Day 8 Elderslie to Luskintyre

Today I had hoped to get an early start and maybe knock over the two short 20km legs in one go. We had stayed at home last night since we are getting pretty close to Maitland now. This had the added benefit of a bath to soak my weary bones/ muscles in and also to give the parents a bit of a rest from babysitting duties!
While I am on the topic thanks Mum and Dad for coming along with us on the early part of the trip of The trip. Your help with Tim and loading the Yak at the end of each long day has been much appreciated by myself, Sue and Tim.
We were running late from the get go this morning (maybe home has too many comforts for this trip!) and when we got there I had managed to leave most of my water bottles and my hat back at home! Bugger - not a good start. The chaos continued and an early start turned into a little earlier than usual start. Oh well!
I probably got an hour in before the wind picked up so it was worth the effort for that alone. The easterlies are still hammering me and anytime I stopped to take a drink I was being blown back upstream again! I have found that the only thing harder than paddling against strong wind is trying to do this in ankle deep water and at times the only way to go forward efficiently was to walk today!Days of paddling into a headwind like this messes with your head I reckon and I wasn't in a great place mentally after the slow start and the continued wind. My Body was definitely showing the strain today
I decided at Luskintyre that I had had enough for one day and that I would try again tomorrow for an early start once again. I remind myself that I am still on schedule and that it was only my desire to squeeze in a fish somewhere along the line that has me pushing to finish early. Training for and completing this paddle has consumed all my time for the last 12months it seems and the rods and reels need some serious attention i reckon. I have seen lots of fish. A Catfish at least a metre long in the upper reaches, a multitude of carp, the occasional Bass and now the mullet are starting to get active.
Never mind I might still get a fish in once the water gets deeper and I can justify the extra weight of a flickstick and some plastics.
Might have to put a rod holder on the Necky so I can do some trolling too!
It's nice to dream but in the meantime I need to cover Km's so back to the task at hand!
Tomorrow Luskintyre to Melville ford (Aberglasslyn) but I will play it by ear if the weather is good I might get a couple more km's in :)
Phil