Never a dull moment...

A quick recap on the weeks events!

Its an unwritten rule that if the sun is out and you're from Liverpool you wear shorts, a t-shirt and flip- flops. It doesn't matter if its not that warm, which it hasn't been really. We're also compelled to swim in something/anything (Albert Dock) even if the waters not that warm (frozen). Well, I drew the line at the stagnant pond at the foothills- Joe didn't, he was right in with the dog!
This leads me to following tale of idiocy.

Firstly, last Sunday (06.02.11) as a preamble we drove up to lake Sonoma. Once there we obviously fancied a swim in the lake. It was a bit chilly to dip your toe in so we went for the jump in head first get it over with approach. It was the coldest thing I've ever done and I've rolled in snow with nothing but swim shorts on! It was so cold I actually has a burning sensation in my neck and chest. Not sure what it meant but it didn't feel refreshing!
Not to be put off, on Wednesday (09.01.11) myself and Joe decided to hike up the Russian River (even colder) and look for a good spot to swim. Jen dropped us off and said she would pick us up on her way to get Molly from Basket Ball practice. I suggested that rather than us turn back and meet her where she dropped us off, we'd keep walking up river as there was a road that roughly followed it and when she called we would cut through the embankment to the road where she would no doubt see us on her way.

The walk wasn't what I imagined there was a lot more wading against the flow of the river and through mud than I remembered (probably the time of year) and soon we found ourselves on the wrong side of the river with out the proverbial paddle; this is when we got Jens call. We surveyed the embankment on the other side, the river was running quite fast but there was a fallen tree that was half in, half out of the water. We couldn't see through the thick trees on the bank but Joe thought he heard a car so we decided we would wade across to the tree climb up onto it and shimmy along to the embankment then up onto the road.

This turned out to be a somewhat naive and optimistic ill thought out plan. Firstly the water got deep and we had back packs with phones and cameras in them so we devised a plan where I would hold the bags and Joe would swim up to a point where he could climb onto the tree, he would then shimmy out to me where I would pass him the bags and then swim across myself. As soon as Joe started to swim the current got him and swept him into the tree nuts first. He then had to fight the current to get out of the water and onto the tree and then fight the branches and twigs to get out to me amidst ominous sounds of wood cracking! I eventually handed him the bags and proceeded to be swept into the tree nuts first myself. Once we'd fought our way to the bank, we found ourselves knee high in mud and in thick overgrown thorn bushes. By the time we'd fought our way to the top of the bank we were covered in scratches, nettle stings and mud. We were also greeted by a 7ft high fence with not a road but a vineyard beyond it! Joe ended up digging a hole under the fence like some kind Wiley fox trying to get into a chicken coup whilst i looked out for any angry wine makers with guns! Once through (covered in even more mud) we moved stealthily through the vineyard and scaled the fence on the other side and only then did we reach the road. A few minutes later Jens car appeared like a celestial vision; it was like a happy ending in a horror film, we were saved!

As if that wasn't enough drama for one day we got home to be greeted by a mangy one eyed Chiwawa pissing on the carpet, but thats another story for another day...