I love kayaking Black Creek

 I tried out my kayak and got the lay of the land with Simon but this week I tried it on my own.Simon and I launched at the old Fish Plant beside the lift bridge but I launched this week at an access point, close to home, managed by the conservation authority.

It's a lovely spot and takes about 5 minutes to get there on minor roads. Which is a good job as the visibility , is minimal, with the kayak in the car.

Dragged the kayak out of the car, slipped my car keys, phone and camera into a waterproof pouch and turned up stream. First sighting

A Great Blue Heron

He stayed perfectly still while I drifted closer, snapping away.

Once you get under the bridge, there is no evidence of civilization at all.

I paddled along, no great exertion. This heron walked away, no desire to be photographed. After a while I relaxed into the experience, occasionally dipping my paddle into the muddy water to move forward or correct my direction. No sound but the occasional splash (fish), birdsong and a Kingfisher protesting my incursion onto his fishing rights.

I went upriver, easing around fallen trees and floating logs for about half an hour, turned back and encountered a couple of goose families also drifting downstream.

Under the bridge, what I took for a Barn Swallow but upon looking it up I have identified as a Cliff Swallow, due to its white forehead.

Getting into the kayak at the boat launch had been much easier than at the fish plant. Getting out however, was more difficult and there were wet feet and periods of precarious balancing acts involved.

I am not sure if it was the process of lifting the kayak in and out of the car or the actual kayaking itself but I decided to rest my lower back before trying it again, so the next excursion was two days later. Same place, different direction.

This time I headed down stream, which is peaceful and natural for a while.

Lots of turtles, out sunning themselves.

Northern Map Turtle.

Not far and there start to be big houses and big boats. The peace is replaced by personal water craft, zodiacs, power boats, pontoon boats and huge power boats. Growling engines and blaring music.

Past lots of dockage, a marina, the Port Dover Yacht Club. Cliff Swallows nesting in infrequently used

boats. Amazing mud nests.

I paddled into the Commercial Harbour

Peaceful

on a Saturday.

Then out between the piers with the resident gulls screaming in protest.

A different angle for me.

Turning back and the East bank is a mass of blossoms.

I think they are Black Locust, invasive, non native, but they smell divine.

Back under the lift bridge with the traffic rattling overhead.

The river is gradually losing these rusty old relics, becoming gentrified, developed, but I will miss them, they were part of the "decor" and hinted at the history of the area.

Back up the river there were more boats to be dodged and wakes to be turned into.

Before I got back to the relaxing,

turtle inhabited area, "far from the madding crowds". To then negotiate my ungraceful disembarkation, load the kayak into the car and return home. The trip up river was about an hour, downriver was 2 and a half.