With a windy outlook and an early start, Gav, Griff, Mike and I paddled from Warsash at the bottom of the River Hamble up to the highest navigable point at Botley, which happens to be the home of the Upper Hamble Canoe Club.
We paddled the 6 statute miles in about an hour and a half at a leisurely pace, with a freshening breeze building behind us.
At Botley, we met a UHCC paddler off out for a quick paddle. He had made novel use of a baby's buggy as a kayak carrier - no adaptation, just balance the kayak on it. We breakfasted for an hour before starting the return trip on the falling tide.
Just two minutes downstream from Botley, we saw a small otter leaving the water. He stood and watched us for twenty seconds before disappearing up an outfall pipe.
Back down in the lower river, the last two miles or so were interesting. The wind was blowing steady at 30 knots, gusting to force 7. The waves were not more than a foot tall, but the spray and wind on the paddles kept us all concentrating and working hard to get back to Warsash.
This was a challenging 12 miles, the longest for Griff and Mike so far and also the windiest for all of us.
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