With the land and rivers frozen, Loch Lomond was picked for the traditional "Pressie Paddle" as Gerry C had reported sightings of liquid water there. I must say that on the way there my misgivings were reinforced by the first glimpses of a frozen Loch Lomond but once I had slithered to a halt in the car park at Luss I could see real liquid water! After a leisurely start and a bit of kit sharing we got on the water and the first dip of the hands confirmed it was indeed cold! The plan had been to stop for lunch at our usual spot, taking our chances with what I expect would be some pretty desperate wallabies but this was prevented by our encounter with sheet ice. Optimism born out of initially successful ice-breaking activities faded as even Kenny's brother, John, finally came to a halt with his bow resting atop the ice shelf!
Not to worry, there was a suitable lunch stop at a beach we had just passed and we all got out - well, David sort of also got in at that point. Those of us who had assumed that he had simply fallen in whilst extricating himself from his boat clearly hadn't noticed his nice new drysuit which of course required to be tested. Mind you, this was no ordinary lunch. A huge box of Thornton's chocolates, shortbread and Christmas cake (cut with the same knife that has seen varied service on numerous sea kayaking trips).
The paddle back to the car park was uneventful but excitement was building as the pub and quiz time drew nearer. However, there was another new drysuit to be tested and we were treated to the spectacle of Dougie undertaking a planned swim at the beach!
Once changed and loaded up, we set off and soon realised that Billy had cunningly extended the pub quiz to include a "find the pub" section. To everybody's credit we all got there before dark and the serious business got underway. Question 1 was a bonus as Gerry nearly got disqualified for shouting out the answer but it meant that all of us were guaranteed at least one right! The questions were varied and ranged from technical to social and a high standard of miming was observed (but not necessarily understood!). Then to the marking and the shock result - Kenny's team won again, by 1/2 a point!
Brilliant way to shake off the holiday lethargy and many thanks to Billy for bringing out the dormant hilarity!
Paddlers: Billy, Kenny, John, Dougie, Lindsey, Theresa, David, Danny, Neil, Gerry, Liz, Stuart.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN07Gq2ikR4
Photos: to follow