Two minibuses and a van left sheds loaded with lots of
paddlers, lots of boats and lots of kit. It all arrived in one piece at the
Malt Kiln, Bardsea, and somehow along the way we picked up a black van carrying
our buddies Ade and Jack, and Rhys picked up half a grass verge for some
reason, best not to ask. To existing paddlers’ dismay, the usual pub was
boarded up! L
Luckily there was ANOTHER PUB only 300 yards down the road which we promptly
colonised. I thought the fact that it had white tablecloths might mean it was
too posh for the likes of us but they let us all in, even me in my wellies and
trackies.
The cereal box game among others provided Friday night’s
entertainment...
Sausage sandwiches for breakfast got everyone out of bed.
The Captain and Vice-Captain still half asleep snuggled under the stairs
doesn’t look great when most of the freshers are awake so we had to get up,
although I was sorry to leave Earnie’s new down sleeping bag I had nicked.
We reached a glassy surfaced Coniston Water in beautiful
morning sunshine, to discover that the beach we usually get on at had
definitely shrunk since last year i.e. the water was high. After a pleasant
morning’s paddling of coaching and games, we stopped for a picnic lunch and
Earnie and Liam waded across a marsh to give us the news that the Crake was
even more un-fresher-friendly than usual being over bank full with lots of new
trees at no extra charge. Ade, Squirrel, Jack and Fred paddled it after lunch
and confirmed that the river wide trees did not make it an ideal run.
Solution:
go GORGE WALKING instead! This turned out to be an amazing decision (thank you
Kim), and after some questions over access we went anyway and trekked off up
Church Beck out of Coniston village. It involved scrambling over rocks,
swimming and wading across pools, climbing up waterfalls and leaping off
ledges, all that adventurous intrepid stuff us kayakers like to do, especially
when cameras are involved. We even found a siphon to crawl through, what fun! I
think the whole thing could be described as invigorating, and especially
refreshing if you are not lucky enough to own a drysuit!
We surprised ourselves by eating nearly 8 kilos of
bolognese back at the Malt Kiln, which was then worked off by many many games,
most of which descended into brawls and/or bloodshed quite fast. Spoons, human
pyramids, sockwrestling (a particular favourite), and even musical chairs! Even
the card games were bloodthirsty!
Breakfast was sausage sandwiches again, proving to be the
most faff free and least messy freshers’ trip breakfast ever. Jack and Liam
competed for the most sausages eaten – I think this was won by Master Jack
Greenwood, I can’t remember if he consumed 12 or 14 sausages! Correct me if I’m
wrong! This was followed by a sunlit group yoga session in the car park, to
limber everyone up for paddling...
... the Greta! I think it is safe to say mine was the
best group – we a) started at the back and overtook Kim’s and Tolly’s groups,
b) had only ONE swim, and c) were the only group to finish the river! Chris and
Rhys were technically in charge, seconded by me and Adi. Our trusting followers
were Graham, Jack, Gabby and Andy. Gabby invented the nose brace, while Andy
styled a boof with an impressive amount of air. Aside from a few pauses for
unpinning, we had a great run down. As for the other groups, all I saw when we
overtook was smiling rescuers and rescuees alike, and great opportunities for
throwlining practice and de-pinning manoeuvres.
Our group got off to find Fred, Liam and Ade waiting for
us. We got changed, attacked the lunch, played football in the car park and
sunned ourselves whilst watching out for the other groups. Eventually a Lone
Red Squirrel appeared and told us the others were a long way behind. Nearly an
hour and a half after Chris’s Crew had got off, the three LCC guys paddled up
and told us that Team Tolly and Kim’s Cohort were off the river further
upstream feeling a bit on the damp/cold/tired side. Mine and Chris’s expert van
loading was interrupted to drive to the rescue, although when they appeared
warm and dry and heard food mentioned everyone looked reasonably happy, so we
took over both chip shops in Keswick.
We all made it back to Liverpool in one piece apart from
some paddles, although my bus missed unloading the van (what a shame) because
we had to make an unplanned detour to get fuel as our petrol situation suddenly
got nervous on the M62. Good job it was downhill.
I think it was an ace weekend and I hope everyone enjoyed
themselves! A huge thank you to our Trip Sec, drivers, chefs, gamemasters,
photographers, river leaders and seconders, rescuers and especially freshers...
J
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