At last!!  A thousand thanks to whoever it was down at the Barrage that finally decided to bite the bullet and commit to a longer run before closing for the long-awaited redevelopment.  The latest word from the staff (who seem just as fed up as the rest of us by the whole "yes we're closing/no we're not" thing) is that they'll now be open 'til at least the end of August.  I know I should be moving on from t'Barrage, but its just dead handy - 15 mins away, guaranteed water, hot showers and a caff.  Too easy I guess - but ace for learning the basics.

In a bizarre kind of a way the whole closing/not closing thing has affected a lot of my year so far - in January they were confident of closing in Feb, so I bit the bullet and took a boat-break to finish turning our loft into a 'den' for my kids - its taken far too long on and off (mostly off) and just needed a big push to kill it.

By the time I was finished in April t'B was still open - but due to close "any week".  So when an invite came to go with some mates on a biking trip I left the boat to one side again and got on me bike for a bit of practice.  Now then - even after a few weeks training, there's only one thing to say after 3 days solid biking, 65+55+45 miles per day, last day all into the wind and rain ... "OUCH!"

Come May I was ready for the slightly softer seat of my GTX, and t'B was still open ... but "due to close".  So with my old trail bike being totally goosed after all those miles I went and splashed an embarrassingly small pile of ££ on a new bike and took to the local trails for a bit.

Even found time to enjoy the one sunny day this century on the north-east coast.

And so ... finally ... t'B decided to commit to a longer run, and I headed back down there last weekend.  I've had quite a few breaks over the year I've been paddling, so I kind of know how to get back to it - first session just on the top pool getting my balance back, then launching down the course next time (and generally getting splooshed a few times).  This time though, getting back into the swing seemed a bit easier, and with a bit of encouragement from a couple of the regulars ("Ha'way man, don't be so soft and get yerself down there" - they didn't have to say it, it was written all over their faces) I followed them down.  Not too much trouble, but then one of them came out with a true gem ...

"Hasn't anyone shown you how to boof?"

Turns out I've just been nose-diving into the sploosh and getting stalled/spun/flipped, when with just a bit of front end lift at the right moment I could've been skipping over the top of it.  The "Learning Squiggle" strikes again.  See ya ... 

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