There are days when what you believe about yourself is brought into doubt, days when you are driven to places within yourself and without yourself which change your perception of the makeup of reality both spiritual and material. Days when you understand what it truly means to survive and appreciate the fickle nature of life. This was not such a day, it was more the sort of day where you lose perception of your fingers, grow to appreciate car heaters in a whole new way and come to understand the importance of daylight in a human’s perception of their environment, but it seemed quite epic at the time.
It was a bit nippy and we went to run the middle Orchy, which was at a pretty nice level. Alison had never been on a river before but we figured she’d pick it up as we went along so we set off in the hope of the first no swim club trip of the year. Hopes of such a feat were dashed at big rock, in fact this was so far from being a no swim trip that I will only be mentioning swims of particular merit or note.
Upon arrival at chicken shoot Chris ran it blind in a playboat, because that’s what he does. Others in the group took the less manly approach of inspecting it. Rachel had an unfortunate hand mangling incident which would prove an issue for her driving home later. Sheep trolley gorge claimed the odd swimmer. Ali even went for what I thought was a bit of freestyle action, turns out that actually her deck had popped and she was just sinking.
Easan Dubha saw Chris get out of his boat to inspect it, well either that or to stretch his legs, anyway he didn’t die so that’s all that counts. Saw tooth was looking a bit meaty but everyone kept out of trouble and we didn’t have any hole beatings, which I always find secretly disappointing.
I sat at the bottom of rollercoaster shouting ‘get left’ and pointing a lot to try and get people to avoid the bottom hole. No one at all listened but at least I got a good view of Ali’s deck popping again. Before we got to end of civilization Louise took a funny turn, I diagnosed a migraine combined with being cold; the mighty NHS later diagnosed concussion. Louise did not hit her head at any point during the day, but then I’m not a doctor. On end of civilization, Alison took her first proper swim, and what a swim it was - man points were duly awarded. However she was not deterred and we continued into the rapidly fading daylight to Eas a Chathaidh where we all fancied a walk. We got back on but by the time we reached Witches step it was actually night so we got off above it and walked back to the cars, Chris ran it on the basis that it was easier than walking.
Getting changed and tying boats onto roofs in the dark and pouring rain is neither easy nor fun, I would not recommend it.
Tom.
Sunday 6 December 2009
Friday 30 October 2009
North East Weekend
This is only the second such weekend ever to happen with this club, and like the last one, this was an outstanding success!! When I found out the scale of the trip, I was unsure whether or not it could be done, with a total of thirty-five people involved over a two day weekend, could our shed provide enough kit in the right sizes for everyone? Well, in a testament to Welsh organisation, we managed to escape from the seemingly inevitable situation where too many big people were on the trip to fit in the club kayaks, and managed to have one of the minibuses packed and away in under an hour. We’ll forget the fact that the other bus took two hours to pack…
After a quick trip to ASDA for supplies, and to a chippy in Bridge of Allen for food, we were off, up past Perth and towards Nethy Bridge. The bus journey was pretty chilled out and relaxed, with Radio 1 providing the majority of our music as we had made the school-boy error of forgetting both tape-deck and FM transmitter. Luckily, the music on the radio was good, and all was forgiven for that day. Arriving at 11pm, we were given a small tour of the bunkhouse, with Narnia, the Hobbit Room and the Drying Room drawing particular interest. An hour later the other minibus arrived, instantly breaking into the keg of beer which we had left alone (our second school-boy error of the day). After a small celebration of everyone arriving successfully, everyone went to their respective bunks (Tom and Caity in the “Someone got Lucky” room), and tried to get a good nights rest before the next days paddling.
The morning saw a rush to get food and drink before we got on the river. No, I lied, that was what was meant to happen. In reality it was another morning filled with good intentions of leaving by 9am, but as normal, we were about half-an-hour behind our hopes, and left for the Middle Findhorn’s uppermost get-in, arriving around half-ten. After a quick photo-shoot for the Lansdowne (where Ben was his normal camera-hogging self), we ran the shuttle and got onto the river.
Our group led going down the Findhorn. The first rapid took longer than almost any other due to Harry’s set of repaired paddles disintegrating, and Cat having to run back to Rachel’s car to get another pair for him.
The next few rapids saw the number of swims in our group increase up into double figures, before we even arrived at the bridge that signalled the normal get-in. This point under normal circumstances would have taken about twenty minutes to get to…it took us over an hour! At this point, despite the steady swims, our pace increased all the way until Wall of Death, the first of two main rapids on the river.
Here was the first introduction to lines for the beginners, with Ben on the bank showing them where to paddle, and myself and Sean demonstrating and waiting at the bottom. Yet despite the ominous name, this rapid claimed none of the beginners – not one swim!
Unfortunately, Carnage Corner was not going to let us away so lightly. When we arrived there, everyone decided to run it, even those who had walked at Wall of Death. Three people swam there, our highest count for any section of the river, and we dropped from three freshers who had not yet swum, down to two. Adding insult to injury (quite literally), three people swam at the get-out, dropping our number of dry freshers to just one.
After getting out and packing up some of the kayaks we began the process of waiting for the other group…and waiting…and waiting. It was after six before we saw them again, walking down the road, having got off the river not wanting it to be dark while on the river.
Returning to our fantastic bunkhouse, a club meal was cooked by Louise and Christine, with Euan and a couple of others getting in the way where they could. This went down as well as any free meal ever has…with extreme alacrity! The pasta was followed by drinking games and discussions of the events of the previous day, as alcohol always helps the excuses flow.
The following morning, the litany of alarm clocks once again roused the bunkhouse and a cleaning frenzy followed. In a testament to club efficiency, we found ourselves at the banks of the Findhorn before we could decide what river we wanted to do. Then, in an equal testament to club faff, we spent almost an hour running through the possibilities of which river to paddle, with many being the “chosen river” before the Spey emerged triumphant.
The Spey caused relatively little carnage compared to the epic on the Findhorn the day before, and everyone who had been in my group made their target of halving their swim count. Unfortunately, there was a swim by Callum, who had been the only fresher besides Harry to not swim on the Findhorn. However, the best was saved till last as Peter, swimming only a short way before the get-out, discovered he had swum to the wrong bank and wound up on an island, and had to swim across to our shore. These events were caught on film.
Everything that happened on this weekend, from the fantastic choice of accommodation, the epic (maybe even record) number of swims on the Findhorn, to the brilliant beginners who joined us, made this one of the best weekends kayaking I have been on in years!!
Paul
After a quick trip to ASDA for supplies, and to a chippy in Bridge of Allen for food, we were off, up past Perth and towards Nethy Bridge. The bus journey was pretty chilled out and relaxed, with Radio 1 providing the majority of our music as we had made the school-boy error of forgetting both tape-deck and FM transmitter. Luckily, the music on the radio was good, and all was forgiven for that day. Arriving at 11pm, we were given a small tour of the bunkhouse, with Narnia, the Hobbit Room and the Drying Room drawing particular interest. An hour later the other minibus arrived, instantly breaking into the keg of beer which we had left alone (our second school-boy error of the day). After a small celebration of everyone arriving successfully, everyone went to their respective bunks (Tom and Caity in the “Someone got Lucky” room), and tried to get a good nights rest before the next days paddling.
The morning saw a rush to get food and drink before we got on the river. No, I lied, that was what was meant to happen. In reality it was another morning filled with good intentions of leaving by 9am, but as normal, we were about half-an-hour behind our hopes, and left for the Middle Findhorn’s uppermost get-in, arriving around half-ten. After a quick photo-shoot for the Lansdowne (where Ben was his normal camera-hogging self), we ran the shuttle and got onto the river.
Our group led going down the Findhorn. The first rapid took longer than almost any other due to Harry’s set of repaired paddles disintegrating, and Cat having to run back to Rachel’s car to get another pair for him.
The next few rapids saw the number of swims in our group increase up into double figures, before we even arrived at the bridge that signalled the normal get-in. This point under normal circumstances would have taken about twenty minutes to get to…it took us over an hour! At this point, despite the steady swims, our pace increased all the way until Wall of Death, the first of two main rapids on the river.
Here was the first introduction to lines for the beginners, with Ben on the bank showing them where to paddle, and myself and Sean demonstrating and waiting at the bottom. Yet despite the ominous name, this rapid claimed none of the beginners – not one swim!
Unfortunately, Carnage Corner was not going to let us away so lightly. When we arrived there, everyone decided to run it, even those who had walked at Wall of Death. Three people swam there, our highest count for any section of the river, and we dropped from three freshers who had not yet swum, down to two. Adding insult to injury (quite literally), three people swam at the get-out, dropping our number of dry freshers to just one.
After getting out and packing up some of the kayaks we began the process of waiting for the other group…and waiting…and waiting. It was after six before we saw them again, walking down the road, having got off the river not wanting it to be dark while on the river.
Returning to our fantastic bunkhouse, a club meal was cooked by Louise and Christine, with Euan and a couple of others getting in the way where they could. This went down as well as any free meal ever has…with extreme alacrity! The pasta was followed by drinking games and discussions of the events of the previous day, as alcohol always helps the excuses flow.
The following morning, the litany of alarm clocks once again roused the bunkhouse and a cleaning frenzy followed. In a testament to club efficiency, we found ourselves at the banks of the Findhorn before we could decide what river we wanted to do. Then, in an equal testament to club faff, we spent almost an hour running through the possibilities of which river to paddle, with many being the “chosen river” before the Spey emerged triumphant.
The Spey caused relatively little carnage compared to the epic on the Findhorn the day before, and everyone who had been in my group made their target of halving their swim count. Unfortunately, there was a swim by Callum, who had been the only fresher besides Harry to not swim on the Findhorn. However, the best was saved till last as Peter, swimming only a short way before the get-out, discovered he had swum to the wrong bank and wound up on an island, and had to swim across to our shore. These events were caught on film.
Everything that happened on this weekend, from the fantastic choice of accommodation, the epic (maybe even record) number of swims on the Findhorn, to the brilliant beginners who joined us, made this one of the best weekends kayaking I have been on in years!!
Paul
Tuesday 20 October 2009
Swim fest on the Etive
I would like to begin by apologizing for the fact that this article/post/whatever it is may not be fully accurate in the exact number and order of swims, it’s just that there were so many that I don’t exactly remember but it should total roughly fourteen.
It was the first intermediate trip of the year so John, Michael, Euan, Gregor, Paul, Paddy, Sean, Mark, Rachel and myself headed for the only place there might be water, Glen Etive (Ali was supposed to come but was too hung over). Had something interesting happened on the journey I would tell you about it, but nothing did happen so we’re going to start at triple. The first swim came after the second drop after Paul had a minor back looping incident. The second drop also necessitated (not sure that’s even a word) a roll from Rachel, Mark and possibly Gregor. The third drop didn’t actually claim any swimmers but Mark needed a T rescue after a cavalier pencil straight down the middle approach to the drop.
Upon arrival at letterbox Sean decided to run it before we’d had time to set up bank safety, he swam and we laughed. I can’t believe that there was only one swim here but I can’t remember any more so we’ll have to move on to Ski Jump where no one swam. Then came Crack of Doom. Paddy went first and swam. Gregor went next and was so determined not to swim that he ran the very shallow rock slide after it on his head, then he swam. I think Sean was the only other swimmer at this point.
On the way down to Crack of dawn Gregor swam, causing me to shout ‘swimmer’ in a very unnecessary, high pitched way. At crack of dawn many of the group, instead of just seal launching, threw their boats in then had to swim after them, but we won’t count those as swims. Just around the corner was an unnamed rapid of absolutely no size or consequence, which caused carnage. Mark, Gregor and Paul all managed to swim while Michael, Paddy and I all had to roll (maybe Rachel did as well, I don’t remember). Rock slide went well, no swims.
Only John, Rachel and I were brave/ foolish/ drunk on a sense of invincibility enough to have a go at right angle. John went first and despite a roll at the bottom was fine. I went next and decided that it was time I chipped in for the swim count after boofing, capsizing, rolling, capsizing and finally not rolling (I lost a shoe in the process, so if anyone finds one it’s mine). Rachel pulled off a spectacular face plant which blew her deck, one more swim.
After running corner falls Rachel, John, Michael and I walked up to run the Allt a’Choariainn. Rachel had clearly developed a taste for both face plants and swimming as she did both following a spectacular upside down landing off Speed. Next came Extacy, Michael rolled and Rachel swam. Only Michael and I did pinball and remarkably there were no swims just a lot of rock smashing. We finished the day with Chasm which Rachel ran straight into a rock and swam.
I’m sure I’ve missed a swim or two so I would urge anyone who’s swim was not mentioned to come clean and post it on the forum in the appropriate place.
It was the first intermediate trip of the year so John, Michael, Euan, Gregor, Paul, Paddy, Sean, Mark, Rachel and myself headed for the only place there might be water, Glen Etive (Ali was supposed to come but was too hung over). Had something interesting happened on the journey I would tell you about it, but nothing did happen so we’re going to start at triple. The first swim came after the second drop after Paul had a minor back looping incident. The second drop also necessitated (not sure that’s even a word) a roll from Rachel, Mark and possibly Gregor. The third drop didn’t actually claim any swimmers but Mark needed a T rescue after a cavalier pencil straight down the middle approach to the drop.
Upon arrival at letterbox Sean decided to run it before we’d had time to set up bank safety, he swam and we laughed. I can’t believe that there was only one swim here but I can’t remember any more so we’ll have to move on to Ski Jump where no one swam. Then came Crack of Doom. Paddy went first and swam. Gregor went next and was so determined not to swim that he ran the very shallow rock slide after it on his head, then he swam. I think Sean was the only other swimmer at this point.
On the way down to Crack of dawn Gregor swam, causing me to shout ‘swimmer’ in a very unnecessary, high pitched way. At crack of dawn many of the group, instead of just seal launching, threw their boats in then had to swim after them, but we won’t count those as swims. Just around the corner was an unnamed rapid of absolutely no size or consequence, which caused carnage. Mark, Gregor and Paul all managed to swim while Michael, Paddy and I all had to roll (maybe Rachel did as well, I don’t remember). Rock slide went well, no swims.
Only John, Rachel and I were brave/ foolish/ drunk on a sense of invincibility enough to have a go at right angle. John went first and despite a roll at the bottom was fine. I went next and decided that it was time I chipped in for the swim count after boofing, capsizing, rolling, capsizing and finally not rolling (I lost a shoe in the process, so if anyone finds one it’s mine). Rachel pulled off a spectacular face plant which blew her deck, one more swim.
After running corner falls Rachel, John, Michael and I walked up to run the Allt a’Choariainn. Rachel had clearly developed a taste for both face plants and swimming as she did both following a spectacular upside down landing off Speed. Next came Extacy, Michael rolled and Rachel swam. Only Michael and I did pinball and remarkably there were no swims just a lot of rock smashing. We finished the day with Chasm which Rachel ran straight into a rock and swam.
I’m sure I’ve missed a swim or two so I would urge anyone who’s swim was not mentioned to come clean and post it on the forum in the appropriate place.
Friday 4 September 2009
Boating in Bala
So it’s the middle of the summer - with too much sun and not enough rain, the solution: head to Wales?
Day 1:
We met at the main gate at roughly 2pm on the Friday, everyone on time and not a hint of faff to be seen or heard. The shed also went without a hiccup and we left Glasgow ahead of schedule, hooray! Everything was going just dandy until we entered Wales and discovered the campsite was closing 30 minutes before we got there, not a good start. So a quick rethink was the plan and the front of bus crew found a nice wee campsite beside the main road. After a chat with some very friendly owners we were in!
Day 2:
An early start saw us at the river at 9:30. Plan of action was too paddle the easier section first as a warm up before moving on to the knarl up top. Michael and Rupert were up first, having a play on the wave at the bottom of the top section. But then something happened to a paddle which really isn’t all that important so we will skip that part. Anyhow, seeing as we had only 10 and a half paddles between 11 of us Michael braved the bottom section C1 style. This section was really quite enjoyable and had its moments with a tree pin from Mark and Louise. However, soon we reached the portage of Bala Mill Falls! After a quick inspection a few of us ran it. It was fairly uneventful as everyone kept their hair dry and pride intact.
The top section followed and Suzie, Louise and Emma assumed camera duty while the rest of us paddled.
Day 3:
A second early start saw the group (along with Daisy’s boat) at the side of the river once again. This time the river was much more fun! Incoming kayaks were not constantly pushing others out of crowded eddies. The first run of the day went well, with Emma joining the crew and suffering a “wee upside-down moment”. Mark followed suit, but finished off with a lightning quick roll. In fact, come to think of it, Tom also had an embarrassing moment at the café wave – though the truly awesome surfing in the lead up almost made up for it. We had so much fun that we ran it a second time and truly blasted it down! We also made a much faster run of the bottom section than we had on the Saturday.
The Welsh kayaking experience was very worthwhile despite the eddy queues, rafters and sign on to the river rule. The river was awesome and a good weekends boating was had by everyone. So a big thanks to the Trip Sec (Tom), the drivers (Michael and Cat) and the rest of the paddlers for a great trip!
Euan R
Day 1:
We met at the main gate at roughly 2pm on the Friday, everyone on time and not a hint of faff to be seen or heard. The shed also went without a hiccup and we left Glasgow ahead of schedule, hooray! Everything was going just dandy until we entered Wales and discovered the campsite was closing 30 minutes before we got there, not a good start. So a quick rethink was the plan and the front of bus crew found a nice wee campsite beside the main road. After a chat with some very friendly owners we were in!
Day 2:
An early start saw us at the river at 9:30. Plan of action was too paddle the easier section first as a warm up before moving on to the knarl up top. Michael and Rupert were up first, having a play on the wave at the bottom of the top section. But then something happened to a paddle which really isn’t all that important so we will skip that part. Anyhow, seeing as we had only 10 and a half paddles between 11 of us Michael braved the bottom section C1 style. This section was really quite enjoyable and had its moments with a tree pin from Mark and Louise. However, soon we reached the portage of Bala Mill Falls! After a quick inspection a few of us ran it. It was fairly uneventful as everyone kept their hair dry and pride intact.
The top section followed and Suzie, Louise and Emma assumed camera duty while the rest of us paddled.
Day 3:
A second early start saw the group (along with Daisy’s boat) at the side of the river once again. This time the river was much more fun! Incoming kayaks were not constantly pushing others out of crowded eddies. The first run of the day went well, with Emma joining the crew and suffering a “wee upside-down moment”. Mark followed suit, but finished off with a lightning quick roll. In fact, come to think of it, Tom also had an embarrassing moment at the café wave – though the truly awesome surfing in the lead up almost made up for it. We had so much fun that we ran it a second time and truly blasted it down! We also made a much faster run of the bottom section than we had on the Saturday.
The Welsh kayaking experience was very worthwhile despite the eddy queues, rafters and sign on to the river rule. The river was awesome and a good weekends boating was had by everyone. So a big thanks to the Trip Sec (Tom), the drivers (Michael and Cat) and the rest of the paddlers for a great trip!
Tuesday 5 May 2009
Allt a' Chaorainn - god that's hard to spell!
Again this wasn’t a club organized trip (because I didn’t organize one) but as club kit was being used, I think it’s worthy of blog space.Glasgow
The first rapid, Speed, did exactly what it said on the tin, just with a rather rapid deceleration at the bottom as you ploughed into the opposite wall. Sean even went for a bit of aerial action, pulling off a barrel roll onto his head.
Next up was Ecstasy which went without a hitch other than a couple of circuits of the tea cup eddy half way down on my part.
Pinball was next which Ben and Sean decided to give a miss leaving me to deliberate whether to go for the conventional right hand line or the left hand line which had opened up due to the high flow. I decided on left. I then changed my mind and decided on right. The lead in to the rapid was surprisingly tricky with some fairly sticky bits, a good warm up for an awesome rapid. I pulled right as I came off the first drop, then right again to round the pinball rock before hanging off a high brace as I came off the final chute practically horizontal but just about upright. This was followed by some over excited wooping before we dropped through ‘Chasm’, which is possibly the most fun thing you can do with your clothes on (or at least with seventeen layers of neoprene on).
Sean, Ben and I met up on Sunday morning, loaded Sean’s car up with kit requested via the excellent new kit request icon on the forum which should be used by all, and headed off in search of thrills, spills and an amusing photo incorporating a pint of beer. Unfortunately we had no beer or pint glass, so thrills and spills would have to do.
The first rapid, Speed, did exactly what it said on the tin, just with a rather rapid deceleration at the bottom as you ploughed into the opposite wall. Sean even went for a bit of aerial action, pulling off a barrel roll onto his head.
Next up was Ecstasy which went without a hitch other than a couple of circuits of the tea cup eddy half way down on my part.
Pinball was next which Ben and Sean decided to give a miss leaving me to deliberate whether to go for the conventional right hand line or the left hand line which had opened up due to the high flow. I decided on left. I then changed my mind and decided on right. The lead in to the rapid was surprisingly tricky with some fairly sticky bits, a good warm up for an awesome rapid. I pulled right as I came off the first drop, then right again to round the pinball rock before hanging off a high brace as I came off the final chute practically horizontal but just about upright. This was followed by some over excited wooping before we dropped through ‘Chasm’, which is possibly the most fun thing you can do with your clothes on (or at least with seventeen layers of neoprene on).
We finished the trip with a bit of bridge jumping, because that’s what they do on all the best kayaking videos, followed by a nice chat with some friendly fishermen.
Tom.
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