Kayaking, would you believe!?

Saturday was a busy day. I came into Edinburgh to get my watch back from the repairers, then went for my third golf lesson, and then ... ta-da! ... went kayaking!

OK, golf first. Really starting to improve my swing, and the boss says I can have a go with a wood next time - BIG stick! Looking forward to that!

Denise's colleague, Robin, is a former competitive kayaker and registered trainer, and he took us to a stretch of the Union Canal near Ratho, Edinburgh for my first taste. Kayaking is said to be the best way to get close up to wildlife in New Zealand, so we wanted to have a go to see if I would be able to do it. I asked my prosthetist about it, and she said no way could I allow either of the prosthetic legs I have to get wet. There is a cover I can get, but I would need to go and pick one up from the Astley Ainslie SMART centre, once they'd ordered one in. I have a couple of other bits and pieces I need to pick up, so I'll do that in the next few weeks.

The upshot was, I wouldn't be able to wear my leg in the kayak. This raised a couple of issues: firstly, what to do with the leg once I'd taken it off, and secondly, how was I going to get in. No. 1 was easily solved - Denise had to wait until I was in the boat, so she could take my leg and lock it in the car :-) The second ... well that was fun. I decided that, since the kayak would be about 2 feet below the edge of the canal when it was on the water, I would have to kneel down on my abruptly terminated leg, and step in with the good un'. Result ... no splashes, no moistening of the clothing, and only a little loss of dignity. I slid in OK, but then it was like the first time riding a bicycle - i.e. very wobbly. I kept pulling the paddle too far back, so it scooped itself under the tail of the kayak, trying to drag me over (or rather, under), and I was certain I was going to go in. Once I'd sorted out the defects in my technique there, I started to gain confidence. By the end of an hour, I'd paddled almost two hundred yards down the canal (well, maybe a bit further than that) and maybe paddled four or five strokes before it went into the inevitable spin. These things are designed to turn quickly, and sometimes it's hard to stop them doing so. Well, once I'd stopped being terrified, this all became part of the fun. I was knackered after an hour of this tho' but!

The hardest part of getting out was actually sliding back in the kayak to release my intact leg without capsizing. Once my good leg was free and underneath me, getting out was relatively easy (well, Robin was holding the boat steady against the canal-side). All I had to to then was to wait for D to go and get my leg for me...