We’ve had many elegant moments, but this is not one. Charlie lowers herself into the canoe first – an unsteady and unfamiliar combination of retro, crimson lifejacket, oversized designer handbag and wooden paddle. I’m next. Map in one hand, anorak in the other, I ease myself down to the bench as Nick gently pushes us away from the bank.
“Is there a technique to this?” I call out to him. “Ah, you’ll find your own way,” he replies, as we drift towards the middle of the river Wensum. We’re yet to sink our first pint.
Norwich may not be your classic daytrip destination, but its newest activity, thought up by local lad Nick Hannington, is just my bag. He’s combined two of his favourite hobbies to create Pub & Paddle, a canoe-based pub crawl along Norfolk’s waterways – an “absolute hotbed” for budding paddlers, he tells me. Aimed at families, grown-up stags and G&T-swigging girls like Charlie and me, this is a day-long escape from phones, traffic and stress – a chance to slow the pace. Really slow the pace…
Read the rest of the feature on the Guardian here.
