After spending three weeks in Canterbury, one of the things I realized I appreciate most about life there is the ability/desire/need to make your own fun. Canterbury is by no means a larger city with lots going on to keep you busy and entertained. It is however a quaint and charming town full of story book magic. It is an inspiring place where your creativity is challenged and you engage with your surrounding and those around you in a totally different way, at least different from what I have become accustom to here in Copenhagen.

The best example of this creativity of crafting your own fun was the second annual boat race from Chartham to Canterbury- a four mile journey down river.

 The previous year some of the foragers and their friends taped together a few bottles, blew up some air mattress, inflated some inner tubes and decided to race down the rive. This year the event was a bit more organized and the stakes were higher- the competition was on. 

Ed has been collected plastic water bottles over the year and had about 200 or more to work with. He was determined to win. Using some wooden palates he constructed a frame to which we then taped hundreds of bottles. In the end we had an extremely sturdy and well balanced boat- a catamaran of sorts.

The beast.

Race day arrived and it was pouring down rain all morning, and I mean really pouring, like sideways rain pouring. Ed and Will (a fellow forager) were persistent, the race would go on rain or shine. By the time we rounded up the troops and the boats were in place, the day had cleared and the sun began to shine through. 

And so the race began.
So many creative floats!! 

About 20 minutes into the two and a half hour journey the sky grew dark and released a flood of strong hail like rain. Luckily it only lasted a few minutes and as the dark clouds lifted the warm sun beamed in. Soon enough we were rowing through rainbows and sunbeams.

An adventurous journey down river which ended with a warm change of clothes and beers at a local pub.

Out with the boys- Thomas, Ross and Miles exploring the marsh.

Thomas snaking on some ants.

Seaweed foraging

in a hurricane

dark and stormy

Foraging at Pegwell Bay on a sunny day.

Vlad and I - waders and watercress

the caravan camp

6am drip in the ocean before work