Durban - Tackling England’s River Thames by canoe is a touch different to paddling a KZN river.

Hillcrest dad and daughter Steve and Sarah Camp found themselves portaging over a zebra crossing in Oxford as they made their way to their night’s accommodation; taking a gap when shipping traffic allowed to paddle mid-river under the Tower of London; losing their tent when it fell overboard in the tree-shaded upper reaches and tackling the strong headwinds in the North Sea at the mouth.

Steve and Sarah Camp’s last lunch beside the River Thames, near the mouth with its headwinds and side swells. Picture: Supplied.

Last week, the legendary river hosted the annual Henley Regatta as Steve, 60, an adventurer and executive director of the UKZN Foundation and Sarah, 23, a fifth-year medical student at Stellenbosch, were finding their land legs back home.

Steve and Sarah Camp operate one of 45 locks they passed on the River Thames. Picture: Supplied.

It’s an adaptation they shared with one of the many lock keepers they met along the way at their stations they competitively keep attractive and well maintained.

Lock keepers along England’s River Thames are competitive about keeping their stations attractive and tidy. Picture: Supplied.

“One of them we met was enjoying having his feet on the ground after having been retrenched from British Airways as an air steward, due to Covid,” said Sarah.

The pandemic had delayed their adventure on board a Durban-built kayak, called The Sword of Damocles, borrowed from one of many South African paddlers in the UK. It followed a March trip Sarah’s brother Stuart, then 17, had done with Steve around Mauritius. However, on the dad-and-son expedition overnight stops were better planned.

Steve Camp paddles past the UK’s Houses of Parliament. Picture: Supplied.

“(On the 350km Thames trip) we did not know where we would be sleeping each night,” said Steve who has completed 17 Dusis.

There were also people they did not expect to meet.

In the upper reaches before the Thames becomes tidal, a passing rower requested them to take a photo of himself and email it to prove to his wife that he had in fact gone sculling for the day.

Further downstream, at the canoeing club at Grave’s End, the last before the mouth, a septuagenarian female canoeist, Sandy, told them how many years earlier she had defied pressure from male peers to give up sculling when she fell pregnant but had adapted to doing so with a bump.

Tea on the Thames with Hampton Court in the background. Picture: Supplied.

Further upriver, where the water is fresh, clean and clear, they met an open water swimmer on his daily “two miles or so”.

“There are a couple of Midmar Mile equivalents on the river,” said Sarah.

Steve Camp on the tranquil waters of the Thames in village England. Picture: Supplied.

In the tidal zone, the tides ruled daily routine on their nine-day adventure with high water that was suitable to paddling coming an hour later each morning. So, they explored the villages where preparation for the coming platinum jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II were in full swing.

The Camps’ craft, The Sword of Damocles, and one of 200 bridges across the Thames. Picture: Supplied.

On the water, however, tough conditions were in stark contrast to the quaint and gentle ways of English country life.

“Three kilometres from the mouth, we couldn’t see it was raining so hard. The last three days were difficult, paddling against headwinds and side swells,” recalled Steve.

“It was scary at times,” Sarah, said, adding that she was grateful for her dad having extensive Dusi experience.

The Independent on Saturday

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