Matt’s Charity Kayak Challenge (May 2024)
As many of you are aware, in May 2024, you saw me take on a 100-mile charity kayak in aid of The Myton Hospices around the Warwickshire ring and, well, what an experience.
Going in to the challenge, I knew it was going to be tough especially when the training I had planned to do didn’t happen. Who knew running a pub was a full, full, time job so I actually only managed to get out on the water half a dozen times since the New Year when I bought the kayak.
Sir Charles Lyell first said the phrase ‘Mind over Matter’ back in around 1863 and what a cracking 3 word phrase it is. Being fit and healthy is a bonus but it’s amazing how strong your mind and mindset can be. Everyone has it in them and this challenge definitely put mine to the test some days.
Day 1 - Slow.
It was a slow start getting the kayak from the pub to Boot Wharf where I set of from whilst we did some things for social media such as pictures, videos, and interviews. Once I hit the water there was no looking back - this journey had started and I was excited and looking forward to a week away. 12 hours later, 20 miles in, I hit the second set of locks and decided to call it a night. It was late, it was dark and it was raining which I had been battling for the past 3 hours.
So, I pitched up my bivvy not too far from the third set of locks on the challenge, just by Kingsbury water park, got into some dry clothes, had some scran and got my head down for a couple of hours.
Day 2 - Relentless.
The rain hadn’t stopped all night and there was no sign of stopping any time soon. But, not letting the rain stop play, I got up and had some brekky and got changed back into my cold wet clothes (made worse by the fact I decided in the dark the night before to pitch up on some kind of ants’ nest...Yes use your imagination. Funny now. Not that day!)
With the rain still pouring I packed up camp, loaded my trolley with the kayak and gear, and got ready to hit the first set of locks of the day. Day 2 was brutal. Over 24 hours of relentless rain soaked me to the bone. Day 2 had the most amount of locks in a day over the course of challenge. Carrying my 30-35kg backpack and dragging my 32kg kayak with my food and water on top along an uneven flooded muddy towpath was not easy at all. Working my way from Kingsbury to Birmingham, through Birmingham and out the other side, reaching Solihull covering just under 23 miles in 15 hours. Setting up camp around 12am, I got my head down for another couple of hours sheltering from the rain under a bridge.
Day 3 - Better.
Much better weather to start the day. Had an early start cooking my bacon, sausage and egg sarnie under the bridge I had just slept, watching the swans and cygnets swimming up and down this stretch of the canal. I first thought “what majestic, beautiful animals” but by the end of the challenge I had changed my mind. I’ll expand on that further tomorrow.
I packed down and set off for the start of Day 3. This saw me cover 25.5 miles in 16.5 hours and was a mixed bag of rowing and locks. Not as many as the Wednesday but still enough. 68 miles and 3 days in it was getting tougher and tougher. Then I hit Hatton locks and whilst being such a picturesque scene, 2.2 mile later I was glad to have finished. After briefly stopping to help some CRT volunteers drag some big chunky tree stumps out from blocking up one of the locks, I found out it’s not just roads that cyclist think they are the superior on and after a small incident and a broken camera I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and carried on. Not knowing it at the time but I still had 7 hours of work and grind ahead of me.
Reaching another set of locks around midnight I decided to call it a day. I couldn’t bring myself to dragging my gear up another flight of locks in the dark after rowing for about 4 hours in the dark. That’s not a negative - rowing in the dark was such a surreal and peaceful part of the challenge. I ended up rowing in the dark for about 13 hours over the whole challenge and would say it was my favourite part. I’d even say it surpassed my favourite thing of walking through a forest at night.
Being so late at night I went to set up camp and realised there was not enough room on the towpath for me as well as people trying to get past. So, for the first time ever I secured my kayak to the bank, rolled out my roll matt and got a few hours of shut eye bobbing up and down on the water in my boat.
Day 4 - Close.
Light at the end of the tunnel. Day 4 started with an immediate upward slog but in the distance, I saw a canal barge café. Thinking I’d get a nice brew and a bacon bap I got a shift on to get there to find out she wasn’t open. Gutted! After a brief conversation about what I was doing she popped back onto the boat and reappeared with a cup of tea in hand. What a sight to see! It was much appreciated, and I was extremely grateful for the free cuppa from Daisy’s Bakin Butty.
Leaving Southam and heading towards Rugby I came across more swans. Let’s get back to these “majestic, beautiful swans” that turned out to be vicious, angry, over protecting **BLEEP BLEEP**! Over the 4 days, I was attacked or chased by some insecure territorial swans and again, whilst funny, now wasn’t funny at the time as each time I came across a pair of swans and cygnets it put me around 15 minutes behind (as well as getting a wallop round the back of the head by one - I can confirm they are a very powerful bird.)
A little further down the cut I got talking to some CRT volunteers and some guys who live on the canal. They weren’t shy in telling me, whilst laughing, that I had no chance of getting to Hawkesbury Junction today. “It’s at least a couple of days rowing” they said. So, I switched into psycho mindset and put a shift in with pretty much 18 hours of continuous rowing. Smashing through Rugby, heading towards Nuneaton, I hit Hawkesbury Junction around 0200 hours Saturday morning.
In the moment I dragged the kayak around the last lock of the challenge, got back in the water, and was still in that zone. After gliding through the water in the dark for another hour, I reached Marston Jabbett where I decided to call it quits - 35 miles after starting that day. After having such a good night sleep the night before I decided to kip on the kayak once again for the final time on this challenge. Ready for the final stretch Saturday morning.
Day 5 - Determined.
Smashing out that sort of mileage the day before put me in a good place for finishing at a reasonable time with a nice steady 3 mile row back into Nuneaton. So, I had a relaxed morning sorting some snap out before packing up my gear and setting off on the final stretch.
A short time later, I saw the final bridge a short distance from the start end point and a welcome back I wasn’t expecting with people lining up along the quay bells ringing, horns tooting, whistling and a whole load of clapping! I arrived back at the Boot Wharf with a bunch of family, friends and patrons welcoming me back. What a feeling! It’s hard for me to describe with the physical and mental situations I’d gone through over the last 4 days, but I was, and still am, truly grateful for everyone’s support and dedication. You guys will never know how much I truly appreciate it.
My 100-mile kayak challenge in aid of The Myton Hospices – completed.
Here are some stats from over the 4 days and 2 hours:
· Total distance: 105 miles
· Total time: 61 hours over 4.5 days
· Total calories burned: 22,122
· Total amount raised so far: £8000+
