Chelmsford

Last night Karen offered to take me paddle boarding this morning. So we set off in the car for about a 20 minute drive to a sort of a canal. We unloaded the boards and then had to pump them up. This is easy until about the last 3rd then it is a real slog. We each pumped our own boards to this point then we teamed up one on each side of the stirrup pump and working together in unison. Hard work and I was pleased to get them both to the required 1 bar of pressure. 

After we caught our breath we launched them and set off, on our knees at first and then with great apprehension I decided to be brave and stand up. Pretty wobbly but I stayed upright and didn’t fall off. As I relaxed it became easier, I think if done regularly this would be great to improve one’s balance. After about 1/2 an hour we turned around and headed back the way we came. Very peaceful and a relaxing way to get a bit of exercise. 

We returned home for coffee and the Robyn and I set off for a wander through the Chelmsford High St. We had a spot of lunch and meandered back. 

I had offered to take Matthew for a ride on the bike and as I had an errand to run nearby we set off  

I had the brilliant idea of purchasing a 12 volt pump to blow up the paddleboards  I checked online for possible suppliers and punched the address into the sat nav.  Unfortunately for me I put in the wrong address and to make matters worse the road to the town we were headed to had a closed road and a detour in place . We followed the detour signs until the road seemed familiar . We ended up back where we started so had to go around again. We finally arrived at the place we weren’t supposed to be at and discovered the error of my navigation. Ok off we set again with newly installed coordinates through little villages and small country lanes, and we arrived at our destination which had a sign up but nothing else. The place was all boarded up and no one to be seen. Back on google maps we found another possible option and set off once again on small back country lanes and the a motorway. We arrived into Rayleigh and a big truck wanted to turn in front of us to enter a driveway so we stopped to let him. Just by chance Matthew glanced up and saw a shop sign advertising paddleboards. Our luck is finally changing, and sure enough the guy was super friendly and helpful and we emerged with pump held high in triumph. By now I was out of gas, so a quick fill and we set off back to Chelmsford.

We must have travelled at least 150km and spent 3 1/2 hours on a typical Mark Tootill monkey mission. 

The bike is running well and we had fun.   



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