• Home
  • Work with me / About me
  • Disclosure
  • Terms/Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Policy
    • Website Terms & Conditions
  • Contact

Northern Mum

Crossfitting, pancreas acting, single mum to three

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • mail

What Jane did next: with a kayak….

I don’t always think things through…

In fact, it would be fair to say I often act on impulse and then panic later.

This weekend was a good example of this impetus behaviour.

I found myself on Saturday, stood on a river bank, over a hundred miles from home, armed with a paddle, coated in a life jacket, and with an unflattering bright yellow helmet plastered on my head.

I am trying to commit to living the life I want, to trying new experiences, to not sitting back and growing old gracefully.

So I had signed up for a day kayaking, just because I wanted to.

kayak

But of course, I didn’t think it through.

As I arrived and met for the first time, a bunch of strangers who were to join me on my trip, I noted that they seemed to have wetsuits under their clothing and were wearing waterproof clobber.

I had on a nice fashionable pair of cream trousers, matched with an outdoor sweater and my hiking coat.

It wasn’t hard to spot the novice.

Within moments the chatter turned to talk of capsizing, and my knees started to shake.  It had never once occurred to me, during the process of booking my day trip that I might actually end up swimming rather than sailing.  I have an aversion to cold water, a serious one.

Shoving my nerves aside, because, really I had no choice.  I switched out of my cream trousers into black, plonked the helmet on my head and secured myself in my buoyancy aid, all the time preying that none of the kit would be needed to perform.

Then we hit the open water.

kayak

Tied into my kayak, armed with a paddle, I cruised over ripples, waved at the swans, raced a new friend and marveled at the beauty of nature that surrounded me.

kayak

Living the life you want has amazing benefits.  Last Saturday afternoon, I didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world.

We kayaked for a few hours, under bridges, past pleasure boats.  We broke for lunch on a jagged beach, I chatted to people I had never met before like we were old pals.  We were united by our desire to simply get out and do things.

Then our instructor stopped us as the day started to draw to a close, and explained the last part of the river tour, was to tackle the rapids….

I sniggered with the woman next to me, ‘rapids,’ I guffawed, ‘who is he kidding.’

She looked at me seriously, ‘he is not kidding.’ she stated.

I may have let out a bit of wee in my knickers.

Rapids!

I was a novice, a beginner at the sport of kayaking, who was I to take on rapids?

And I was scared….

So of course I volunteered to go first.

The rapids were rated Grade Two, which at the time meant they were monstrous waves, but really, in kayaking terms, they were cute little swirling ripples.

Cruising through the monstrous waves was both tremendous fun and terrifying as the cold water teased at the boat, trying to get me to come swimming.

I survived, I made it through, I officially faced the rapids and won.  As did every single other person in our party.

Put simply, Saturday was a good day.

Why live the life you think you should when there is so much fun to be had!

 

 

Comments

  1. Emma says

    April 16, 2015 at 8:59 pm

    Sounds like my kind of Saturday.

    Reply
  2. Lorraine says

    April 17, 2015 at 9:04 pm

    What a fab thing to try, well done.

    Reply
  3. Maggie says

    April 18, 2015 at 7:37 pm

    Some people take to things like a duck to water , to paddle with you was a pleasure.
    Keeping getting out there .
    Maggie

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Jane is a working Mum of three and has great hair. One of these things may not be true.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 10,124 other subscribers

Categories

  • All Posts
  • BB's journey with DDH
  • Breastfeeding
  • mummyblog
  • Paleo / Crossfitting
  • Reviews / Featured Content
  • Travel / Out and About
  • Twin Girl and Type 1 Diabetes
  • Uncategorized

Tots 100

TOTS100 - UK Parent Blogs
TOTS100

Search

Follow on Bloglovin

Follow on Bloglovin

Previously on northernmum….

Awards!

Tots100 MAD Blog Awards

Looking to Save Money?

Check out my thrify blog, full of ideas to eat and play well  – for less money!

www.fromspendingtosaving.co.uk

Northern Mum

Copyright © 2019 Northern Mum Crossfitting, pancreas acting, single mum to three
Site design with help from DigitalJen

Copyright © 2021 · Slush Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT