21^st April 2014

Ok catch up time again. ..

So when I last left you I was camping down near the banks of the river deben. The sun was already up when I awoke from an unusually comfortable slumber. I packed up camp and set off to take a look at the current.

Now to get down to the water you have to pass the local sailing and boating club and seeking local knowledge is a must for most water crossings, even small rivers like the deben. As my grandfather would have said "it was a piss in the Ocean".

I approached the club and clocked the public toilets to the left. That could wait, in my usual cheerful morning voice and greeted two young men preparing a small rib for some youngsters to go out in. As it was easter weekend they were expecting about 50 young sea farers to pop in for a bit of fun on the water. I asked about the current and tide and whether or not they would attempt a crossing in a pack raft. The answer always seems to be the same no matter who I ask. No they wouldn't risk it! Either nobody in this country has balls or I am completely insane and maybe I should be sectioned for my own safety 

Anyway I digress, the kind gentlemen after being told about the challenge and a brief account of my adventures so far offered me a ride in one of their boats and said they could drop me off on the other side of the river. The ferry boat man probably wouldn't be happy about loosing 50p but it would be good for the youngsters. I had to think for a short while and remembered the "random act of kindness" clause we had introduced into the trek back along and although the crossing was a fairly simple ferry glide across had no other option but to agree and accept the random act of kindness. I headed off to get a weight off in the public toilets while they organised a life jacket. When I had finished I went down to the jetty and was met by a spitting image of a young matt damon, his name was dan and he was the young man who would take me across to the other side. A pleasant lad who was more than happy to assist with this little task.

Upon landing on the other side I progressed along the shingle beach to continue with my trek. It was now becoming very apparent that the focus of thr trek had now shifted from a survival challenge endured by one man alone into a feel good series of individual stories of these random acts of kindness. Something I had never anticipated!