Punting

Rustin and Michele came for a visit this last week; it was very nice to see them. The weather was very pleasant, so on the weekend we went for a punt ride. These photos are shamelessly stolen from Michele's camera, so all photographic credit goes to her!

On a springtime weekend morning with nice weather, as you might expect, the river was fairly lively:



The kids manned the front of the boat; Amy and Michele sat in the middle, and Rustin and I provided the propulsion:





Sitting in the back just below the person manning the punting pole does tend to be a rather drippy experience, so I had to borrow Rustin's raincoat:



Punting is a highly enjoyable and relaxing way to spend time, provided that you are the puntee as opposed to the punt driver-- you do have to watch what you are doing with so many other boats about. Not to mention the fact that punts have all the maneuverability of a Mac truck (in fact probably quite a bit less than a Mac truck, now that I think about it).

On this particular morning, we were very surprised to encounter a group of kayak racers who were sharing the same stretch of river with us, if you can believe that. Here we are gliding along at the pace of lethargic turtle, when all of a sudden a group of kayakers went blasting past:



Both singles and doubles-- the two-man boats were out in front of the pack. Apparently some sort of race.



I am amazed in retrospect that nobody crashed into a punt... there was a certain amount of shouting ("On your left!", that sort of thing) but much to my relief they were all able to slip by. How is this for an obstacle course:



Here is a shot of Amy and Michele, who seem to be enjoying themselves:



All in all, an enjoyable outing. After the ride we hopped on our bikes and zoomed off to the nearby town of Coton, where we had a nice lunch at a pub ("The Plough"). This is a particularly pleasant restaurant to ride to, since the route follows a nice path that runs through the fields to the west of the university.