The Most Successful Post-Exams Trip (or so I'm told...)

By Becky Catley
Photos by John Bickerton

I can honestly say that post-exams trip is the best trip I have been on to-date (although, having only been on two trips with the club in the past, you may wish to take that statement with a pinch of salt). To say that I was slightly nervous for this trip would’ve been the understatement of the century, so I went in to the weekend expecting the worst. How very wrong I was!

6.00am Saturday morning: Mog’s first alarm went off (Mog, we will never forgive you). 2 hours later (and roughly 10 more of Mog’s alarms) we reached the time we were supposed to actually get up. After a breakfast of questionable porridge (sorry Maeve) we packed up our kit and headed off to the Llugwy. After realising he’d not picked up a buoyancy aid from sheds (contributing to him winning “dick of the weekend”) Josh decided to walk the first run of the river. The rest of us got suited and booted and got on the river and, after a bit of a rocky start, I really started to enjoy myself!

Getting Suited and Booted

We took the river slowly, stopping to practice old skills and learning how to ferry glide, and we eventually made it to Forestry falls. Most of us made it down with almost no problems, but swimmers included Harry, Tilly and a very annoyed Jon, who was too busy “Bugger, bugger, bugger”- ing to notice that JJ was trying to rescue him! Afterwards, we all got off and had lunch and then some of the oldies had another run of the Llugwy with Josh and the rest of us went shopping! We finished the day with chilli and rice (and a hint of aubergine) and ended up down at the pub where we crashed the local’s karaoke night, and a beautiful group rendition of Robbie Williams’s Angels.

Spot the boat!

Sunday brought a better start with only one alarm and a much better porridge! We quickly packed up and then headed off to the Elwy for fun-filled day of paddling. This time, the full group had kit so we all got on the river together including Spud, who obviously knew that there is nothing better to do than go paddling with LUCC! A weir, a few portages and a brief but romantic encounter with a tree later, the two groups reconvened for lunch and told tales of the day so far, which included a swim from Tilly, Fiona rescuing Sam from a tree, and a river roll by Josh! We then headed on our way again, keeping a steady pace, occasionally stopping to see how many eddies we could catch with our new-found ferry lining skills. Unfortunately, we had to cut the river slightly short due to bad light but we’d made a really good run of it and had an amazing time doing so!

Captain and co.

Top Notch Safety from Hannah

All in all, it was a fabulous weekend and one that I won’t be forgetting in a hurry!