10 explorers braved the Amazon “AKA The River Mole” for an adventure climbing over and under obstacles with like minded people!
Having never joined a Dittons organised event before, I had no idea what to expect as I signed up to the ‘River Mole Safari’. Having frequently paddled this particular stretch with the children in the summer, I was a bit apprehensive about exploring it with a bunch of strangers in the winter! Well my fears were allayed almost immediately and everyone was friendly and non-judgemental from the start. The safety briefing was excellent and I felt like safety was paramount.
Communication beforehand was clear and concise and river flow-rates were monitored closely in the days prior.
I did stupidly ignore the ‘bring snacks and drinks’ part as I don’t usually eat when I paddle. But food FOMO quickly overtook me at our lunch stop and I gave in when the jelly babies, nuts and warm cider was generously shared round in the sunshine. My favourite bit!
Unfortunately the car park was packed due to a football tournament so by the time we’d all managed to get parked & pumped we set off across the field to our launch spot a bit later than planned.
We paddled downstream past varied riverside homes and stopped for photos in front of the stunning Wayneflete Tower which encompasses more than five hundred years of English history.
The Tower was the former gatehouse to William Wayneflete’s grand Esher Palace, and is all that remains today. Wayneflete’s Esher Palace was the precursor to Tudor architecture and later inspired Cardinal Wolsey’s Hampton Court.
Owners of the Esher estate include two Kings (Henry VIII and Edward VI), a Queen (Elizabeth I), and a Prime Minister (Henry Pelham), to name just a few! Former residents include an Earl, a Lady and three Spanish Admirals captured during the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and other visitors include Sir Francis Drake, Jane Austen and Anna Pavlova.
We paddled under passing trains bound for London. The river here is wide with well managed banks, if a little exposed to the wind – a real contrast to what was to come – we turned at the first weir to continue on up the Amazon!
The upstream route was fairly testing for the less-seasoned paddlers, with a few sunken logs proving difficult to get the fins over. This is where my expertise came in handy – I am always lifting the children over things so how hard could it be to lift the tail-end of 10ish moderately heavy adults on boards over a few logs? Well clearly fairly hard as my very sore thumb and bicep tendons are telling me the day after 😂😂😂.
There were 2 unfortunate fall-ins due to submerged debris and the water was COLD. Thankfully the guides had dry clothes & silver foil blankets at the ready and made sure the 2 paddlers were suitably dressed, wrapped up and looked after. They were both given the choice of paddling back or exiting the river close to a road and both were looked after until they were safely back at the car park.
All-in-all a great day out. Very chilled and relaxed with a lovely bunch of people from all walks of life. Looking forward to more!
Blog by Gillian Newey.