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Page 32 November/December 2003<br />
Derwent Water<br />
Sunday 19th October, 2003<br />
Paddlers: Tom, Chris, Janet, Clive, Janet, Ian,<br />
Nick, Eileen, Peter, Tony, John, Pauline, Alan,<br />
Lesley, Joanne, Stephanie, Steve, Bev and very<br />
briefly a stray dog called Molly.<br />
Sixteen of us set off this morning from our<br />
launch point next to the landing stages at<br />
Keswick and once we were all on the water (no<br />
quick procedure itself) we made our way slowly<br />
down the eastern side of the lake. We set off in<br />
very calm weather though the clouds were<br />
clinging to the tops of some of the mountains<br />
and there was very little sunshine.<br />
The water levels are very low at the moment and<br />
those of us paddling round to the left of Lord’s<br />
Island might have found it easier to walk. We<br />
managed to paddle without actually scraping the<br />
bottom of the boats but it was a close run thing.<br />
Having met up again on the other side of the<br />
island we made our way, in a rather straggly<br />
group, towards one of the hotels at the end of the<br />
lake.<br />
One of the books, which several of us flat<br />
waterers now own, warns of floating islands in<br />
Derwent Water apparently caused by a build up<br />
of natural gas which forces the lake bottom to<br />
www.ribblecanoeclub.co.uk<br />
the surface. Now I don’t know much physics but<br />
it strikes me that however much buoyancy a boat<br />
has it will fail to float should a giant gas bubble<br />
burst beneath it, so I paddled today half<br />
expecting to be dragged downwards by a huge,<br />
malevolent vortex – bad things always happen to<br />
me! Fortunately we didn’t find any islands that<br />
floated although there was one which normally<br />
consists of just a few rocks but today was<br />
largish, flattish and covered with cormorants, a<br />
measure of just how low the water was.<br />
As we made our rather stately progress to the<br />
foot of the lake we began to notice a swell that<br />
every now and then would increase ominously.<br />
The rather large wake created by the ferries<br />
couldn’t account for all of this and under<br />
lowering skies we decided to cross the lake<br />
before the weather deteriorated enough to made<br />
life difficult (or interesting, it all depends on<br />
your point of view really). Tony felt it was<br />
already interesting enough and decided to stay<br />
on the eastern side, have his picnic and make his<br />
way back to Keswick at his own speed.
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