CSCC Reports 2004: River Rother, 28 March 2004

Rother was all very early what with the hour change. But a success I think. A lovely mild day. Bridget, Mark, Martin and Julia did the first 8 miles while Chris, Pete and Hils completed the 14 mile trip. All were on the river by 10:30am.

We had a bit of an epic on the steps – Chris went first and swam. He was held in a stopper for a while and at one point was lying face down with two throwlines round his neck, but got out OK. His boat must have been held for about 20mins until a make shift harness was designed (by Bob!) and a rescuer was lowered in to pull the boat out.

After that scare the rest of us decided to portage the steps. Chris's first words after he reached the bank was ‘did you get a photograph?’

Worst part of the day was getting to Chiswick to find the road to the boat shed closed because of the boat race - had to go the long way round over millions of very pointy speed bumps.

All images ©2004 CSCC/Peter and Hilary Lawrence - words by Martin S and Hilary L