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Tyne Tour 2005 - Nina

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005

Made it to Tyne Green after a fairly faff-less trip in the Bus O’ Fun, managed to get the tent up after a fashion (it was new, I had no idea what it was meant to look like when up!). In theory this was made easier by leaving the bus headlights on, in practice they were covered by people leaning on the bonnet, drinking…

So, tents up, bags found, drink opened and official t-shirts distributed we headed off to donito’s, a delightful “nite spot” (their words…). Apparently it had recently been re-decorated and was looking rather classy, until we showed up that is. Judging by the looks on the local’s faces they didn’t seem too chuffed to have their club taken over by a bunch of scruffy student kayakers on the first night it was open after the re-vamp, but that didn’t exactly stop us. The drink being rather expensive, and the thought of paddling with a hangover, stopped me getting as hammered as some of the others amongst our group (Adam, that banner was so your colour) but I was still tipsy enough to head home via the takeaway, which seemed like a great idea at the time.

Saturday, awake at 7.10 (I have no idea why, only went to sleep at 4. Gilly, your voice carries very well through canvas!), lots of staggering about totally disorientated having only seen the campsite in the dark (can you see things in the dark?) but getting a sausage sandwich down my neck helped immeasurably. Got into the oh-so-alluring wetsuit, not an easy task in a tent, let me tell you, and hopped on the bus to the entry point where faff was kept impressively to a minimum, but the weird looks were at a maximum due to the big circle of penguins watching worms crossing.

Best bit of advice received on the river? Paddle like a mental. My brain stopped working on various interesting bits and the arms just went on autopilot, but I have every single second of Warden Gorge branded onto my brain for all eternity. As someone who’s only ever pootled about on flat water, the comments of “just wait till warden gorge”, “warden gorge’ll be funny with all these freshers” and the like did nothing for the nerves, but upon eddying out the first thing that went through my head was “can I do it again?!?!”.

Bit of a sedate paddle back to the campsite, then after hot showers and a big plate of chips in Wetherspoon’s we were all feeling (and looking) a bit more human. The drinking then started in earnest while we had a cheeky wee look at the fireworks display in the next field, then we all trooped/staggered up to the sports centre for the ceilidh (not kaylidh, celigh or barn dance). The drinking that we’d started at the campsite continued, but this time it was interspersed with spinning, reeling and falling over, which was fine. I’m not sure if any naked racing happened (we’d had nudity on the bus up already anyway), but it was still a damn good night in spite of this.

Sunday, woke up listening to the rain hammer on the tent, so went back to sleep and a couple of hours later emerged surprised into sunlight. The other half of the group had headed off to the river, and after getting a nice picnic from Tesco we headed up to watch the carnage at the gorge. Well, that was the plan. Instead we walked for a good hour and a half up the wrong fork of the river and had to accost a few startled natives before we found the sodding place. Apparently the river had risen about 2 foot in the night, and the madder among us felt a longing to be part of the utter chaos that we saw in front of us. There were lots of people wandering around looking a little shell shocked, and I’d still love to know how there came to be just a spray deck floating downriver.

Got a cheeky wee lift back in the minibus in time to get the tent down and back on the Bus O’ Fun to be serenaded by Monty Python Sings (again). A bit of confusion meant that we managed to leave with the keys to the transit van, so technically, we left Tyne Green twice. Quick kit sort out back at the chapel, then home, shower and BED!

Still hurting today, but the fact that my housemates think I’m totally mental makes it completely worth it.

By Nina

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Tyne Tour 2005 - Ollie

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005

 

The Tyne Tour promised to be a montage of drinking paddling and general craziness
and it was with this in mind that I sprinted through campus (stopping only to give
directions to bemused prospective students) in an attempt to catch the mini bus.
Unfortunately I was fifteen minutes late and jumping in a waiting car I was forever to be
regaled with tales of the nudity which ensued in my could-have-bin ride. After hastily
erecting tents in a random fashion we got down to the serious business of drinking and
soon, with the arrival of more busses and cars, wound our merry way to donito’s nightclub.
After frolicking some of the wonderful locals (”yoos shoutin’ in mah ear while ah’m tryin’
t’ talk t’ yeh pals!” .. such a warm race of people), drinking like fish and dancing like
fools we decided to head back to camp (via a kebab shop).

Although most of us retired by four that morning I was kept awake by some rather
noisy cows and eventually decided to mingle with the nice folks at Loughborough
university (who had risen at seven o’clock!!??). By nine most people were up and after a
hasty bacon sandwich and reshuffle of the tents (with appropriate faff) we set off in
full regalia for the Tyne.

The eight mile stretch we paddled had some very fun rapids and though I swam not
once but twice it was trés cool, not least a mass surf half way down. Very knackered and
quite cold we got out at the campsite, showered and headed up to spoons for a hot meal.
After more drink and faff and a fun free firework show enjoyed from the top of the mini
bus it was ceilidh time… dancing to crazy folk music in complicated couple based stuff
was what we all needed and along with alcohol both purchased and snuck in it descended
into semi-chaotic spinning and jigging for all. Some of us (or maybe all) made our own
random dances up with many a “this way, this way!!” and the odd “right hand star!!”. By
the end of the night not only had I managed to be a girl in the square dance (very fun
and mildly dangerous) but also done some freestyle westside hardcore ceilidh dancing
with jess, met a Scottish guy who put horses on shoes (or the other way round) and done
some trolley surfing into a bush with bob et al. The night progressed with scatterings
of inebriated Sheffield, Loughborough and Birmingham uni folks an attempt at a fire and
a cracker eating contest. We just had time to find an unconscious non-responsive guy get
him admitted to hospital and laugh at the comments his dad would make at being phoned at
between the hours of four and six in the morning because his son had drunk way too much
and fallen asleep in a field before going to bed.
Waking up with my tentmate Ste pressed lightly against me I realised it was two
in the afternoon and after breakfast we discovered, alas, that most of the Leeds crew
had hiked to Wardens gorge to watch the carnage. We looked at the super high water levels
with envy and, when the Sunday paddlers returned, sat in covetous rapture listening to
their tales of insane waves and rapids.

After a lot more faff we packed up and I found a beer in my tent which I quickly
consumed. We returned to Leeds and marvelled at the weekend that had been. That night as
I fondled by pillow girlfriend katia I couldn’t help feel that the pillow beneath my head
was way too soft and I was way too sober and dry. In the end I settled for staying sober
and dry and swapped my “zzzzzz” pillow for the uni hoodie that I’d grown accustomed to
the past few days.. bliss. Due to the very strange underwater dreams I’d been having I
found I could now roll on both sides when I reached the pool..not only had I gotten drunk
but I felt a little more experienced and had learnt a little more! My second discovery was,
to my dismay, that the only pictures of me that weekend involve me swimming. Doh.

 

By Ollie Margetts

Posted in Tyne Tour | No Comments »

French Alps 2005

Saturday, July 30th, 2005

By Katy Hogarth (other paddlers: Max Bilbow, Adam Dumolo.)

Having received a phone call from Adam saying him and Max were looking for another paddler for their booked Alps trip, visions of grade 5 water and certain death came into my mind, I decided I would be a liability and declined. As soon as the phone was put down I realised that this was an opportunity I couldn’t chicken out of. I quickly made my excuses at work, rand Adam back and booked my flight. After some last minute purchases (A guide to the Rivers of the Southern Alps, Peter Knowles) We flew out to Turin with the boats and inflatable roof racks. Little did we know that the hire car awaiting us in Italy would be a Nissan Micra. It took us almost an hour to work out how to fit our kit into the car and secure the boats on possibly the most curved roof ever. And a few more hours to negotiate Italy without a road map. We found the campsite later that evening at l’Argentiare and established ourselves between some friendly looking tents.

19th - Middle Durance from slalom course at camp site to Embrun
Although I had paddled with Adam before, Max and I did not know each other or our paddling abilities and only the two boys had run rivers together before. Fully aware now that the two people I was with were awesome, experienced paddlers I was starting to wonder what I was doing here. Living in Norfolk I hadn’t done a lot of white water, and the Tryweryn didn’t really seem to compare to the rivers we were looking at, but Adam had a lot of faith in my roll. Camping right next to the slalom course meant we could walk it carefully and take a look. With plenty of eddies, a flat stretch afterwards and lots of get outs it looked well within our abilities, so we ran it with no problems and continued down the Middle Durance. Ranging from grade 2-3+ parts of the durance were bouncy and interesting, and other parts relaxing. We came across a couple of beautiful natural play waves, and my rolling got some refreshing practice. We had the whole river to ourselves, it was a beautiful paddle. The sheer size of this river meant there was little pressure to select perfect lines, but we got some invaluable group work and river signal practice in. At the get out Adam and I had a wait in the rain whilst Max hitched up to the car. Everyone agreed that though we had enjoyed the paddle, tomorrows rivers needed to be slightly more challenging.

20th - Chateau Queras into Guardian Angel gorge, down to Triple drop.
Peter Knowles made both these sections of the Guil sound absolutely un-missable, and I think Max was keen to find the upper limit of my abilities! We had been assured by fellow paddlers at the campsite that neither section was quite as hardcore as they sounded, due to a lack of water. Though the sections of river we saw from the road looked pretty hardcore to me. The get on was deceptively quaint and calm, but after just minutes of paddling the river disappeared through this impossibly small gap between some cliffs. We had been expecting this entrance to the gorge, but it was so much more dramatic than anyone had described.
There was no chance of stopping though, so with Max leading and Adam behind me we ran it. I don’t think I breathed once. The river rushed through the gorge so quickly, staying forwards and upright took a lot of effort. Halfway down I took a roll, but quickly recovered in time to see the end of the gorge, and the river widened as quickly as it had narrowed. I was totally giddy with adrenalin as we paddled the next relatively calm grade 3 stretch. Guardian Angel gorge was nothing like as dramatic, though much more technical with plenty of boulders to negotiate, large stoppers, and several sections which we got out and had a good look at. Although previously in awe of Max and Adam’s paddling, the way they led me down this river was really amazing. I felt totally safe, even when paddling things I had never dreamed of running before. Lines were chosen carefully and safety set up where required. After each drop I looked back with disbelief at the mass of rocks and water I had paddled through.
A group of 4 rafts showed up in time to see me get a total trashing on one of the drops, taking two rolls and finding some great sub-aqua lines, but I rolled back up smiling. I definitely found this paddle a challenge, but loved every minute of it. By the time we stopped for a much needed lunch break I was exhausted. My S6 didn’t punch through the stoppers with as much ease as the boy’s creek boats and I had been paddling hard. We paddled the grade 4+ section before triple drop to where the car was. By this point I decided I’d achieved enough for one day, so whilst the boys scouted triple drop I heaved my boat up to the car and took photographs. They got out a few metres below the drop and we headed back for camp.
Impressed that we had made it through two of the Guil’s gorges without any epics or major problems, Max and Adam set the base grade of our future rivers at 3-3+. Whilst socialising in the evening, one of the lad’s coaches from Leeds, Lauren (originally from France) talked us carefully through the Ramonche, no eddies, very fast, with a grade 5 section definitely worth a look after two big boulders on the left.

21st - Ramonche and Middle Guisane

The Ramonche (4- 4+ ) and the Guisane had been recommended by the Irish inhabitants of the friendly looking tents next to us, and Lauren, and Max had paddled the Guisane on previous alps trips, so we decided to give them a go. The Ramonche was a long drive from the campsite, but luckily some Irish paddlers had lent us a CD to listen to. Sadly the Kaiser Chiefs started to grate after the 3rd playing of the album, and we reverted back to French radio. The Ramonche had been recommended due to its reliable water levels… but in June after the snow has gone, ‘reliable’ meant glacial melt water. The get out was immediately above a nasty looking weir. The term ‘get out’ didn’t really apply, as there wasn’t really an eddy or a beach making a nice spot to disembark. However we headed back up to the much prettier get on, below a grade 5 rapid which, as Peter Knowles had warned, was full of metal. It was obvious that trees could be a major problem on the river, as the flow went fast, straight under some low branches. Adam and I waited for Max for what seemed an age in the heat; it was an epic of a hitch with very few cars passing along the remote road. Eventually he got back and we got on in a synchronised seal launch fashion due to the speed of the river. The temperature of the water quickly dispelled the heat induced doze me and Adam had been in.
We made perhaps 2 eddies over a 3km rollercoaster stretch of river, and quick decisions about lines and obstacles had to be made. As we shot past the second of a pair of large boulders on the left, panic filled me as Lauren’s warnings came flooding back. The difficulty level did jump up, but we made it through the frothy rapids, dodged some more trees and in no time were approaching the get out. Whilst trying to catch a tiny eddy behind a rock, I managed to capsize and I think I performed a record breaking speed roll knowing the weir wasn’t far downstream. However, the water here was slower than it looked and we disembarked safely. We basked on the roadside trying to re-coup some body heat after the freezing whirlwind of a river, but it immediately became one of our favourites for sheer thrill and excitement.
The Middle Guisane was another fast river, but it was less furious than the Ramonche and a bit warmer. There was a nasty weir we had to portage, but it was clearly signed and easy to get round. There were several sections which were choppier, and required a bit of planning and thought, but nothing too extreme. After a couple of days of paddling this was an ideal river, challenging but friendly, we had a lot of fun running the river. With the get out in Briancon, the drive home wasn’t long either.

22nd - Middle Claree, Middle Guil

Doing two rivers seemed to work well for us, with a good break for lunch in-between, so this was the plan again today. Max had wanted to run the Claree from day one, as he had run part of it when he was young and had to sate his nostalgia. We had scouted it a number of times, but the water level had been touch and go. We knew it would be higher in the morning, and had had plenty of rain the previous evening so we got up before sunrise and decided to go for it. (My boat still hasn’t forgiven me) The get on was the stillest, gentlest little trickle of a river but just around the corner it quickly became a hard, bouncy rapid. The challenge on this river was determining which rocks were deep enough to get over, and which rocks were too sharp to go anywhere near. However the scraping noises, bumps, and occasional shouts of ‘Ouch!’ suggested we didn’t manage it very well. Peter Knowles in this case had not mentioned the significant tree hazard. No-one was stupid enough to take a roll luckily, with razor sharp rocks just below the surface. The scenery was stunning, and it was nice to be on a totally different type of river again. The water was running quickly and soon we were at the get out, I enjoyed the run despite the damage to my knee caps and boat.

The rain the previous day had a very different effect on the Middle Guil, there had been a landslide affecting the course of the river and the water was running chocolate brown. We scouted everything we could from the road carefully, and came across a man sat on a rock in the middle of the river with his paddle. His boat, we found out, had totally subbed in a strainer in the river. Submerged trees littered the river and the landslide definitely needed portaging, as the river now ran through a forest. For the first time I felt scared of a river, but the boys were very reassuring and once I got on, just below triple drop I was fine. We eddy hopped the river carefully, as not even the guide book was up to date on the new rapids and obstacles which had developed due to the rain. Portaging the landslide was a challenge, as the new mud was very soft, and paddlers who weren’t light footed started to sink. After the landslide was also interesting, as we knew the grade 5 ‘X-box’ was coming up, but couldn’t see another eddy before it, and portaging it was not possible from where we were. Luckily this drop was further down, and we could get out and have a good look at it first. I portaged it due to the sheer size of a stopper mid way down, which looked more than capable of eating an S6. Whilst scouting this drop we also got a good look at an ominous black cloud which was rolling towards us down the valley. Not wishing to get caught in any further landslides, and with the river closing to paddlers at 6pm anyway, we dashed down some more fairly intense grade 4 rapids teamed up with a larger group of paddlers fleeing the cloud. The rain caught us at the get out, but after reloading the roof a few times it had become a well rehearsed performance, and took only a few minutes in the torrential rain, much to the amusement of other paddling groups we met with their big vans.

23rd - Ubaye racecourse and gorge
The Ubaye racecourse and gorge seemed to be quite notorious, rivers not to be taken lightly, but we had done our homework and again they had been recommended to us. We scouted the river carefully, parking up and walking along the grade 6 Lions Den and other sections we could see from the road. However as we pulled into the rafting centre at the get on, we were met with a united feeling of disapproval. The Placy Brenin van was there, and they seemed insulted that we might be paddling the same river as them. Our image, in an Italian Nissan Micra with inflatable roof racks can’t have been that impressive I suppose. Not helped by coloured sticks of foam we had purchased in a local supermarket and had fashioned into spoilers for our boats. A number of paddlers decided it was their responsibility to warn us off, and did their best. I had already decided I wasn’t running the gorge, and had arranged a lift from the racecourse get out, but the boys were not discouraged by the rumours and tales of gravestones. The racecourse was good fun with some great rapids, but nothing too dangerous. There were some big wave trains and a couple of boulders to dodge. We followed some hydro-speeders down, which made it seem safer still. We pulled up at the racecourse get out and I waved goodbye to Adam and Max. I then had to wait an hour and a half for the guys I was getting a lift with, they had obviously taken a lot longer over the river. I met Adam and Max on the lake at the bottom of the gorge, who were luckily fine.

24th - Le Bonne
At this stage in the week we were starting to run out of nearby suitable options, so we decided the Bonne would be worth the 2 hour drive. The usual get on was out of the question due to a large tree blocking the whole river just below, so we had to improvise a get on a bit further down. We scrambled down to the river to inspect the grade 4 section at the start; it was breathtaking, the river was no more than a few feet wide and wiggled its way through a dramatic channel it had carved in the rock. Whilst Adam and I waited for Max to hitch back up from the get out, Dublin University Kayak club turned up at the get on. There must have been 40 of them, and they were planning to run the river as one group. We predicted carnage and so rushed to get on the river before them. The grade 6 ’slimming machine’ further downstream was not accessible for scouting from the road, so we set off cautiously checking round every corner. The first grade 4 section was even more awesome on the water than it had looked, and afterwards it opened up into a nice grade 3 river. Sadly our caution meant Dublin caught us up just before the slimming machine. All the eddies were jam packed, and they held us up for 45 minutes running the section above the grade 6 with several swimmers, and subbed boats. Max and Adam ran the slimming machine anyway, which didn’t seem as much of a grade 6 as Peter Knowles had made out, probably due to low water. The rest of the river was beautiful, with a great play wave just before the get off.

25th - Lower Durance
On the last day we decided to chill out, and paddled the lower durance down to Embrun to check out the play spots. This was a 16km expedition of mostly grade 2+ - 3 water, and Max and Adam decided I should lead it. The Durance was vastly wide, but parts were very shallow, and the river split into as many as 4 channels more than 10 times, which gave me a lot of scouting and decision making to do. Far from a chill-out paddle! Although I didn’t need to worry about the ability of my group, I had to keep an eye on them and I hadn’t paddled the river before and wasn’t sure which channels were clear and deep enough to run. Before each split I had to take the widest line so I could check around the corners, and then use the river signals we’d spent all week practicing to direct the group down the river. I managed well considering, avoiding all the shingle banks and shallow sections. To add interest we also avoided imaginary syphons, boulders and stoppers. Although I knew the Rav play spot was coming up, the drop was not visible until we were too close. Luckily I led the guys down the tongue and through the wave, instead of the messy stoppers both sides. They went back in to play anyway. There were no more major splits or features downstream, some bumpy waves, but nothing big until the next play wave at Embrun. This was busy with other playboaters, so with the other two in creek boats anyway, we only stopped for a while before getting out and heading to the airport. Despite the pressure of leading, this was a gentle and enjoyable trip to conclude our week.

Posted in Big Holidays (i.e. the alps), Reports | No Comments »

National Student Rodeo - March 2005

Wednesday, March 30th, 2005

On 12th of March over 400 paddlers descended on Nottingham for the 2005 National Student Rodeo - the UK’s premier student event. With more than 300 entrants the Student Rodeo has become the biggest freestyle event held in the UK, this year drawing competitors in from England, Scotland, Wales and even back from Germany! One of the main reasons for the popularity is the general ethos of the weekend - to get people involved, and having fun, in freestyle kayaking.

The number of competitors around was always going to prove a challenge to give all a chance, but the extreme slalom got away early with competitors having to try their hands at different aspects of kayaking from spins and loops on top wave to old skool on twin wave via the ever challenging hanging ball.

This ranked everyone into the respective categories: Novice, Intermediate and Expert for the men and Novice and Expert for the ladies.

As the extreme slalom finished off Ben White from Pyranha took a squirt coaching session before he judged the event - something which had an obvious effect on the quality of the paddling. Cartwheels and full mystery moves were the order of the day in the looping pool. This trialled the new system of heats, giving the competitors a free-for-all within a time limit to encourage people to try a bigger move with no worries about getting washed off and being knocked out. Dicky Chrimes scored his first of many points of the weekend taking gold, pushing Ben Selles from Bristol Uni and Adam Dumolo from Leeds into second and third.

After the success of this it was decided to continue with the same format for the main heats starting with Men’s novice on twin wave and Ladies novice on the top wave. The new format gave these events much better spectator value and the crowds gathered to cheer them on. The safety team put in a great effort getting almost every swimmer and kit out before the next events.

C1′ers then put themselves onto the top wave for some impressive action, and some K1 paddlers trying their hand and being not so impressive but having a good go anyway… The ladies experts and men’s intermediate / experts were held in the muncher, using the same rules to allow anyone to have a go and get points.

With all the competitors to get through the paddling went on until dark, with the last of the heats being under floodlights. Then everyone packed off to the campsite and the bar, for a night of fun in bad taste theme. An awesome night - organised by the ever enthusiastic River Legacy people - followed, despite the awful clothes on display.

The Desperate Measures tent was even more popular than normal the next morning, with tea, coffee and cake provided by Boulder Adventures getting people over the night before and onto the course for the Topo Duo races. Competition was fierce, with 4 duo’s per heat racing the length of the course making one compulsory 360 turn (in any direction) during that time. The winners went through to the final, held in the looping pool with competitors getting massive pop-outs and the ever family friendly naked paddlers pulled plenty of ‘cheeky’ crowd pleasing moves! High and Mighty, the kayak distributors, were around and have put together a nice little video of the Duo finals - see the website for it!

The ladies novice finals ended up with Jackie Gillespie fighting it out with last year’s organiser, Kirsty Archibald on top wave - Jackie eventually getting top points for Southampton after both resorted to getting out and standing up in their boats while surfing top wave! Men’s novice, held on the twin wave, proved tough to judge between the men and the boys. Lots of old school moves were pulled and Matthew Bell pulled away to get first and win himself a pair of custom made Double Dutch freestyle paddles.

The action then headed back to the top wave for the C1 final and with a couple of paddlers having to pull out due to injury the field was wide open. Tim Burne from Imperial College came through as the top in the class, with Dickie Chrimes picking up yet more points in second place. Men’s intermediates were the first real testing grounds of the new freestyle rules, allowing each move to be scored only once and allowing some points to be scored for moves which result in being flushed off the wave. Designed to move away from the ‘flurry of ends’ that so often feature in high class playboating and towards a more interesting ride, everyone was eager to see whether they worked. From the huge numbers in the finals, the judges whittled away through quarter’s, semi’s and finals to finish with Scott Jenkins taking a pair of Robson Pogo’s from Des Mes and Robson as first prize.

The last events of the weekend were the expert finals. Ladies were up first and last years winner Rosie Cripps, now ranked 7th in the world, was up to defend her title. A long fight with Lowri Davies resulted in Rosie keeping her title and Jenny Hamilton-Ible coming in a respectable third.

Men’s expert finals saw some of the best paddling from the weekend. Competition was fierce coming into the last 5, with the paddlers having to pull out their best moves to stay in. Will Clark was first to go, just being edged out of 4th place by Tim Coles of Bangor. Adam Devitt-Spooner took third, once again leaving James Barnes and Dickie Chrimes to battle it out for first place. Despite a valiant effort from James, Dickie put in a blinding final run to reclaim first, repeating last years result.

Many people put in a lot of effort to make the event run - the safety crew did an awesome job keeping everyone warm: many thanks to Martin, Carrick, Sarah, Owen and all who lent a hand. The event wouldn’t have been possible without them. As always the judges did all that was asked with the minimum of whingeing - despite having to sit out in the cold. Many thanks to Ollie Castle, Dan Heyworth, Jamie Burbeck, Claire O’Hara, Morsey, Will Clark and Matt Deaves.

The sponsors all came up with some amazing prizes. Desperate Measures awarded Tim Coles a sponsorship deal, joining Rosie on Team Des Mes.

Loughborough narrowly clinched the Student Rodeo cup, and also got a brand new I4 from Pyranha to add to their club fleet, while Boulder provided prizes for the second and third place uni’s - Leeds and Nottingham Trent.

See www.nationalstudentrodeo.org.uk for full results, pictures and videos.

Many thanks, and we hope to see you in 2006!

Tim Stevenson and all at Leeds Uni

Posted in National Student Rodeo, Reports | No Comments »

Lakes Weekend - January 2005

Sunday, January 30th, 2005

Exams are over yippee! So what does the self respecting/abusing paddler do with the free weekend they have before the new term starts? Go to the lakes with the canoe club! Advantages include sheep, air so clean its like scrubbing out your lungs with a bristle brush and um…..the chance to spoon with the entire club!! (see photo gallery)

The “love bus” left the chapel on Friday, when some poor slaving students had just finished their last exam, and made its way to Spark Bridge in Ulverston, Cumbria. There were about sixty of us all sleeping in one scout bunkhouse so things were quite cozy, more for some than others, ;o)

The weekend centres around a very cozy pub, more than happy to accommodate us. Previous years have seen an amicable relationship between the pub owner and one of our female members resulting in extended hospitality for the whole club, the kissing of every OAP in the place following a game of “21”, and a poor stuffed fox also falling victim to amorous paddler lips.

Saturday morning. The hardcore paddlers, lead by Laurent, supposedly left with minimum “faff” to do the Kent, Lune and Leaven, I was asleep, but I believe them because they were all wet when they got back. Traditionally the soft core paddlers go for a country walk, which is really refreshing and a good chance to get to know people who have joined late in the year.

After lunch, cheese sandwiches and world famous brownies kindly made by mummy Bina, I paddled the Crake. Less experienced paddlers are always put into groups with grade-6-fuck-yeah-could-do-it-with-my-eyes-shut-strap-on* paddlers, and I was feeling strangely calm under the guidance of Adam and Kev.

There were a series of gentle drops, some paddling though really nice wooded areas, and between scenic cliffs (one good thing about paddling is the way you see things from a new perspective, a bit like a hobbit in a boat or a duck). The final drop was big by my softie standards, but I followed the line of the person in front of me without any problems, so it was exciting rather than scary.

Best of all, the “get out” was right by our hut, so I could relax in the knowledge that I would soon be back in the pub, playing darts, and drinking old man ale, and later on, trying to avoid naked whipping. The lakes has rivers for all levels of paddlers, a shower so you can wash your hair, and is sort of like being on a brownie camp, except everyone is a grown up and they don’t have to listen to brown owl….…anyway …the lakes weekend, you cant beat it!!

*Paddling language is something mysterious, that develops and ferments over time. You could write a phd on its origins, probably, and people in the future on geekarama challenge will be answering questions on how the term “strap on” first came into usage when the renowned paddler monsieur Laurent unwitting told his fellow paddlers to “put a strap on” before a rapid. So don’t worry if it seems just a little bit confusing.

By Jennifer Coles

Posted in Lakes Weekend, Reports | No Comments »

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