Four adults, a toddler, and a golden retriever….and a canoe!

Last weekend, we met up with our good friends Rich and Clem in the village of Odiham in Hampshire. We had been talking about a trip out in their canoe for a while now, and we finally found a weekend to give it a go.

We had hastily ordered a lifejacket for our son Sam, but other than that our preparation was pretty minimal. What could possibly go wrong in trying to fit four adults, a toddler and a golden retriever into a floating vessel designed for two people!?

The weather hadn’t been kind to us, and after munching our sandwiches under a tree, we popped the canoe into the water and started to load ourselves in.

Somehow (and I’m not quite sure how…), managed to not only fit ourselves in, but position ourselves in a way where two of us could still paddle, and none of us would fall out.

We set off along the Basingstoke canal, and whilst it was a bit cramped, it was a huge amount of fun. Sam loved going under bridges and seeing the ducks as we paddled past. Our dog also loved seeing the ducks as well, which gave us a bit of a fright when he would lurch suddenly to try and go for them – causing us all quickly lean the other way to counterbalance!

It didn’t just rain, but it absolutely bucketed it down. We took shelter under a bridge and continued our picnic, and even found time to share a quick can of beer (which is a tried and tested method of protecting yourself against rain).

We got back to the cars, drenched but having had an absolute blast – straight into the pub to warm up!