AS OXFORDSHIRE enjoyed a reprieve from the rain, paddle-boarder Tom Ballance celebrated on the flooded waterways yesterday.

The 56-year-old, from Binsey, Oxford, travelled to Abingdon to make the most of the sunshine before the storm.

He paddle-boarded on the Thames underneath Abingdon Bridge.

Mr Ballance said: “It was fantastic. It was a good bit of fun. I hadn’t realised how much fun that part of Abingdon was.

“It is very safe because parts of it are quite shallow.

“Of course you could still fall flat on your face and get wet, but it is safe.”

He is inviting other paddle-boarders to join him on the same route on Sunday at noon, forecast to be the next break in the rain.