Downstream

‘Look at the waves there,’
says Martin, pointing to the
shore on the left. He explains
that the Thames carries 70 per
cent of British inland
waterways traffic and this is
‘category C water’, which
means there can be waves at
least a metre high. He
gestures to a young man
standing at the back of our
boat; ‘if we threw him in
now, with a life jacket on, he
would drift down the river’.