A boy's own adventure

Yes, Ewan and I set off on our canoeing and camping trip on Kielder. Made possible in two senses by the accompaniment / supervision of my mate and canoeing expert Kim. Being a coach based on Kielder, Kim is allowed to take people canoeing on the lake, something that Northumbrian water is generally disapproving of. Aye, it's not Scotland. You can't just turn up and float your boat. Also, without Kim, the chances of me being allowed to take Ewan off canoeing in Europe's largest man-made lake would be non-existent. Since this is Kim's business, we were accompanied by three others as well, including his mate Andy, in the photo, who is also a dab hand with a paddle.

So we paddled around Kielder for a while, had lunch and then rafted the four canoes together, rigged up a sail and, taking advantage of the wind that was now at our back, sailed to our camping spot. Ewan had a great time lighting fires, burning sticks, etc until the sun went down and we took our canoes out onto the water in the dark. A strange, disorientating experience. With not much to see except stars, sound becomes hugely amplified and the lapping of the water against the canoe and rhythmic slapping and swooshing of the paddles lulled Ewan into a nice deep sleep, which made getting him out of the boat a bit tricky.