As a thank-you gift from William Hobbayne Charity, GoodGym Ealing was invited to a free kayaking session with the club Edge Paddling 🚣‍♂️

Sevan and Kash arrived early and popped into The Fox Inn in Hanwell.

The suspense builds up...

They caught a glimpse of Madhan and then Divya who walked past the pub and were looking for their friends by the bridge over the canal. Sevan and Kash revealed themselves and met Charlotte from the charity who registered them for the kayaking session. Now, all five waited for Madiha.

The suspense builds up...

Madiha arrived on time but it turned out that the previous kayaking lesson with the Edge team was overruning, so there was a little bit of extra waiting time.

The suspense builds up...

It didn't take too long when paddling instructors Trevor and Iza appeared and invited GoodGymers to walk with them towards the canal. The group stopped at one of many Hanwell locks, where Trevor gave everyone a thorough intro to kayaking. When everyone was getting ready to jump into kayaks, they spotted a little commotion at the lock. A narrowboat was passing through it! The gang had to wait again...

The suspense builds up...

In the meantime, Iza and Kash walked to the car to drop valuables the GoodGymers would mind getting wet (phones!). When they came back, there was one more hurdle: fitting people into the boats! Or rather, fitting the boats to hold people in. That needed adjusting a few screws.

The suspense builds up...

Finally, we got into the water! Luckily, there was no group booked after our slot, otherwise, we would paddle for a very short time. Iza and Trevor let us have plenty of time in the water and certainly made up for the long setup with their skill and friendly attitude. They were fantastic teachers and great company to chat with.

We quickly found out that our kayaks were not designed to go straight. At the beginning - and for some of us throughout the whole session 😅 - we spent time spinning around and bouncing into each other and the canal edge.

Madiha showed off her mastery by quickly getting a grip on going straight rather than spinning, all thanks to remaining calm and relaxed.

You need to remember one word and I cannot emphasise that enough: gently - Trevor

Madhan, after fooling us with a good amount of spinning maneuvres, showed us the best technique of disembarking the boat onto the shore.

We had lots of fun on the canal and lots of canal water in our bottoms by the end of the session. We decided to go to The Fox for some food and drink, hoping to get a bit dryer. It worked for most of us, apart from Kash, whose outfit was super-absorbent. Will those sweatpants ever get dry and warm? 🥶

The suspense builds up...