the river is not in flood.

We came across some interesting things to look at including the cotton like puff of the seed clusters of the poplar trees and also an incredibly well-built spiders' nest all wrapped up in spun silk that nothing could damage and get through to the precious incubating hundreds of baby spiders inside. There is always so much to see on the river and always something new to catch your eye.

The new bull rushes’s long seed stem is turning colour, from green to brown as they ripen, and here, in the photos attached, is an example of that and also a bull rush about to explode its seed out into the river bank. 

Along the stretch between Stratford St Mary and Dedham Mill there is a fallen tree over the river that has a most interesting fungus black ball like fungus (Daldinia concentrica) that grows on the tree. It is known as King Alfred Cakes, coal fungus or cramp balls. They are to be found on dead or decaying wood. They look like smooth round clumps of coal as they are black and can be used as a natural tinder. If you break them open, you will see silvery rings for each year's growth. You can ignite these by using a fire steel and you can then carry the ball with you till you find a camp. The Cramp ball will smoulder away for a long time, so you can just have some dry grass to use with the tinder of the ball, blow gently on it and you have fire. I have lit them before and it is nice to watch them glow as you blow. 

The pairs and families of swans are always about, either feeding in the river or grooming themselves, and in the early morning just resting or asleep, head under a wing. All the signets are growing fast and the family of seven have gone down to six now. It makes you wonder how and what has happened. There are predators on the river that take them sometimes, especially at their young age they are a target. 

Reflections on the river continue to catch my breath and yesterday the cloud colour from white to dark grey is beautiful to look at too. We were caught in a bit of rain towards the end of our day near Cattawade which created the dark storm cloud and blue sky as it blew over. 

So, to keep you up to date with our progress, we have now paddled 47.4 miles on the River Stour. The length of the River Thames is 134 miles long from the navigable source at Cricklade to Teddington Tidal lock in London.  So that means we have another 86.6 miles to go to reach our target. Tomorrow hopefully, all being well, we will be starting at the top end of the River Stour at Sudbury, to paddle the upper river on our next leg.

Onwards and upwards for Mutemwa and my dear Uncle John bee.

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, here and here. You can donate to their campaign here.