Stuart Reeve posted on March 22, 2010 06:00
I found myself heading over to Hurley for the second time in a fortnight last Friday as I tried to use up the last of my annual leave.
Emails were sent and luckily Chas decided that he had no pressing engagements and so was free to keep me company.
On arrival at Hurley, the carpark was almost empty except for a couple of walkers so it was a quick change and then a brisk paddle up to the weir.
Two weeks ago, the water in the Thames had been fast flowing, murky brown and flipin' freezing. This time, there was a lot less current and the water was a clear green colour as it poured over the weir.
Hurley was on a beautiful two gates. Nice and retentive with a good eddy service. I seem to have been a bit lucky the last couple of times as we had it all to ourselves for the whole two hours we were there.
Chas did the elbow test, appreciated how much warmer the water was and decided it was about time he broke his swimming duck for the year. So impressed was he with the water quality after falling foul of the Trent Trots that he felt it was almost wrong for him to be in a boat and set about equalling his total number of swims in one session at Hurley (4).
I did tell him that we wouldn't be leaving until he had racked up a fifth swim but it wasn't to be so we headed back to the car then onto the Fifth Gate (Red Lion Pub) for some well earned liquid sustenance.
Sorry there aren't any photos but we were having too much fun. There can't be much longer left for the Hurley season this year so you had better make the most of it.