Messing about on the Welland!

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> It was just before 2pm on Friday when my dad arrived. I had already
loaded the paddles and buoyancy aids into my car so we loaded up one
of the canoes on the roof and headed to the river in town. I left
dad on the river bank with the canoe while I went back for the other.

Soon I was back and we wasted no time in getting the canoes onto the
river Welland! It was fantastic to finally be on the river with my
dad, we last went canoeing together about 8 years ago on the river
Nene at Denford.

I was amazed to see how much weed has grown in the short time since
I went with my brother, Ashley. There are long strtches of green on
the surface... I was just as amazed (and rather dissapointed) to
see how much litter was in the river this time. I suspect a lot of
it has blown down from Stamford meadows since the 'Rock the meadows'
music festival last month. The next time I am out I will take a bin
bag and some rubber gloves and start clearing it up.

We went east to the weir that my brother and I stopped at. We too
stopped for a cuppa but no bacon sandwiches this time! We saw the
nest that my brother and I saw with the egg in it. It now has two
babies in it which I failed to get a picture of due to not wanting
to disturb them too much. The iPhone has a poor camera on it and I
didn't want to get too close.

We were out for a few very enjoyable hours before we loaded the
canoes up and headed to the pub for a few drinks before going home
for an Italian take-away.