River Tweed – 19/3/2006

Ali from the kayak club organized a Sunday adventure to the River Tweed on what turned out to be a (mostly) beautiful day. She and Callum picked us up and we headed south. The Tweed is maybe a thirty minute drive from home, so we did not have to worry about the early morning rush to get anywhere. At the get-out in Peebles, we met up with the famous John the Blairfish, the other John and hearty wearing-shorts-in-winter Gordon. Callum took us to the get-in so we could begin Pakboat construction and not hold everyone up too much post-shuttle. I took stern for my second time ever and had to remind Lucas to stop “fixing” the boat angle for me. If I’m in the stern, we’re supposed to be slightly sideways with MY paddle on the downstream side.

After some initial ferry glides, we began the drift downstream. Around the first bend, the river pushes toward a big boulder on river right. Apparently more than one member of the EKC has taken a swim there, not just the Blairfish. Everybody stayed in their boats and upright on our trip. Occasionally during the summer, the EKC will have impromptu trips to the Tweed on weeknights since it’s so close to the city. Perhaps we will see some carnage then?

Below the carnage rock, we enjoyed more leisurely floating and paddling past more lovely scenery. Many of the hills still had a dusting of snow, giving them a short Rocky Mountain sort of look. Definite tree lines with white caps.

We stopped for lunch at the gravel bar just past Neidpath Castle, after most of us followed the water and Callum scraped his boat along his own path. After lunch, it was a short float past a park to the get-out in Peebles. Along the way, Callum found a frisbee on the bottom of the river and nearly flipped over trying to retrieve it. This after expressing a distinct desire to not practice his roll in the cold. At the get-out, some people opted to run the last wave (a weir). The rest of us took out above it and walked a few extra feet to the cars. It was a lovely day on the water and we were back home well before 5pm.