Saturday January 20th - Big Water makes for Big Air

Some day all rivers will have waves like this! Nobody was able to confirm just how much air there was between my i4 and the top of the haystack at the bottom of Abbey Rapids. The guy stuck in the hole below me was paler than a pale thing after the colour had drained from it as I passed clean over him and his boat before landing... the only time I ever went in with a boat and paddle and came out with a boat and two paddles!!

Barnard Castle to Winston; 13km of swollen G3-4 Tees - big volume, fast, near river-wide stoppers, a couple of critical (or suffer!) lines and some "challenging" surf waves.....

As MarkB posted on UKRGS:

"Below the bridge at Abbey Rapids, the sight of two kayaks downstream 'sky rocketing' out of the hole was sufficient encouragement to help me stay on a boily left line. Below Whorlton, the other highlight was circumventing a large stopper river right , to see its twin just beyond it and then to discover just in time that there was a third one just as big below me on river left."

As it happened, one of those going airbourne was yours truly; apparently I passed clean over a hole which, at the time, had another paddler perfoming an auto-eject from his boat having been through the rinse cycle several times... about time I had the lucky break! We mostly got around those stoppers - those that didn't learned from their experience ; ) "Yip yip coyote" as Quickdraw McGraw probably never said...

About to take the plunge - the bottom fell out of the hole over on the right!

Sunday January 14th - Wookie Weir - Curleys go play...

Heaps of rain meant high levels at Wookie Weir... Two hours playboating half an hour from home. Andrew really is a spoilt brat; he even admits as much : )

I'm aching way too much afterwards. Maybe I should just give up working and spend more time getting fit........

Saturday January 13th - Does 150 metres count as a river?

MarkB, Simon and Andrew - Andy and I dashed into Keswick for pies then on to Threlkeld where we met about a dozen open boaters lining up to fall into the Greta. Maybe it was a rescue drill or something? MarkB turned up followed, while we sorted the shuttle, by Simon...

We didn't wait to find out what the canoeists were up to because we had a plan; the Greta for starters, MarkB had to leave, then up into the hills "back o'Skidda" with Simon to see what the torrential rain had done to the upper Caldew - and it had done plenty : )

Andrew clinging to a line through the broken weir outside Keswick

Getting to the Caldew was the hardest part - flooded roads giving a hint of things to come. The river turned out to be much bigger than the rock-sliding boulder dodging ditch that we had heard about; it turned out to be technical, fast and tight. And with the 5 metre "Picnic Pool" slide / drop right at the start. Much Joy! Another 6" depth would elevate this to "one of the best" but doubt it sees this kind of level too often....

On the upper Caldew - bigger than it looks...

Wednesday January 10th - cheeky weekday paddling

Bright, blue skies, sunshine - what more could a man want except some more water maybe? The Greta was at a perfect medium - high level, but today was about coaching Chris and trashing his confidence wasn't on the agenda (long swims on the Greta are mandatory if you have no roll!). Instead, a fun poodle down the upper Derwent - fabulous scenery and nothing too testing on the water.

Straight forward run down from Seathwaite to Longthwaite where we spent a good while considering lines and moves on the only real rapid (G2+). The plan suggested that four strokes to control the boat were enough; it was, even if Chris ran a completely different line!!

Good day, must do more of this "skiving off to paddle" stuff!

Saturday January 6th - Big and bouncy on the Leven

MarkB and Andrew enjoyed an early breakfast before getting on the Leven. Lots of overnight rain left the river looking meaner than I had seen it for a long while and the memory of the thrashing that Backbarrow Weir had dealt to me at our last meeting was foremost in my mind. Still, since this paddling lark is a headgame, it was time to let the game commence….

The brickchute wave was working but very fast and not easy to get on, then down through the weirs and bouncy rapids to Buckbarrow Bridge. Get out, look, decide, walk – easy! Down to the weir and check that out. No mistaking the line or hiding the fact that I was shaking. Back in, close eyes, see the line, line up and go. One big boof later and I was down, grinning but still shaking! I think the river won that time but next time will be mine. Andy and Mark looked at me with quizzical expressions but I didn’t let on… Andrew still had the Fisherman’s Gorge to deal with.

The graveyard section was great – big, wide stoppers and haystack waves to enjoy the view from… a blast which was over too soon. Fishermans Gorge was looking big – and all that you can see is the entrance… it turned out that crunching through overhanging branches from the RR eddy and rolling up from the subsequent capsize is not the best approach. A new line, which I’d never seen water in before, extreme right was my claim to fame. As long as the boat stayed straight it’s good; otherwise you will end up jammed across a 5’ wide channel… Andrew found his line; ran it like he meant it and, I think, finally banished the demon that has been with him every other time we ran this rapid. A good days work – pity about losing the car key though (Andrew!!?)

Andrew styles Fisherman's Gorge (unlike his dad!)

(Click the play button twice...)

Sunday 31st December - Hello Sonia, goodbye Hurley

Andrew had pleaded and Sonia broadcast an invite, so it was back to Hurley, breaking our journey back north to the Lakes. On 2 gates this time and I was feeling much fresher so we all got stuck in for a couple of hours fun.

Thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and good to meet Sonia who clearly can - and wants to - paddle more. Just a pity that the rest of the drive home took forever, typical M6 but good to be home and start to arrange 2007.....

Saturday 23rd December - Mecca on Thames - Hurley at last

Our first visit to Hurley, the famed playspot on the Thames and Mecca as far as Andrew is concerned! Arranged to meet Chas on the M25 who was going to guide us in; well, we meet, overshoot and agree to let Andrew and the map do the rest! Soon arrived and changed in a carpark with no river in sight…

We shouldered boats and a 5 minute walk brought us the bank; in, across, down a little weir and there it was – Hurley on 3 gates. Andrews face said it all; I rolled my eyes, paddled across the jet, climbed out and started filming – way too tired from the previous hell-week to contemplate throwing myself at the wave. Pity ‘cos it looked like fun and Andy certainly enjoyed himself!

After a couple of hours Chas began to tire and Andrews nose exploded so it was time for me to take my quick spin in the hole before heading back to sunny Dagenham...

"I laughed so much I bled!"