Pete, Stephen, Anne, John, Karen, Malcom and Chris put in at the Black Rabbit pub at Offham near Arundel at about 12 noon, about half an hour before high water at Shoreham. Malcolm and Chris paddled a Canadian canoe and the rest of the group paddled kayaks.
The River Arun divides shortly after the Black Rabbit and we took the slower-flowing right-hand channel which meanders under the railway and past Burpham until it rejoins the main channel south of South Stoke.
The tidal stream in the main channel was quite fast and at one point John found himself pinned against the overhanging branches of a tree. Stephen took a swim in a valiant rescue attempt and was himself successfully rescued by Karen. Meanwhile John hung on in the tree for several minutes without further mishap and eventually succeeded in extricating himself from the foliage.
The weather was fine and the river and surrounding country was very scenic, especially where the river passes close to chalk cliff faces.
We had lunch just North of Amberley station and also took a break at Greatham Bridge where we met Hils, Amelia and Marcia. At this point Hils joined us on the river and Pete got out to take over looking after Amelia.
The tidal stream was by now a lot weaker and an intermittent head wind made the next stage to Pulborough slightly harder going, but having reached Pulborough we all decided to carry on for another mile to the very picturesque Stopham bridge and the adjacent White Hart pub. Total distance paddled was 13.6 miles.
Very many thanks to Marcia for running the drivers back to the Black Rabbit to retrieve the cars.
Chris's photos
