At a time when bad days are all that you can remember, after what feels like an age of bad days, and when you can’t even remember what a fully good day feels like, there emerges a day so beautiful and so unexpectedly and totally good, that it just feels more beautiful and more fulfilling than any of your other good days for simple reasons.

That is what this particular Sunday felt like, my first good day in a very long time. THANK FUCK FOR THAT.

The annual LUCC Christmas paddle is always a little hectic – trying to find the right water levels in December has proven tricky the last few years and 2016 was no different. But we settled on The Lune in the Lakes/Yorkshire area, knowing from past experience that despite being on a scrape it would be interesting no matter what.

23 of us piled on to the river after lots of faff with vehicles and directions, and split up into two large groups with quite a few freshers and first-time river goers between us. The Lune is a fantastic little river, with bimbles and a fair few little rapids and 2 or 3 bigger ‘drops’/rapids. The strid is the biggest, but I decided to have a cheeky roll on one of the only other notable rapids that claimed a number of swimmers due to the rocks. A swift and chilly roll later I was fine and upright again, with a laughing J sitting on a rock in front of me.

The best thing about christmas paddle is the knowledge that there will be plenty of food and hot drinks at the end of the run, and we had put my double stove to good use with vats of mulled wine and boxes of mince pies.

A day that started faffy, turned into a little triumph 🙂 and this makes me very very happy. 2017 just got that much more interesting…