Author: steven

These are my memories of the club River Soca trip in Slovenia. It has been a while now, so rather than a day by day account, I will try to convey to you the sights and general feeling of the trip.

Our group left for Slovenia tea time on Friday 22^nd July. The group consisted of Matt Burnham, Tom Tom, myself (Adrian), James my son, Alex Elliot and David Elliot. David did all the driving, towing a trailer full of boats and camping equipment. We were going to meet Steve and Sarah, Andreas and Santa at the camp site which wasn’t far from Bovec.

We arrived at the campsite on the evening of Sunday 24^th, having stopped the night before near the German Austrian border. The Slovenian campsite was great. We found an area which nobody was using, so we set up camp. The scenery in Slovenia is fantastic, and the area where we were based was very rural. You constantly have a backdrop of mountains, trees and wild flowers as you drive along the road. The locals seem very friendly, and all seem to speak English.

After the tents were up, we all sat together to have a bite to eat. This was a constant theme of this trip. All the evenings were spent relaxing, either near the tents, or only occasionally at the campsite bar. Ok well, maybe slightly more than occasionally. In fact the whole week of paddling was very laid back.

After tea I think we all had an early night. It was a very humid night and I was tired. Because it was so hot I decided to sleep in the porch of my new tent with the door wide open. Now picture this, I’m lying on my back in just my underpants (oops, sorry about that part of the image) looking up at the stars! I can glimpse Fire Fly’s darting around, behind my tent mountains rise to dizzying heights lit by moonlight. To my left is a small wild flower meadow, where wild Deer could be seen at night. In front of the tents and to the side were trees/woods.

I soon drifted off to sleep…… At about 2 O’clock in the morning there was a blood curdling noise coming from the woods. It woke me up, and also some others in our group. I’m not saying I was scared, but I jumped up, staggered around still half asleep trying to find the zip to do the tent door up.  After all I was only thinking of my son James who was asleep at the back of the tent. I wouldn’t want him in danger, and whatever it was making this squealing noise couldn’t possibly get through the thin walls of our tent (could it?).

We all met in the morning. The noise from the woods was a hot topic of conversation. What was it? Who was it? We had various theories over the week, but we decided in the end it was Wild Boar. They were heard every night, but never seen.

Anyway, on to the paddling………The various sections we paddled just seemed to blur into one, not because they were boring or uninteresting, but because for me, I was in awe of the scenery and especially the river Soca. I have never paddled a river anything like this. The river, while we were there, wasn’t massive. The levels were quite low, but still an entertaining paddle, especially for the less experienced members of the group. What I couldn’t get over was the quality of the water. It was absolutely crystal clear, while sparkling in the bright sunshine. The water varied in colour from tap water clear in the shallow sections, to a beautiful blue colour in the deeper parts. The rocks beneath the surface were visible at all times. Add the Mountains, blue sky and sunshine, and in my opinion you have paddling paradise!

Steve led the trips, and did the rescues, thanks Steve! The first day was a lovely gentle warm up paddle. Although the water was quite cold, the air temperature was very hot, so you could get away without wearing a cag. On the first day I think most of us just wore rash Vests under our buoyancy aids.

As the days went on the sections of river we chose, got more challenging. These sections were quite/very technical depending on your ability. Aside the usual selection of rocks that I have seen before on natural rivers, there were some massive rocks that sat all over the river bed. Some of these had syphons running through them. I have never come across syphons before, they make me very nervous. We knew they were about, but just not sure where they were.

On what I think was the second day, we did what for me was probably the most adventurous kayak paddle I have ever done. The water was slightly bigger, faster, there were sections that dropped into pools, and from there dropped down into other pools. We got out to inspect these sections and pick a line through the many rocks. At the first of these sections we split up into small groups. David was on the bank with a throw line just in case. I’m guessing this was pretty exciting for the entire group; it definitely was for me as well as nerve racking. We carried on down river until we arrived at a canyon. Upon inspection it was decided that the entrance rapid was a bit too difficult for the majority of the group. Steve and Tom Tom would take it on, while the rest of us portaged the boats to the middle of the canyon. Steve and Tom Tom met us there. I’m not sure how he did it but Steve got to the top of the canyon where we and the boats were. What happened next I’ve never done before on a kayak trip.

One of Steve’s other past times is climbing. With some great team work we shuttled the boats to Andreas, who lowered the boats down the side of the canyon to Sarah and James who were standing on rocks at the water’s edge.  When the boats reached the bottom of the canyon they were detached from the rope and stacked on the rocks. All that was left to do then was for us to climb down to our waiting boats and paddle the rest of the canyon. Earlier I mentioned syphons. At the end of the canyon which had high vertical walls, we came across a massive example in the side wall. Fortunately both the inlet and the outlet were above water level on this day. I would say the top of the syphon was big enough to get a small car in i.e. A Mini, while the lower end was much smaller. It would be a tight fit for a person in kayaking gear.

Another section that springs to mind on another day was a feature that required skilled paddling and balls. To negotiate this section you had to paddle over a small drop and land on a rock with a flat (ish) angled face. From there you slid sideways to the right off this rock and dropped down into a narrow channel, with a high rock face to the paddler’s right. From here it was a quick paddle across the current which was coming from the left, missing some rocks and dropping down into the pool at the bottom.

While we were at this point, we met a family of German kayakers. The mother was paddling a two man kayak. In the front was a little lad in his paddling gear and his own set of small paddles. I asked if they spoke English, which of course they did. I wondered how old the little lad was. His sister told me he was three years old. He was really excited about this bit, and somehow his mum safely negotiated the rock slide in that big boat.

Another memorable moment was when Matt got himself pinned sideways on a big rock and lost his paddle. Steve was there straight away. He helped Matt out and then gave him his paddles. Matt continued a few yards downstream to a safe eddy. Steve floated downstream and borrowed Sarah’s paddles to get back to the rock so as to retrieve Matts paddle. So here we are, now Matt has Steve’s paddle, Sarah has no paddle and Steve has now got Sarah and Matts Paddle, Confused? Well I am. Needless to say it was all sorted out and off we went again.

As I said at the start, this was just a brief taste of the trip that I hope it will encourage you to go and experience it yourself. We had a great trip, with lovely people and scenery. I can highly recommend Slovenia and the river Soca.

We have a great club with people that are prepared to go that extra mile to coach or organise events and trips and many other things. With that in mind I would like to say a big thankyou on behalf of all the people on the trip to David Elliot who organised pretty much everything and did all the driving. Thanks also to Steve Battams for his guidance, coaching and rescues (of which I had more than my fair share) on the river.

Adrian.

Despite being the biggest wuss when it comes to the cold, I love winter for the simple reason that it’s whitewater paddling season. I spend far too much time checking and rechecking forecasts searching out heavy rain. The chances of getting heavy rain at a time when we are not working, haven’t got family commitments and can find a fellow paddler or two to join us is low. However, when it all comes together it results in a lot of fun. On a Thursday in November, with a clear weekend ahead, and after watching the forecast all week, I was confident there would be enough rain for some boating. I put feelers out and on Friday morning I was excited to hear that Goose had been granted a Saturday day pass from his wife. It was just a matter of deciding where to go. North Wales is our usual ‘go to’ place as it is the closest, however it looked a little risky whether enough rain would fall. I decided that the lake district would be the best bet as several rivers already had enough water in them with more rain forecast. Steve arrived home Friday evening and I filled him in on the plan. He then got straight to the important business of finding a good place on route to stop for breakfast and meet up with Goose.

At 6am Saturday morning, Steve was strapping the boats on the car whilst I was scrapping ice off the windscreen in the dark. Normally I hate early mornings and really hate standing in the cold scraping the windscreen, however because it was in the aid of boating, I had a big smile on my face. The drive up to the lake district gave us hail and even snow. A check of Rainchasers showed that the heavy rain forecasted hadn’t made it’s way into the rivers and seeing the white hills in the lake district we concluded that the rain had actually fallen as snow. Despite this we had a few rivers we could choose from. The decision over breakfast was whether to paddle the Lune, a grade 2+/3 river that we’d all paddled previously and knew was good fun or the Mint, a grade 3 river that sounded fun in the guidebook that none of us had paddled before. We decided on the Mint. The guidebook says to check the level is high enough by peering over a bridge. We found said bridge and it was a go-er.

Myself and Steve love exploring new rivers. Finding the get on usually takes you to stunningly remote parts of the countryside and this was the case here. Once boats were off roofs and we were kitted up, Steve and Goose left to do the shuttle. Whilst I was waiting for their return, one of the locals popped out of her farmhouse and headed towards me. I was trying to read her body language to determine whether this was going to be a pleasant meeting or a ‘get off my land and river’ kinda meeting. I couldn’t decide so with moments to spare I put on my biggest, friendliest smile, offered my best “Good Morning” and waited for the response. I had a big sigh of relief as she returned the Good Morning. We then had a good old chat. Steve and Goose returned, we jumped on the river and were waved off by the local lady. Steve loves leading down new rivers. You’ve gotta be 100 % on the ball as you never know what’s round the next corner. What turned out to be round the next corner was fun followed by even more fun. We did have to be careful of the odd fallen tree and wire fence though. The start of the river was slightly low and thus a lot of steering round rocks was required. At one point Steve got stuck on a rock and having not left enough space between us, I ended up piling up behind him on the rock. This didn’t leave Goose much of the river to navigate around us which resulted in a capsize by Goose. His paddle got stuck which prevented a roll but luckily didn’t go for his deck, giving Steve chance to paddle up next to him offering a successful T-rescue. After a little chuckle by us all, off we went again. Other rivers soon joined resulting in higher water levels. We were constantly on the look out for sereval reference features mentioned in the guidebook such as ‘a pipe bridge with a house on the corner’ that we had to keep right on the rapid which followed etc. These kind of descriptions make perfect sense when you eventually come to the feature but there are always many false alerts and much questioning before such as ‘is that the bridge?’, ‘what about that house?’. When we finally got to the feature in question we had forgotten which line the guidebook had advised us to take anyway. Lots of good rapids followed before we came to a horizon level which on inspection turned out to be a weir with a 1.5m drop. We were pleased to find at this water level it was safe to paddle if we kept river left. Steve was ready with camera and throwline whilst myself and Goose paddled the weir. We then waited at the bottom whilst Steve paddled over. Goose decided to get his iphone out to take a photo and the next thing I see is the iphone leading down the next rapid with Goose in full chase. To Goose’s relief he caught up with it. This gave us another little chuckle. The next notable feature came in the form of a drop with a sizeable stopper at the bottom. I remembered this from the guidebook as it said to take the left line if you like backloops. We decided the best line to take was right of centre. Steve paddled it first, broke out and got out of his boat to set up throwline safety. The throwline wasn’t deployed as we got the line right. More fun rapids followed before Steve instructed us to eddy out whilst he had a quick look down the final rapid. He reported back that the rapid would leave us grinning from ear to ear and if in doubt keep left. From this limited description I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but Steve was in fact correct as we paddled a 100m long big, bouncy, high volume rapid with big grins. Soon after we were at the get out which happened to be Morrisons in Kendal. There we were carrying our boats and getting changed in the carpark surrounded by Saturday shoppers. We stopped at Morrisons cafe for a quick cup of tea before retrieving Steve’s car from the get on and saying our goodbyes. A great day’s paddling!

Sarah

In the downstairs bathroom at Lledr House Hostel, where we stayed, was a quote “Life is not waiting for the storm to pass it is about dancing in the rain.” As a group we would have been happy with a storm of any kind as long as it contained rain and we would have been more than happy to dance and even paddle in the rain.

After a dry October there was little choice for paddling in the club trip to North Wales 4/5 November. Unfortunately there we no dam release in the area so on Saturday 5 November with very low scrappy bottom river levels the group split into two. Led by Phil Clayton a group of five went walking on the Welsh mountains and the remaining seven, led by Dutch, paddled along the Menai Straight where water levels was not a problem. Unfortunately the strong wind and unpredictable tides were.

The paddlers left from Plas Menai Outdoor Centre with the intention of paddling to the Menai Bridge. After 2 kilometres the wind and changing tide made it very difficult paddling in our river boats so a decision was made to return to the start and drive straight to the Menai Bridge where a very pleasant time was had paddling between the bridges and playing in the friendly waves and stoppers.

It was disappointing that there was no rivers to paddle but a good day was had by all regardless of the chosen activity. There were 12 in the group and we stayed overnight at the Lledr House Hostel, Pont-ypant, Dolwyddelan. This is a warm well equipped hostel which we would stay at again. The drying room does need improving but the large kitchen and dining area enabled us to enjoy eating our meals together and celebrate James Dunns 17 th birthday.

On Sunday the faithful River Dee enabled us to go for a paddle. The river level was low but all those who wanted to paddle did. It was great to welcome Andrius Sargautis on his first trip with the club. Unfortunately his time on the river was not long as a capsize at the Chainbridge Hotel meant a swim, broken paddle and strained shoulder and a return to the cars to get changed. It is great to hear that this experience has not discouraged Andrius who is looking forward to the next trip. The world and his wife was also paddling the river Dee that morning so there was plenty of opportunity to view students paddling and swimming on the serpents tail before we all got down safely. With advice from Martyn and Steve to those all those paddling we went down several times.

The Town Falls at Llangollen were tricky and technical and after much thought a line was decided upon which Tom and James chose to ignore. It was good to see James do a couple of rolls on the way down and Tom bounced his way down an awkward route. It was great to see a relieved Dutch under the bridge as the last time he came down the falls he capsized and dislocated his shoulder.

It was disappointing there was no dam releases or a choice of rivers to paddle but we had a great social time. On these trips usually someone will bring the evening meal and breakfast so we can all eat together and the shared cost of the food and hostel make it a great social inexpensive weekend away. If you would like to come to the planned trip in December or those planned in 2017 please contact Dutch Hollands, Mike Smith or Steve for more information.

Those on the trip were Tom Brooks, Dutch Hollands, Adrian Dunn James Dunn, Andrius Sargautis and Santa Sargautis, Sarah Davies, Steve Bantams, Phil Clayton, Scott May, Martyn Steele, Mike Smith.

Mike

Every year we try to put together a European kayaking trip to find some white water in the sunshine. The last few years we have been to Austria but this year we decided to try Slovenia. Dates were set for mid July and finally, after much waiting and planning, it was time to go. We had 3 cars going with 10 people in total.

4am Friday morning myself and Sarah started the 1000mile drive to Bovec in Slovenia (07:30 ferry). We left a day earlier than the rest of the group as we had planned a day climbing on route down. However, the journey on the Friday involved us sitting in so much traffic that we were not going to make the planned campsite so we had to re think. We found somewhere to stop and carried on the next day. Our initial plan was to climb in France but we hadn’t even got as far as the campsite and had 8 hours of driving planned on the last day. We therefore needed to make up some distance. Saturday morning we were off again heading east which was at least the right direction. Still with about 13 hours of driving to go we decided we needed to rescue the trip out so as not to spend 3 days driving instead of the planned 2. The result being we found a great little via-ferrata just inside Germany. We spent a few hours on that which turned out to be a great day and a save for the journey out. After camping that night, we finally met the rest of the group at the campsite in Slovenia. The temperature was hot and the humidity was off the scale. The camp was set up at the top of a very slippy gravel track, out of the way of everyone else, so we had the whole field to ourselves. Dave with his carload had already put their tents up and Andrius and Santa had theirs up too. Beers were opened and the start of a great week began.

The plan (there isn’t really a plan more of suggestions) was to paddle different sections of the river each day. If people wanted to do other stuff whilst on holiday too, they were more than welcome to.  The first day we paddled an easy section just to get warmed up and get the group used to the water and each other. The scenery out there is just stunning, the water is crystal clear and temperature is hot. This makes for perfect paddling conditions with only a rashvest, spaydeck and buoyancy aid needed. The evenings are usually taken up by all sitting round the BBQ until it gets dark or sitting in the bar that was on the campsite.

The next few days had us paddling different sections of the river, usually with me leading down. Quite often I would let others take the lead too, especially James who loved the chance to have a go on a new river at the front. Due to the amount of rocks that seemed to get in peoples way the amount of swims seemed to increase over the week. This wasn’t a problem due to the air temperature.

Towards the end of the week we planned to paddle a section called the classic section. Myself and TomTom had scouted it the day previous and deemed it to be great fun and knew the whole group would enjoy. Due to the size of the group we needed to split it into two groups. However, I was needed in both groups and we were combining it with the section above, thus a plan was needed. The plan was that on arrival at the classic section, 3 people would get out and wait on the sandy beach for an hour whilst I would take the first group down. I would then get a lift back to the top and run it again with the others. They were more than happy to chill out on the beach in the sunshine for an hour. I set off with the first group. We had a couple of swims, one of which resulted in much hilarity due to 3 of us not being able to throw a throwline across the river to re-unite the boat with its owner. Within about 15mins of leaving the others on the beach, the air temperature dropped and the heavens opened to an epic downpoor. Upon our return, they were sheltering under a tree, very wet and a littler colder than they thought they would be. We got on and paddled the classic section. Matt managed to get his boat pinned on a scary looking undercut rock and lose his paddle which resulted in a quick paddle swap type rescue that seemed to impress all that saw.

The next day we decided to have a go at a tight technical pool drop type section of the river. This section took us quite a while to get down simply because we needed to set safety up on nearly every feature. At one point I was dealing with Adrian’s boat after it decided it didn’t need him anymore and would kick him out mid river. I instructed Dave to take his son down to the next eddy but, after hitting the same rock, they managed to simultaneously exit their boats. One perfect full 15m throw line deployment later and they are emptying their boats as well. Everyone back in the boats and we were off again.

The next feature was a technical rock slide, brace paddle type move. We looked at it, we looked some more and some decided to walk round. Andrius had a go and just missed one of the crucial moves resulting in a swim and his boat being pinned mid rapid. Once everyone was back in the right place we completed the rapid and then headed back to the cars and back to the campsite. On the way back to the campsite each day we would stop at a local supermarket to pick up food and drink for that evening and breakfast etc.

The last Friday evening we had a meal in the local pizza restaurant after packing all the tents away ready for the journey home. Saturday morning (early) we set off making the 1000 mile drive back to Northampton after a great week paddling.

Steven

 

On the morning of Wednesday the 30th December my alarm went off at 5.30 am then it hit me I am off to wales.

The idea was to paddle the river Ceiriog there was 6 of us went down Steve, Sarah, Alan, Adrian, James and myself, Adrian wasn’t paddling due to a bad shoulder.
So we all met up at Tesco café at Telford at around 8.30 and after consulting Rain Chasers the Ceiriog was to low so we went for the Alwen Llanfihangel
North Wales.
After a hearty breakfast for some we carried on and arrived at the putin at a village called Betws Gwerfil Goch at around10ish and yes it was raining.
After the usual ritual of taking the cars to the get out and Steve’s great briefing we finally got on the water.
The river was running quite fast, well it was to me after only paddling twice before in Wales. Steve was leading with Sarah, James in his new play boat on its maiden trip and then me and Alan bringing up the rear. We all finally got on the water and man what a RUSH it was none stop all the way down, I think was 14k in distance with rapids, roughish waves large boulders which needed quick thinking on the steering many trees and branches to avoid I did quite a lot of ducking and with my GoPro on my helmet it was rather worrying, we did a lot of ferry gliding one of my favourite manoeuvres there were no swimmers and we only needed to potage twice one section was grade 3 and wow it was hard going intense but what a RUSH my fav word this trip lol.
Eventually we arrived at the takeout at the A5 roadbridge at Plas lsaf I was feeling very chuffed after a great day paddling as were we all. After getting changed very quickly as it was pouring with rain and we got wetter doing that than the paddling, we headed off for a very enjoyable hot cup of tea at the Rhug Estate Farm Shop. After chatting over the days paddle we all made our way home back to England, Alan and I made a small detour to take a look at Town Falls in Llangollen
it was well worth it spectacular then we set off for home…..

After returning from a great week away last year we aimed to do the same again so since before Christmas we had been planning a return trip out to Au     stria for a week of white-water kayaking. The size of the group kept fluctuating but with 2 months to go we were settled with 9 people (Myself, Sarah, Jason, Joy, Tom Tom, Chris, Dave, James and Alex).

Finally after weeks of waiting the departure date arrived. Myself and Sarah were planning to take a more sedate 2 days to do the 800 mile drive where as the other team were doing it in 1 long day. By Thursday evening we had all arrived at the campsite in Austria just outside a village called Prutz, right on the bank of the river Inn. Camp was established, tents were erected and a big group shelter put up, as well as hammocks and roof tents. Plans were now afoot as to what to paddle. With it being so late in the paddling season there wasn’t much choice other than the many different sections of the mighty river Inn which stretches for a good few hundred miles with many dams in-between and even country borders.

6am and everyone is awake, mainly because the church bells in the village go off at that time. This was shortly followed by everyone cursing as they remembered about the bells. Breakfast was sourced from the local bakery, pots of tea were made and drunk and packing of paddling kit started. We made the decision to have one easy paddle on what is called the “Pfunds” section of the river Inn. Cars loaded, faff faffed and off we drove to the get in (just inside Switzerland). A bit more faff, a quick shuttle and we’re ready to paddle. Paddling on this water is completely different to the UK, mainly because there is much more water and bigger obstacles rather than tight obstacles to avoid like the UK. This section is only 9km or so and takes around 2hrs, a great little warm up on a fun grade 2 (3) river. Upon approaching the get off, I mentioned to Chris about there being a more full on section just downstream which ends in the campsite. He was keen. Turns out he was more than keen. Once everyone else had loaded the cars they headed off to intercept us and take photos while we set off on what is called the “Tosens” section, a fun bouncy grade 3/4 run. This was navigated without any mishaps other than me not having my spraydeck on completely. This section finishes at the campsite so it’s only a 1 minute walk back to the tents with your boat.

Washing lines constructed, kit hung up, BBQ’s lit, beers open and we’re ready to work out what to do the next day and looking forward to the fact we have 6 more days of this to come.

The second day saw us paddling a section called the “Imst Gorge”. This is very popular with rafters and is made up of fast flowing high volume water and although it was at a lower level than it was last year it was still a good level. With myself at the front and everyone else behind we played follow my line through the bigger rapids. One wave did cause a slight problem with both James and Jason as they had the first out of boat experiences of the trip. Dave and Alex in the Duo managed to get down in one piece. The only casualty was a sling that managed to magically disappear to the bottom of the murky river.

Back to the campsite, kit hung up, tea brewed and it was time to decide what to eat for dinner. Just at the top of a massively steep hill, right by the campsite, is a great family run pizza restaurant. As Tom Tom unfortunately had to leave us, we decided to go up the hill for what is one of the best pizzas you may ever have.

Sunday we decided to try a new section that had been recommended to us by a guide we met on the trip last year. It was around an hours drive into Switzerland but would be good to check out. Boats loaded and with a reduced number of people (some people wanted a rest and fancied a day in the pool and sitting with a book) 4 of us were off to Switzerland to try the Susch section of the river Inn. We passed the border crossing with no problems, even though we’re still not sure if we should have stopped for the policeman at the border, we just kept going. Once the get in was found and cars shuttled, it looked like it was going to be a bit of a scrape. This was in fact true for the first few km’s but after which it picked up into a great grade 2 white water river with nothing to catch you out and great for practising all white water skills. It would have been even better with more water in it. According to the guide book, we were padding it with only around 3 cumecs of water compared to the normal 20 cumecs. A great little river none the less and although the get-out was a bit of a climb we now know of a better one just downstream. The drive back to the campsite always passes through breath-taking scenery and usually finishes with a stop at a supermarket to buy food for the BBQ and some cold beers.

Monday morning and as with all mornings we rise from our tents asking who was woken up by the bells, who’s airbed lasted the night, why do the builders need to start drilling at 8am and why do the cars go past so fast so early. With tea on the brew, rivers again were being discussed over breakfast. The idea was to try and get 2 rivers in today. This is doable but needs co-ordination, prior planning and reduced faff. For the first few moments everyone is all go, sorting out kit. After a while everyone seems ready although the boats have only just started being loaded and the boats on top of the trailer box will need to come off and back on a few more times yet. Faff is in fact no ones fault, it’s just something that happens, it looks like a lot is being done where in fact nothing is really being done. Although everyone is busy doing something, no one has any idea where the time goes to. Faff needs to be planned into all trips otherwise you will miss out on getting perfect timing. Anyway, faff compete and we’re off to run a new section of the Inn back over in Switzerland called the Schuls Gorge. This was a great little find that was pointed out by our chief river advisor Sarah. Sarah was at all times the one knowing about any river’s current level, its ability to be paddled, the different sections it’s split into and general knowledge of all things needed to go boating each day. The river started with a grade 4 section 200 meters above the main get in which started around grade 2+. Myself and Chris ran the Grade 4, met up with the rest of the group and a moment later we’re off. This is a great little read and run river. I really enjoy new rivers like this as we knew nothing big was round the corner apart from one small section we planned to inspect. One feature appeared and caused a slight problem with both Sarah and James doing a simultaneous roll and Joy calling it a day. We carried on down to the rapid I had seen from the road and after sorting out our lines down, off I went. The duo was next with Dave and Alex performing a great little move sliding down the rocks and some massive support strokes, its just a shame my camera didn’t pick it all up.

River completed, we’re all loaded up and on the way to river number 2, back in Austria. We planned to do the “Pfunds” section again where you get in at a Quarry. This time Sarah and Jason had a go in the Duo and I took my smaller play boat just for a bit of fun. The levels of the rivers change by the hour so every time you paddle it’s usually a different feel and different features appear and disappear. Once we got to the end without mishap, Chris and I were keen to paddle the Tosens section for a second time and asked Dave if he was interested. He was. Great news, let’s go before he changes his mind, we thought. After a quick boat change by myself into my bigger boat we’re off, with Dave following me and Chris following behind. This time there were a few more rocks making some more exciting stoppers and waves meaning we had to be very switched on. Dave and Chris managed with only a few big support strokes. I’m not sure how much breathing was going on by Dave on the way down the first raid as he took some big breaths when we pulled into the first eddy for a quick rest, although smiles all-round was a good sign.

Back at the campsite, the BBQ was lit and the beer was open. Sarah and I had planned a day away from the river doing something called via-feratta. This is where you climb up a route in the rock face secured by a steel cable. You have to clip and unclip your karabiners past points in the wire every few meters. The routes usually take you over wire bridges and vertical rock. Joy planned to join us and Chris who was afraid of heights fancied a go as well. It was an hour and half drive to get to the place and we needed to hire some kit so first thing in the morning we were off, this time going East across Austria. Kit and breakfast sorted, we arrived at the first place. As is usual, it was a fair walk in. Once at the start, we kitted up and I explained to Chris how it all works (it’s just like go ape). We were then off, straight across a wobbly wire bridge around 80 meters above a gorge of massive white water. Chris managed just fine which was a good sign. We then had some steel steps to climb up, rock sections to walk past and 2 more very wobbly wire bridges. One of which saw Chris stop in the middle to have a word with himself. I couldn’t believe he actually managed to cross it but he did so a big pat on the back when we got to the other side. Some more climbing later and we had finished. It was then a further 20 minute walk back to the car. The plan was to stop on the drive back so Sarah and I could have a go at another via-ferrata. This one was a few grades harder and a lot more exposed so we dropped the other two at the local town and we set off to complete the best one we have done yet. It involved so much more arm strength as well as being really exposed compared to the last one. Once at the top. we met up with the others and headed back to the car to return back to camp.

The rest of the group had been on what sounded like a slightly disappointing trip to St Moritz. After a hard day climbing we decided to go to the Pizza place at the top of the hill again as there was so much on the menu still to sample.

Wednesday morning arrived with the usual 6am bells, 8am builders and much traffic noise in-between. With only 2 days of paddling left, it was decided that we would paddle the Susch section again but with the rest of the group this time. After the usual faff, we’re off to Switzerland looking to find a get out to extend the original section. After getting a little lost we ended up driving down a road with a big sign stating that we needed the permission of the police to drive down. Obviously we didn’t have such permission but thought it would be fine as it was in the middle of nowhere. This was until we drove past an isolated building to find it was a police station. Anyway, not finding anywhere to get out we only managed to extend it by around 2km, turns out the extra 2km were worth it though. A great little paddle, although the river was still as low as the last time it was still good fun and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Throughout the week Chris and I were trying to paddle the only bigger section of water that was running as many times as possible and were trying to think of a way to take Sarah with us. I couldn’t take her in the Duo as there would be no one to rescue or find the lines down. Chris then offered to take Sarah down in the Duo with me leading at the front, perfect. Sarah was also very keen on this option. We knew Thursday was the last day paddling so we aimed to get up early and do a quick run before everyone else was even awake. 8am and we’re at the side of the river, only problem was there was no water, it was empty as we had arrived too early. We then had to find something to faff over while waiting for it to rise. 45mins later, a new headlight bulb in place but still no change in water levels, we were back at the campsite. We all decided to paddle the Imst gorge again so loaded back up and we were off with just a quick stop on route to tie my boat back onto the roof as it had decided to come very loose on the motorway (luckily it stayed where it was). An event free trip down the Imst section with a great little roll from Joy as she dodged a rock at the top of a rapid being the only incident we had. On the way back we managed to work the logistics out so that we could stop and paddle the Tosens section. It was a great paddle with me up front and Sarah and Chris in the Duo just behind. Due to the size, the duo can punch through a lot of big features. However, it is difficult for the person at the back to see where they are going without turning the boat sideways slightly. As such, there were a few sideways near misses with some of the stoppers, resulting in a lot of “paddle hard” commands coming from the back of the boat. Getting to take the duo down a grade 4 section of water and for Sarah to see what we had been paddling all these previous times was a great end to the week. It was then back to the campsite to begin packing up ready to leave on the Friday morning.

Friday morning and everyone was leaving. Sarah and I were stopping for two more nights at a campsite in north Belgium to get a days climbing in, where the other two cars were heading straight back to Northampton.

All in all my car did 2250 miles which was nearly 50hrs of driving. The final costs are still to come back from the other group who pooled a lot of the costs together. However, I expect our trip was more expensive than the other members of the group and the final cost for us was less than £300 each for the whole 12 days. One of the campfire discussions was where to go next year and most people seemed keen. I think we may change and go to Slovenia instead. I personally haven’t paddled there yet but it comes on good recommendation from the rest of the group.

If you think you might be keen on joining us please feel free to let me know and we can keep you up-to-date with any plans for a 2016 trip. A big thanks has to go to Dave for doing the bulk of the organising.

 

   A short trip for all you hardened paddlers, with a group of 11 boats in all, but for a very novice paddler, an ideal length and very much a fun trip . thanks in part to those brave souls who helped in hoisting the less supple (me) on and off the sit-on-top!

The assortment of three canoes, seven kayaks and one sit-on-top set off around 10am on a sunny Sunday morning, paddling past some lovely College buildings and scenery . apparently called .the Backs. . enjoying the fresh air, sunshine and friendly banter, through the lovely Grantchester Meadows to our half-way point to picnic just upriver from Jesus lock, before heading back the same way. This was a .there and back-again. paddle because of a race on the river just the other side of the lock, so there was only one portage point at the weir, where those more intrepid paddlers than me had fun with the rollers, and a few had a small play in the runoff from the weir.

Fortunately, there was access to supplies for those who had got up too late to sort out food and make the trek to Cambridge, but even more importantly, plenty of ice cream and other essential snacks to compensate young James for his dad having lost the bag of emergency snacks somewhere at the start . shame on you Paul!

The water was very calm and the wind was mostly very kind to us, a relief to the novice, although at times it was a little .hairy. when we were confronted by up to four punts abreast . especially when some of the punts were clearly being .steered. by complete beginners. Still, no-one fell in (not even the punters), and Captain Jim steered our boat through the rabble with calls of .to me. followed by .together. which, after a few false starts, I managed to translate into .let me paddle solo & steer us through. and .OK, you can paddle as well now.! Note to self: learn more .Jim-speak. grunts.

Most of the punters, paddlers and walkers we came across on our trip were quite friendly . with the occasional glare from the novice punters who seemed quite shocked that other boats might want to use some of the river. One or two of our number went so far as to suggest that pathside picnickers might like to invite them to join their lunch, although without success. The Japanese tourists being punted along the Cam seemed to particularly enjoy the spectacle of our boating convoy, so much so that we will be making guest appearances in numerous Japanese holiday snaps!

Having never been on a trip before, and in fact, only having been on the water (briefly) twice previously, this was a fantastic introduction to flat-water paddling with a really great group of people. I would highly recommend future Cam trips to families and novices . hopefully you will have the sunshine that we enjoyed as well, although I would caution other novices to remember to use the sunscreen, which does no good in the bag: the combination of wind and water is very deceptive, as I found out to my cost later!

Sylvia McCarthy

At the end of the Spring Half term holiday we ran a Div 2/3 slalom on the whitewater course. Unusually this year we got a flood of entries well before the closing date, and we closed entries three weeks before the competition. This is a big help, as it enables us to plan the timetable, order the trophies,etc, knowing our numbers. It also reduces the rush on the Saturday and Sunday mornings trying to get the startlist prepared so that the event could start on time.

We start setting up on the Thursday, and because more people turned up to help than I was expecting, we not only got the course up, but all the phone wires as well. Thanks very much to those who helped. On Friday morning we were very glad we had already done almost all the outside setting up, as it rained for most of the day.

We were expecting a lot of people to turn up and camp on Friday, and by 6 o.clock were wondering where they were. The dual carriageway was suspiciously quiet too. It turned out there had been an accident, and the A45 was closed between junction 15 and the Queen Eleanor roundabout. This, plus the M1 roadworks, added a couple of hours to many competitors. journeys – not a great start to the weekend. We had a good number of helpers on Saturday and Sunday, and managed to run to time both days, which with a full entry was essential. Thanks again to all of the helpers. The weather was better for the weekend too, which always helps. The full entry also meant we managed to produce a small profit on the event, which is always welcome.

Alan.

6am alarm on a Sunday morning was challenging and the weather looking grey and miserable didn.t help- well it was July!

The Triathlon paddling rescue crew met at Pitsford sailing club at 7ish. Athletes, marshalls and other important people with clipboards were milling around. We layered up with cags, hats and other suitable attire for a potentially chilly, windy paddle on the hostile looking reservoir. Steve briefed us- spread out around the course; keep an eye out for struggling swimmers; raise paddle if swimmer in difficulty; and generally steer those going off course. Horn blown and they were off. Women and over 50s first.(grrrr), then the men. It was a little choppy with slight wind but manageable. It was quite a sight seeing the swimmers with their coloured hats bobbing in and out of the water and a swarm of arms flapping. They looked like seals popping their head out of the sea. well sort of.. I have to say, it was a very impressive spectacle. The course suddenly looked a very long way. Most were swimming at a steady pace- well to be fair, faster than I have ever swam in a pool. The first fluorescent buoy look miles away..in fact it was 500m and total distance 1500m (gulp). Some of the swimmers struggled to keep in the right direction which gave us an opportunity to give them gentle encouragement and a steer ….oi, you with the red cap, swim right.! It was difficult to decide whether to keep cheering them and urging them on or be quiet to keep them focused. Not many needed a rest against our boats, and none needed rescuing. Two rescue boats were on the water and two stand-up paddlers at the back for safety.

Steve led the first wave of swimmers and Ted, the second. Difficult task for them trying to keep to course and steer. Only a few really struggled and some chatted saying that the swim was their weakest sport. Still, so very impressive. Lots of wobbly legs once out of the water but they managed to drag themselves up to their bikes; not all- some sprinted to their bikes.

For us, it was over and we exchanged experiences. all excited and enquiring about the next event. Bacon buns and coffee after was welcomed. It was a great way to spend a (grey, miserable) Sunday morning, albeit early. We all love to paddle, but to combine our thirst for the water with helping at a sporting event was perfect. The swimmers were safe and well on their way through the cycle part of the triathlon and we were on our way home- back to normal Sunday chores- the obligatory trip to the tip; give the washing machine a hammering; cut the grass etc etc.

Elizabeth Gibbons

The last 3 months have been an absolute blast in terms of trips that have been planned via the clubs trips email list and some last minute trips. It all started with some rain in early November with me and Sarah driving up the M6 to find some water and resulted with the two of us on the Conwy a great little Grade 2/3 river in North Wales. We had a group coming up on the Sunday but we decided a quick run on the Saturday was in order then found a bunkhouse to stay in ready for another fantastic trip on the Sunday with 6 people.

2 weeks later were on the M6 again this time heading towards the Lake district with a trip organised by Dutch and advertised via the trips list again. We had two days of fun on brilliant grade 2/3 water. Its this sort of grade that I love to lead down and Sarah and the rest of the group really enjoy, it was perfect white water with a few exciting rapids and one grade 4 feature (water fall) that made the trip worth while.

The following week we were visiting family down south so as always put the boats on the roof just in case. We managed a day on the Dart loop, this was the first time Sarah had done this river and it’s a classic in all books and a tick that Sarah was keen to get in the ever growing list of rivers she wants to paddle. Early December arrives Christmas shopping is in full swing for everyone except me as my car is taking us back up the M6 (im sure it could do it on its own by now) for another weekend in North wales. This was another trip organised by Dutch and found us doing a 2 quick runs of the Conwy with Sarah having a swim at the top of one rapid resulting in a interesting rescue all of which is good practice for me. After a full team fry up on the Sunday morning and referring to the oracle of where to paddle (Sarah) we were off in search of a new river called the Cierw. We have driven over it many times but never paddled it, after getting in just below the Grade 5 section we were off on a fantastic spate run of a new river. This really tests the river leading skills as no one knows what’s round the next bend.

After much merriment at Christmas and now everyone is keen to try out their new paddling equipment that Santa had brought we were off to find a river in Mid wales called the Clywedog, this river is dam released and after getting to the bottom of the dam to find it releasing we got changed, boats off etc, just as we were about to get on a man in a van turned up and promptly turned the dam off spoiling all of our fun and the 3 hr drive in -3deg frost we had just endured. Cue a backup plan of the upper Severn which again was a new river to us all coming in at grade 2 with a grade 3 rapid, this turned out to be an excellent backup plan and a river you really wouldn’t do as you would normally do other rivers if in the area.

After all the New years eve celebrations finished I found my self being invited to North wales for a few day trips to have some fun on rivers that are a level that test my skills and I find most enjoyable. I was again on the M6 on my way up to north wales at 6am on the hunt for the rest of my group I was meeting up with. We ended up deciding the Wnion was the best idea which is a grade 3 with a grade 4 gorge. This sort of water is where I have the most fun especially the gorge section and spending more time than anticipated in a stopper halfway down.

The following weekend again im off to North wales leaving Sarah at home, as I look back over my shoulder while tying the boat on the look im getting is like im leaving for a year, luckily she knows im off to paddle big water and this day was no exception we met up in Llangollen with the rest of the group and headed over to the west of wales to paddle the Eden. A great little Grade 3 / 4 the first half was constant grade 3 followed by the joining of another river, a quick jaunt upstream so the rest of the group can blast off a waterfall followed by another mile of almost constant grade 4 rapids.

In order to allow Sarah to get some more paddling in as her kit had plenty of time to thoroughly dry out which is unusual, we were off up to the top of England with snow forecast on another trip organised by Dutch were off and arriving in heavy snow. Moring arrives and were pushing the cars out up the hill wondering why we do such a cold sport. We were driving / sliding our way over to the Greta which is a brilliant grade 2 river with some small grade 3 features smiles all round after a great little river some of us were off back to the top to do the river again but this time at full speed the result being we did the whole river in 40 mins arriving just as it was beginning to get a little dark. The Sunday found us on the river Tyne, this would be an ideal river for beginner’s as it was mostly flat with a few grade 2 rapids and one small section that could reach grade 3 but mainly bouncy all the way down.

So far this year we have been all over the place, seen some stunning scenery and I know people are looking forward to the Usk trip at the end of February and hopefully some others including flat water trip at the end of January. Most write-ups are published on the website and I try (battery’s permitting) to publish my videos of the rivers on my YouTube channel (Just search for my name)

Happy paddling

Steven Battams