So I have heard writing a river blog is a good cure for a
hangover, well here goes!
After a swift change in starting time from 8am to 9:15am ….
I quickly became grateful for the extra hour in bed! A rush to get ready and a warm-up jog later I
find out Tolly and Hannah are nowhere to be found. It would appear Tolly was
dead to the world whilst Hannah had slept through her alarm. After loading the
boats and getting Ailsa on board we finally make our way to the river.
We arrived at the Lune which appeared to be a popular river
for the day. Forgetting to stop for the toilet, Ailsa and I made our way across
a field to find ourselves almost knee deep in mud. (This was my reason to take
a dip)
With one of the cars parked up at the other end and a crash
course in river signals from Greg we were all set. Avoiding one of the many dead sheep we
encountered on the trip we finally got onto the water. Being a fresher friendly
trip the river started off nice and easy although a little shallow, there was
some bum shuffling going on!
Practicing eddying in, eddying out and ferrygliding took up
the first part of the river. We then moved onto the slightly harder parts.
(According to me anyway :)
)Now I’m not sure if a heavy night caused my memory loss or hitting my head on
a rock/paddle …. I don’t really remember how many rapids we did.
The first rapid was demonstrated fantastically by Hannah who
was the only one to take correct line. I then managed to style out a rotating
boat move and make it down upright! (Mad skills). Later in the river I decided
to take a swim, just too clean up a little! Next victim we thought was Gerald
until we saw Ailsa pop up! This was of course to demonstrate the correct
technique of how to swim and get out of the boat to set up the next safety.
At this point no one knows how far down the river we are or
when we would be done. The final victim of the day was Gerald who luckily
washed straight into the eddy. We then had a while of steady-ish water before
we had to get out of our boats and walk them around a rapid that was too hard. This
defiantly made us feel the cold a tad more!
After a good solid 3 hours? (Maybe) we made it to the first bridge. The car was at the second. With little light left, an unknown
distance and a drop in temperature. We made a collective decision for Hannah,
Gerald, Ailsa and I to get out and wait in the survival shelter. Whilst Dom,
Ant, Greg and James ran the rest of the river.
The group shelter appeared to be a shock to Gerald who was
under the impression that there was going to be a wooden hut with hot chocolate
waiting for us! (IF ONLY) After a nice 20 minutes or so in the group shelter
cars arrived and we headed home via the Service station, in what would be the
warmest car known to mankind!
All in all I think a fantastic day was had by all! Thank you
for organising the fresher friendly trip even if there were
only 3 not so experienced paddlers. Don’t miss the next one!
Tania
P.S … It’s all LIES the hangover is still here!
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