Hail beats down on the roof as yet another thunder shower passes over. The temperature drops quickly from get your jacket off warmth to getting the jacket and a raincoat back on. Puddles quickly refill and the ever present mud gets new life. Horses turn their backsides into the wind, while petals from flowering cherries are ripped of branches and swirl in clouds to fall and carpet the ground.

This is the wild weather of early Spring, and one would think it shows no sign of abating. No signs of ending.

However abate it and end will and in as little time as 3 months we will be welcoming the odd shower of rain.

When you are in the midst of this Spring time weather chaos, it is hard to imagine warm water, settled weather and the fun of a multi day river trip.

And this is an interesting thing, this imagining.

Because it is hard to imagine warm sunny days, adventure, campfires, great food and fun rapids when outside the window resides weather chaos. However imagine it we must.

And why you must is because without imagining what makes a multi day river trip so special, you will never get around to booking one.

Summer will be over, and that multi day river trip will be one more “I wish I had got around to doing that”.

So, I am sitting here in my office in the last week of September. The river flooded out yesterday, so no rafting today. The weather forecast says there is the chance of thunder showers this afternoon so those puddles will refill and the mud will again come alive.

But I am going to spend a little time imagining.

I am going to imagine warm water, pretty campsites, great food, good company, and around each corner a new vista of river and landscape. Experiences you only find on a multi day river trip.

My imaging will become reality.

Will yours?

Brian Megaw