The Waterbike Collective

Imagine it. Tuesday afternoon, I have just finished my blog post about Angler Fish and my partner Chris comes upstairs to say he has a job. For those of you that don't know, he is a mobile bike mechanic for Shropshire and the surrounding areas. The job he got called in for on Tuesday was an interesting one, he told me. It was for a waterbike and the chap who was riding it was doing a canal litter pick for charity. I'm sure it'll be no surprise to hear that I had literal emoji heart eyes. Feeling like a proper journalist about to chase their scoop, this was a story I had to know more about! Thankfully, Chris let me tag along.

The waterbike. Photo by RTR

At Tylrey Locks we met Hughie, the young man with the waterbike. While Chris set about fixing it, Hughie told me a little about what he was doing and the charity he was volunteering for: an adventure collective called SayYesMore.com, founded by Dave Cornthwaite in 2012. SayYesMore encourage folk of all ages to do exactly that - say yes to adventure, say yes to challenging yourself, and say yes to not hiding away. This is an ethos I have been trying to live by these last few years, so immediately I felt like this was going to be a good thing. And boy was I right. SayYesMore organise everyday adventures from cycling the Outer Hebrides to the more extreme winter mountain skills week in France.

They are also running a UK wide campaign called The Waterbike Collective, which is the adventure that brought Hugh to the Shropshire Union Canal. Their aim? To collect 1,000,000 pieces of litter from Britain's canals and waterways, cycling up and down on the waterbike. I had emoji heart eyes again. The trip has been broken down to legs which volunteers can donate their time for a day or two - depending on when they are free and what suits them.

Sheffield to Leeds - 16th to 22nd June
Leeds to Blackburn - 24th June to 2nd July
Blackburn to Manchester - 3rd to 8th July
Manchester to Wolverhampton - 9th to 21st July
Wolverhampton to Worcester - 22nd July to 27th July
Worcester to Bristol -18th July to 4th August
Bristol to Reading - 6th to 17th August
Wolverhampton to Birmingham - 20th August to 25th August
Birmingham to Oxford - 26th August to 10th September
Oxford to London - 11th to the 30th September

Currently, they are on the Manchester to Wolverhampton leg. Each day has a start and finish point. Hugh's day started in Market Drayton and would finish 9.2 miles later in Knighton (once the waterbike was fixed!). He has also volunteered to do a two-day stint next week between Dunsley and Kidderminster. The London based drama student, hailing originally from south coast Poole, heard about SayYesMore and The Waterbike Collective through his cousin. No stranger to adventures, having travelled around Italy and Argentina, Hugh wants to travel America and visit the Nordic countries. But he was also looking for something to do during the summer. The Waterbike Collective provided all the opportunity he needed. Being from a coastal town, picking litter from waterways was an initiative he could get behind.

Photo by Hughie

The campaign provides a lot of flexibility for the adventurer, encouraging them to wild camp along the tow path and to bring their friends down to help. SayYesMore provide the bike, the litter picking equipment and some bags from their sponsor, Aquapac; all they require is a £25 registration fee and confidence that you are fit enough to participate. Hughie, himself, camped the night before his trip and dined at the local pub, The Red Lion, feulling up for his ride the following morning and enjoying a cheeky pint of Joules!

The bike, itself, is quite difficult to steer. The propeller and rudder are steered by the handle bars, but also rest just above the water's surface making them susecptible to currents in the water and air. It takes constant adjustment, else you end up veering into side! The bike was tested off the Norwegian coast by SayYesMore founder, Dave Cornthwaite, and apparently even he had some interesting techniques for steering!

The campaign is going swimmingly, technical hiccoughs aside. They have travelled roughly half the distance and have already picked up over 50,000 pieces of litter. The volunteers log what they collect each day on The Waterbike Collective website, bringing them ever closer to the goal of 1,000,000 pieces of litter. Even folk who are not participating via the waterbike can litter pick and donate their numbers to the total.

The Route:

I am happy to have encountered Hughie, the Waterbike Collective and SayYesMore. It is fantastic to see such a positive approach to enjoying and protecting our planet. I wish them the best of luck and no more technical difficulties. I will definitely be keeping a eye out for any SayYesMore adventures which would suit my partner and me!

Chris repairing the waterbike. Photo by Hugh

I encourage you all to investigate SayYesMore and maybe become part of the SayYesTribe, as they call themselves. They have lots of events coming up, including their annual Yestival which will be single-use plastic free, the first of its kind in the UK! Yes, I have emoji heart eyes once more. They even have a solar powered YesBus, situated in West Sussex, where they host tribe days and workshops. Yes. I want to go.

If you want to hear more about the ongoing adventure of the Waterbike Collective, they have a facebook group which posts regularly. You might even spot a picture of me photobombing Chris' repair!

Hughie setting off after the repair. Photo by RTR

Traversing Tylrey Locks. Photo by RTR

Good luck!