We were up and out at 8.15am having had a berrocca and some chocolate to give us the much needed energy we needed today…..let’s hope it perks us up! It was necessary to wear our cardigans out today as it was chilly, super chilly in fact the temperature was just 15 degrees when we left the house. We needed it to warm up by at least another 10 degrees for our paddle-boarding session later on today. It’s typical though isn’t it. It’s been hot every day since we arrived but of course the day we really need it to be hot is the day we go paddle-boarding!
As per usual, our morning walk took us past some wonderful front yards and as we’re always very attentive on our walks we always admire the plants and flowers. There was one plant that we couldn’t quite identity although we had an idea what it was and upon further inspection we realised they were cannabis plants. Since it’s become legal to grow cannabis here every household is allowed to grow four plants only. They do smell when you brush past them and you can smell them in the air now that they are beginning to bud……no wonder we’re always tired if we’re breathing in the ‘aroma’ every time we walk past a bush! We arrived at the Bean Scene Cafe which was quite busy, sat outside, even though it was cold and enjoyed our penultimate cappuccino.
After making a detour to the bakery to purchase some croissants and a slice of bananna bread we returned home, ate brunch, sat on the ‘sleeping’ chairs in the lounge and the good company that we are, we promptly fell asleep! We originally had a busy afternoon and evening ahead of us, what with the paddle-boarding on Lake Okanagan in the afternoon and dinner this evening over at Ginger and Sean’s place but unfortunately plans changed and we had to cancel our evening with Ginger and Sean. We hope to see them whenever they come to the UK, particularly at Bovington Tank Musuem which Blaise, their son really wants to visit.
We headed off, on foot, to the Kelowna Paddle Centre, very excited to actually be doing something on the lake and checked ourselves in once we arrived. When we booked last week we were told the session would cost us $52.50 each so we were very surprised and pleased to only be charged $30 each, a total saving of $45. What a bargain! Darwin, who is in 10th grade at school and probably only 15 years old was our instructor. She took us to a paddle-board that was sat on the grass, demonstrated how to get on and off and how to use the paddle and then took us to fetch our floatation devices and our paddle-board. They’re heavy, very heavy and we struggled to walk with them down to the waters edge but we kept going and once we’d got them on the water we managed to make it onto the paddle-boards and in an upright position without falling off. So far so good. We paddled further out into the lake and from the corner of my eye I could see Maice heading straight for me. She didn’t stop and subsequently ploughed straight into me and unbalanced me to the extent that I was propelled forward, took a flying leap over the nose of the paddle-board and ended up belly-flopping into the lake, submerging seconds later looking like a drowned rat! It was not the most lady-like descent from a paddle-board I can assure you and to top it all I could hear Maice in fits of laughter as I came to the surface! Getting back on was much more difficult than being thrown off and after three very ungraceful attempts I finally managed to get myself into an upright position. Paddling further into the lake we could see a boat heading our way and when it went past us it caused a ‘wash’ and of course I ended up taking another flying leap off the paddle-board and into the lake! Surprisingly I managed to get back on a lot quicker this time but not wishing to end up in the lake again I decided to kneel for a while. Maice on the other hand was taking to paddle-boarding like a duck to water, but to be fair she had done it before albeit in conditions far worse than they were today. Cold, wet, windy and at the Portland Sailing Academy was where Maice had her first lesson, very different from the warm and calm lake of Okanagan. Whilst Darwin was explaining to us one of the ways in which to turn the board around was by stepping back a few steps Maice tried to replicate this technique but unfortunately knocked herself off balance. She teetered forward, she teetered backwards and teetered to both sides before carrying out a splendid ‘step on a banana skin’ move that saw her fall flat on her back onto her paddle-board! She was lucky, very lucky that she didn’t end up in the lake and soaked to the skin like I did! Well, hand on heart it’s been a great experience and I’m glad we got to do it out on Lake Okanagan. Will I do it again? Possibly, although for me it’s got to be on an extremely calm day where there is not a ripple on the water. Maice on the other hand had visions of paddle-boarding in the sea with her dog, who would be sat quietly at the front of the board, both enjoying the water down at Weymouth bay or Portland ……that is until she got Sir Winston. There‘s no way that Sir Winston, who must be the only dog that doesn’t like water, would put a paw on a paddle-board plus there’s no way he would just ‘sit quietly‘ on the end of it either. So Maice, you‘ll just have to find another vision! Our hour was soon up and we headed back to shore, Maice rushing off to fetch her camera so that Darwin could capture our paddle-board experiences. I’m sure in the morning we’ll both be sporting all types of bruises about our personage!
On the way home we decided that as we’ve saved some money we’ll treat ourselves to a Caesar and found a really nice bar, sat outside and enjoyed a very delicious Caesar and a dish of olives. Just what we needed after our experiences on the lake! To say our legs were a tad shaky when we walked back home was an understatement. Considering we do a lot of walking you’d think we’d be used to it. Not only will we be covered in bruises tomorrow I’m sure we‘ll have problems with our mobility!
Back home Myrna cooked up a lovely prawn spaghetti washed down with a few glasses of champagne upon which we retired to the sofas, iPads in hand and sat in uncommunicative silence whilst riveted to our screens! It seems like a very long day today and now its time for bed. Yep, it’s 9.40pm, well past our bedtime. Night all…..
M&A xx
