It’s been a while since the boat was taken out so I didn’t miss the opportunity of an invite to spend a weekend on the River Stort in narrowboat “Gumdrops.”
Luckily we chose one of the warmest weekends of the winter so far; but even at a leisurely 4 mph, there was enough wind-chill to make you put on an extra layer or two. I didn’t and consequently suffered the consequences and was chilled to the bone on Saturday night until I had a warming shower.
The river was very high after the torrential downpours of late, but that didn’t make navigating the narrow and windy Stort any easier.
Wildlife wasn’t easy to spot. Water voles would still be underground until at least March – but there was plenty of bird-life. Several cormorants, the ever present heron (especially in flooded marshy areas) and I spotted 6 egrets gathered together in a field. Even with the binos I couldn’t tell whether they were Cattle or Great White egrets but they were certainly at least the same size as the herons.
You might think that rivers have little to do with bushcraft, tracking, woods and the forest; but they are both special wildlife environments with strangely similar challenges. To be successful you must slow yourself to the pace of the woods. In the same way, you have to adapt to the pace of the river.
Here’s a short video.
