Fresher Friendly Day Trip to The Dee

Here goes my report on my first freshers paddling trip! Wooo!! :D

After a demanding and very early-feeling 9am start at sheds, everyone on the trip gathered bright and cheerful(with hopefully no hangovers!)  As everyone else was sorting out their kayaks and kit for the day, Tom and I being unorganised forgot to get AU membership before the day, so we rushed to the sports centre to avoid a no-go despite bothering to get up for it.  We arrived back at the sheds complete with AU membership and got kitted out.

We loaded up and headed on out to wales! :D Anyone who was on the mini-bus with me would agree it was an interesting journey to say the least, and pretty hilarious! After making a few minor adjustments to the mini-bus with duct tape, it was as good as new! Well, almost.  Despite the minor time delay it caused, we made it to Wales by about 12, to JJ’s on the Dee in a place called Llangollen.

Starting off with an easy stretch of the river, we practised some new basic techniques such as eddying in, eddying out and ferry-gliding the channel.  After getting the hang of this, we jumped out of the boats and walked the path upstream to give it a go on a slightly more powerful current. This is where I epically failed to get the hang of carrying the kayak on one shoulder!  Anyway, this is where the fun started as there were a few almost-capsizes until finally Malin was the first casualty in our group! Charlie was free styling it and spinning round and everyone was having a fab time! We had a food break (Jellybabies! :D) and then set off in the river again at about 4, time was flying past! We moved to more challenging but fun waters downstream, where some of our mentors decide to show off haha! The drops down the river and rapids were amazing :D, even if I did eventually capsize!!

All in all, an excellent, really fun trip!!! If you haven’t already been on a trip, then go! :D We even go for food afterwards to warm up so fish and chips for me!  Thank you from all the newbie’s for organising the fresher friendly trip and see you on the next one!

Jess