Wow what a fantastic day. Our town is running a festival of summer through a few local sporting venues, involving all sorts of stuff - birdwatching, archery, wlaks etc. anyway Troglet2 and I signed up for a canoe expedition. The group of about 20, met up at tenish and was given a safety brief etc and kitted out for the day on the Clywedog Reservoir. We paddled into the prevailing wind for about an hour and a half before beaching up and lighting a barbeque. We were itching to get amongst the firelighting but the leaders knew better with their disposeable bbq's which meant we couldn't have a play. It took a while to get everything cooked but there were burgers and sausages all round with salads and snacks for the younger ones. After lunch, it was back into the canoes and another paddle round the other side of the reservoir back to the sailing clubs jetty for 3pm. There was loads of help to stow the boats and kit, before tea and friendly chat in the club house. I had never paddled in an open canoe before and I must admit now to being tired and aching from the exertion, but it was a great day out and really enjoyable.

Later on I was burning off the paint from my new Bison stove - for those of you that might be following my Tundra 8 story - my god does that thing throw out some heat. Once it was roaring away, I stepped into the kitchen and grabbed the kettle - it was boiling within a few minutes for another cuppa.

All in all I've had a lot of fun today, lets hope there are a few more before the summer is over.