31.07.09 On Friday 31st July sixty four youngsters slowly made their way down the Kennet & Avon Canal in canoes, as part of a summer camp organised by a London-based youth group.

Split into four groups of sixteen the children, none boasting any prior paddling experience, each made their way along a mile-long stretch of the canal before handing over boats and paddles to the next group. The path wasn’t always smooth, errant steering encouraged craft and canal bank to connect on more than one occassion, but progress was fast and after the first ten minutes of each training session the direction of the canoes went from perpendicular to parrellel.

Accompanied by six experienced paddlers from The Family Adventure Store the day’s event was a chance to take onboard a brand new initiative called The BLUE Mile. Offering the opportunity to travel a mile on or in the water provides a great challenge to everyone thinking of trying out a new sport, and of course once people are in their canoes, kayaks or on stand up paddle boards the hope is that a passion for the marine environment develops from sporting activity. We certainly saw plenty of enthusiasm from all involved last Friday, and in total the day-long expedition totalled 88 BLUE Miles. We’ll be adding the total to the official count on www.thebluemile.org, and we encourage you to sign up there and do the same.

Location: Kennet & Avon Canal, Hilperton to Seend Cleve
Total BLUE Miles: 88

Details of people involved:
64 children and staff from The Family Federation Youth Group
6 staff from Family Adventure Store, Hilperton, Wiltshire
Craft: 8 Canadian Canoes. 1 Stand Up Paddle Board

Dave Cornthwaite
The Great Big Paddle
http://www.thegreatbigpaddle.com