Founder/director of GardPass Cyber, and Nasio trustee, Neil Passingham, has teamed up with Emilio Perri, a GardPass Cyber consultant (from Argentina), and Felipe Da Costa Dias (an oceanographer/engineer from Brazil) to canoe the entire length of the River Thames.
The Challenge
The iconic waterway, known also as “Tamisa”, “Tamesis” or “Isis” depending on who you speak to in the crew, stretches 215 miles (346km) from Gloucestershire through seven counties to London.
Bedecked in bright orange Nasio Trust t-shirts and gaucho hats, the boys will be hard to miss so make sure you give them a cheer as they float past during August and September.
The Charity
The Nasio Trust is an Oxfordshire/Kenya-based charity, founded in 2001 by “Venus UK’s Inspirational Woman of the Year 2015“, Nancy Hunt. It supports over 400 HIV-affected children in a remote part of western Kenya, whilst inspiring teenagers in the UK to learn how they can change the world by connecting with the East African projects and learning valuable life skills.
The Course
Starting close to the source of the river near Cricklade in the Cotswolds, we forced our way through 15km of dense weeds and insect-filled undergrowth – at times we had to resort to climbing over boughs whilst keeping the canoe afloat!
For the first few hours, we saw no-one else surprisingly – swans and ducks were our only companions! However it was not quiet – overhead jets screamed as they performed for a distant air-show.At the hottest point of the day, we inadvertently took a dip when confronted with a sheep trapped at the water’s edge.
Refreshed, we lifted our sodden friend up the bank from which it had fallen. Felipe surprised us by telling us that he could tell that the “lost sheep” was of high value/quality – his owner would be pleased (he had been brought up on a Brazilian sheep farm). Very Biblical we thought!We managed to recover most of our belongings (except one of my shoes) and proceed downstream towards civilisation.
Our efforts for Day 1 ended just past Lechlade where we managed to watch Belgium demolish England, while drinking local cider – us not them!
WE DID IT – WE REACHED THE END OF THE NON-TIDAL THAMES AT TEDDINGTON AT THE END OF SEPTEMBER.
Please consider supporting our cause even now – it’s much appreciated.
We plan to enjoy the tidal section through London to the Thames barrier in 2020.
