a paddle of 18.5km from shenton, along the ashby canal to snarestone and then back to shackerston (yup, they're all real names)
the idea was that we'd be on the water for sunrise. given the fantastic dawns this morning (see my blips earlier in the week) it should have been great. unfortunately, the fog greeted us and we saw nothing of the sun for the first couple of hours.
there were many highlights and many things to make the ealry start worth while. two kingfishers, close encounters with herons, swans, rabbits and fish.
the furthest north we got was the tunnel at snarestone. it is only 250m long, but has a little kink in it halfway along, making it darker than you might expect. watching steve breaking the still waters in the centre of what looked like a cylinder was great. the whole trip was about 5 hours and my arms were beginning to feel it