Saturday 6th January
Report written by Windsor and Maidenhead runner
It was a nice clear morning to start the weekend with a Waterways session at the local Widbrook Common Stream.
The session started very positively with exchanging greetings as we pulled up the waders. Then Clara said: there is some stone in the boot and had to get out of waders again to get it out. She actually found Tesla keys (looked like a Tesla credit card to be honest) in one of wader's boot. Amy jumped into joy and screamed: my Tesla key!!
She had lost Tesla during her previous Waterways session.
Afterwards, we headed to the Widbrook stream and soon discovered that the meadow was flooded with the excess rain water and we had to walk through knee-deep water just to get to the starting point.
We relied on a pile of recently cut wood logs to put our bags and tried to establish where the firm gound stops and the stream bed starts.
Phil and Paul were wading in the stream and we helped from the river bank. The water flowed as did the conversations and laughs as we pulled the reeds out of the stream.
This felt like an adventurous session, where we are not quite sure where the safe ground is and it creates that feeling of what if we cannot get out of here?
At one point, Clara stepped a bit too far into the stream and started to get stuck in the mud. Amy was by her side and heard a very polite: Please can you help me?
This was the first Coffee break standing in the water and leveraging termos and biscuits on pallets positioned on the higher ground. Water logged Coffee break will certainly be a memory of 2024!!!
We reached the fence that marked the meadow's end and our task was completed for the day!
We slowly headed back across the flooded meadow and it felt as if the water level was even more higher than in the morning. Talk about that visual illusion!
The Maidenehead Waterways Project aims to restore and enlarge channels through the town centre into an accessible waterway that everyone can enjoy, whether for boating, walking, cycling, fishing or appreciating nature.
See moreSat 6th Jan at 3:00pm
You've captured the morning perfectly Sol - really well done! Such an adventure, but so much and we made a real difference. A Saturday morning very well spent! xx
Sat 6th Jan at 3:09pm
Wow! Very soggy indeed! Well Done everyone!!
Sat 6th Jan at 4:22pm
Great report Sol, beautifully written, I felt like I had gone back and done it all over again!!!
Windsor and Maidenhead
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