18 miles doesn't sound like a long way to paddle in a canoe. I can assure you that it is. There were only two stretches of water that seemed to be moving, the rest of it was like raking gravel. The Sun was unrelenting so I covered myself in factor thirty and tied a shirt around my head. Harry and I managed to avoid sinking more than once. We had just tried to release the stag's boat into the river but hadn't managed to get away ourselves before our boat was over turned and my flip flops floated off into the murky distance.