We were off to meet some of the guys from the Bluebell group, open boaters all but with a great attitude and up for a laugh. Just as well as it turned out...
The Borders Esk runs through Langholm and Canonbie and has very good access and egress; grade 2 - 3, we were lucky to hit it at an optimum level on a fantastic day. Blue skies, sunshine and no wind to speak of. The shuttle was quickly sorted and we kitted up on the bank at Langholm with various comments regarding relative sizes of tackle being shared...
Little and large?
The river was sweet but not challenging until quite a way down where short 2+ / 3 rapids were inspected or played upon depending on your viewpoint. The highlight of the trip, a weir about 30 minutes above Canonbie, was checked out and a number of lines chosen and run. Andrew ran an audacious line, riding a boil between two 20m wide stoppery drops as if on rails; it's great to see the youth go for lines like this, so full of confidence and self-belief. Yours truly attempted to follow him, but ended up dropping into the slot halfway along and having to surf and blast back out.... No problem other than a lack of boat control!
Boofing at the start of the interesting section....
Further mini rapids followed and a rather interesting game of spot the swimming canoeist followed... watching Andrew (in a 7 foot long playboat) shunt a swamped canoe, weighing upward of 3 tonnes, into an eddy was a joy to behold. No damage, just chilled bodies forced a change of pace and everybody belted off down to the get-out. Fun day, great fun with the "big boats" and an ideal wind down towards the madness of Christmas.
Stuart - almost on the plane!
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