Tyne Tour 2005 - Chris
I have just come back from a weekend of drunken dabortuary and kayaking
maddness, here’s the low down from China town-(read the leeds massive).
The weekend was set for The Tyne Tour, one of the largest canoeing
gatherings in England, drivers drove carrying their cargo of boats, beer and
women. In my case men…humph. On arrival tents were pitched and alcohol
consumpsion quickly got out of hand. The Leeds contingent shimmied into town
for some clubbing fun, I must confess that I didn’t have a great time as the
DJ was an R and B fan. I would go so far as to say I wantd to hurt him. In
addition drinks were uber expensive so sober and without the music to dance
I wasted away.
Others enjoyed themselves tremedously, Adam got seriously intoxicated to the
point of –[EDIT: Antic Censorship]– and wearing it as a scarf/cloak
and then falling into the drainage ditch next to his tent! Fine work.
In the moring only half the group could paddle as there was only enough gear
for half the peeps. Not to worry it was a lovely day, which I put to good
use looking around the gear stands (oh so dangerous) and then drove to the
most exciting part of the river. Wardan Gorge. Here we could sit on a nice
expanse of rock that provided a perfect view of the Kayakers running the
river. A rescue team was stationed on this rock to pick up the pieces. We
settled down to watch the show…
Soon enough groups of Kayakers appeared at the top of the gorge. The
instructors briefing the novices on how to run the it. It was highly
entertaining watching people throw themselves down the gorge, scared out of
their mind, out of control or in many cases already out of their boat and
calling for a throw line to be rescued! The Leeds crew inevitably appeared
after some time and ploughed down-many looked like they were suffering from
the night before. We only had 3 swimmers which I thought was quite
impressive as the bets ranged from 5 to 10!
Anyho, back to camp for more serious drinking then a Kaley! I liked this
very much. Lots of drinking, women and dancing. Fantastic.
Went to bed after trying to find my tent for a considerable time.
The morning brought to my ears the sound of rain, apparently it had been
raining all night. Not to worry it was the second half of the group that
were due to run the river today. That included me, Hooray! After
considerable faff and warming up some paddled the rapid at the top of the
river, myself included. It was officially wicked and the first grade 4 I
have run, wicked! Pumped up and ready to go I capsized on the flat bit right
near the start. Good work.
The rest of the river was quite calm, a bit bumbley in places but otherwise
dull. I hit a low for a while as the hangover kicked in. After what seemed
like forever the Gorge was nearing. People got split into small groups and
we were meant to run the Gorge thus. However what actually happened was we
dropped into the bend just before the Gorge, loads of people capsized,
swimmers and boats needing to be rescued. Carnage (sp?). Again after
considerable faff (read saving copious people from drowning etc) The “group”
was ready to run the Gorge.
The trouble was that the river had risen a considerable amount overnight,
the flow was much faster and larger than the previous day. Hence the carnage
at the top. However the Gorge itself was huge! There were standing waves
that were definately not there the day before but I am not one to shy away
from biting off more than I can chew so I went for it, following fresher
Ben-my buddy for the day. As we approached Ben gave me an enthusiastic
thumbs up, a bad sign, for when your instructor gets excited you know its
going to be big…
Running the Gorge was something else, paddling into towering waves then
falling into a deep trough to face the next towering pillar of water. It was
going well I thought. I started to enjoy myself.
Then over the next crest I was humbled, in front of me was the biggest
stopper I had ever seen, a white wall of reserculating water across half of
the river. Unknown to me the rescue team-of the day before - were shoutin at
people to get left to avoid it. I did not see the rescue team, nor heed
their desperate shouts. I hit the stopper and stopped. Paddle like a bastard
is the phrase and it certainly had the desired effect. I was about to be
dicked on by the phallus of the Gorge, slapped about then punished for being
to slow. I felt the familiar feeling of going under…bugger.A few seconds
later I rolled up and found myself out of the stopper and home and dry(read
quite wet). I got out to take a look at the Gorge from the bank and found it
to be unrecognisable from the previous day. The water had risen drastically,
the rock that we sat on to spectate on Saterday was no longer there. The
banks of the river were now trees-mangroves if you will. The rescue team
were stationed on boats tied to the trees. Awesome.
The carnage continued with boats and people floating down seperately. A boat
floated past with spray deck still attached. Max assumed that someone had
the struggle of their life and had forced themselves from their unwilling
spraydeck!
Gear, boats and people lost in the malestrom of punishment the Gorge was
handing out. The leader chaps did well keeping it together, good work leader
type people.
Fab.
Faff
Then we went home.
End
By Chris Stevenson