30 before 30: No. #24 – Go stand-up paddle boarding

30 before 30, friends, fun, grateful, new skill, thankful
  1. Learn to ride a motorbike
  2. Go skydiving
  3. Learn how to ski/surf
  4. Eat a vegetable that you’ve grown from seed
  5. Deadlift 100kg
  6. Pay for a stranger’s meal
  7. Swim Boscombe to Bournemouth pier
  8. Learn how to play poker
  9. Do the splits
  10. Have visited 30 countries
  11. Cycle London to Brighton
  12. Go to the opera
  13. Read the bible entirely
  14. Get a tattoo
  15. Sleep under the stars
  16. Repair a bike puncture
  17. Go to a life drawing class
  18. Engage in a clinical trial
  19. Go to Shakespeare’s Globe
  20. Go to an outdoor screening of a film
  21. Sell a piece of artwork you’ve created 
  22. Carve a pumpkin
  23. Do a pull-up 
  24. Go stand-up paddle boarding
  25. Climb the three peaks
  26. Write and record a song
  27. Learn to play chess
  28. Visit someone in prison
  29. Read a famous trilogy 
  30. Become a doctor

You might be surprised to hear that given that I live by the coast, and my love for water-based activities (kayaking, water polo etc), that i’ve never been stand-up paddle boarding. I know, it’s terrible.

However, yesterday my gorgeous pal Lucy took me out for a day on the river. And let me tell you, despite an incident with getting tangled in a willow tree and a couple of first attempt splashes, I am a convert. I think trying new things can be such a humbling experience because we all have this innate tendency to want to be good at things and trying new things means that you’re inherently going to, well, suck. But the joy of sucessfully standing up, being at one with the river, befriending the swans, and even getting wrapped up in willow before my demise into the depths were all a part of the glorious adventure.

Below is the route we took and a few snaps (it didn’t go on Strava though, so did it really happen?)

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