23rd / 24th June 2007 - L2K Coach training at last!

Two intense days with Ben Daines at Dallam. Day one on the river Lune at Devil's Bridge, Kirby Lonsdale. Bitterly cold, sleeting, windy and the tantalising aroma of bacon butties from the burger van on the bridge... This became a sore point each time I crossed to river left as the aroma of bacon knocked all thought of paddle technique out of my head! Sad then that we took lunch hiding behind a wall hiding from the drving sleet - the burger van had shut-up shop for the day!

Lots of kayak games on the water and river bank, plus coaching each other on technical skills. Not what I expected; more about what to fill a session with than how to coach.

Rubber tub on the Lune!

Day two was on Windermere (Fellfoot Park) focussing on group management, journeying and simple rescue methods, mostly tows. Enjoyed this, with some role-playing and an impromtu kit inspection over lunch break. Some (lots of) useful pointers on group management when working with groups of youngsters and less-than accomplished paddlers; something I need to do more often...

An interesting couple of days, culminating with an invite to work at Dallam during their summer school in August; pity I couldn't free up the time.

Friday 22nd June - Arnside sunset

Angela decided we ought to have a quick run out in "The Van" to Arnside for peace and quiet, BLT's and a can or two of cider; lovely relaxed evening, brilliant sunset over the estuary and Muzz enjoyed herself dashing about on the sands...

Sunset over the Kent estuary at Silverdale

25th May / 3rd June - Sunshine and snow in France

What a trip! Back to the vallee Durance with Birmingham Canoe Club, based at Prelles in Chalet Berwyn. A long drive however it's broken down, especially with the car so loaded (extended roof bars, 5 boats and paddlebag up top, packed to the gunwhales inside)! We did home to Twickenham where we collected the dear Sonia (of which more later!), dossed on her floor, then off to Dover at 4.00 am and to the land of the cheese eating surrender monkeys (sorry!).

The journey was pretty painless, apart from the mournful chill-out sounds that TDS had brought along; no Led Zep to keep us humming this time! We arrived early evening on the Saturday at Chalet Berwyn. This is a top notch doss for paddling, skiing or whatever else. Fully fitted out, lacking nothing, it proved a very comfy home-from-home for the duration at a very reasonable price. The rest of the team had arrived earlier than us and had enjoyed a cheeky run on the Briancon Gorge as a warm-up; the three from team Astra had to settle for vin rouge and made plans for the following morning...

I drove Andrew and Sonia down the road to the National Whitewater course below Briancon as they decided that a gentle warm-up would unwind us from the drive (and slightly sore heads) while the rest of the gang headed up the valley to the Lower and Upper Guisane. A good time was had by all, ours all the better for paying a visit to Mr Pizza in his wooden hut Pizzeria on the edge of Argentierre Le Basse - the best pizza you'll ever taste!

Paul Steels on the G5 Guil Staircase

After the trip, Ian D wrote in the BCC magazine:

"I have to say that this was by far the best alps trip I have been on (and I've done a lot of them over the years)! Here's a list of what we paddled:
Briancon Gorge (G3)
Upper Guil (G3+)
Middle Guil (G4 we paddled this twice during the week - it's sooo good!)
Chateau Queyras Gorge (G4+)
Ubaye Racecourse (G4)
Ubaye (La Thuile) (G3/4)
Upper Guisane (G3/4-)
Lower Guisane (G4 we paddled this one twice too - what a blast)
Durance Gorge (G4/5)
Upper Claree (G4)
Romanche (G4+)

Thanks to the fact that we had such a strong group of paddlers, we were able to make the most of the water in the Alps. The weather wasn't as sunny as we'd have liked, but it meant that some of the later season runs were going and we were able to bag them too.

The chalet was fantastic too, and was a perfect location to make the most of the rivers in the area. We'll certainly be going back there at some point.
Many funny moments over the week - really a great big thanks to Pete for making us all laugh, a true comedy genius!

Thanks to everyone there for making the trip very safe and a lot of fun. Next year - well there's talk of maybe Austria......??????"

Team Via Ferrata

Yep - no wonder we were knackered : )

Loads more to add when I make the time!

20th May - Sun and fun out Teeside way

A 6:15 am start (this is Sunday mind!) saw us heading to the second event of the BCU Youth Freestyle competition at Teeside. Andrew was asleep by 6:20 and didn't feel the need to wake again until 2 minutes from the burger bar at Scotch Corner! Bacon baps and tea later we were back on the A66 and by 8:30 parked at the course. Bright sunshine and a near-full (by 9:30) carpark promised a good day. Until I discovered that the course was closed other than to competitors.... no paddling for me then!

Andy soon hooked up with Islay and fun and games ensued. I spent an hour working in the car (camera and video both left at home, so, aside from a little coaching, not a lot else to do!) and then wandered down to join the youth for lunch.

The competition was straightforward; three 45 second runs, one each in the entry wave and eddyline, Happy Eater and the Muncher, best two to score. I was mugged into scoring at Happy Eater so never got to watch Andrew at the other features so was a little taken aback when the scores were published. In spite of throwing flats and blunts at each feature his scores were just way too low... Disappointment all around with the scoring, but a fun day in the sun with the youngsters.

Shredding the Muncher

Saturday 19th May - Hodge Close up and personal

Ooo-er: bolts and steep slate; I just knew this was going to make my arms and fingers hurt.... Still, a good couple of hours on very steep, strenuous ground on the small face below the tunnel entrance to the main quarry. Exploring later, there are still plenty of easier slabby areas to play on, so not a venue just for gorillas!

4th / 12th May - $'s rather than £'s = kit a'plenty!

Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky all in one week! Despite Illinois being pancake flat and no whitewater in sight, it still has a few decent outdoor shops... Never, in a month of Sundays, would I buy MSR titanium cookware at UK prices, but over the pond - titanium kit at aluminum prices!!

The same was true of Sierra Designs tent, Asolo boots, TNF waterproofs and clothing and, kit-whore Gucci gear of the trip, a "press-it" cafetierre stylee coffee brew gizmo that slots right onto your trusty Nalgene bottle. What a treat - fresh brewed coffee to start the day on a wild-camp.

I found (no - Googled like mad until I found) an REI outlet just 30 minutes from St Louis airport - and guess who had a half day to kill before the Atlanta flight.... Yup!!! They give you 20% off everything if you take out membership of the REI co-op for $15. It took me about a millisecond to sign up! So much bling that I had to buy another hold-all to stash my loot in for the long haul back to Blighty. Pitiful really, but Oooh - the jet lag recovery time meant I could play with it all before heading into the office!!!

Wednesday 2nd May - Basking on Brown Slabs

Castle Crag and Jaws of Borrowdale from top of Brown Slabs

Top day on Shepherds Crag with Angela & Katie. Lazy day in the sunshine on Brown Slabs, clean rock, bright sunshine and good craic.

Kate following up Brown Slabs Crack, V Diff, Shepherds Crag

28th - 29th April - Meet the new "REC"-ing crew...

Rescue and Emergency Care Level 2 course - what to say?
Ben Daines runs a superb course. Based at Heversham in the South Lakes, Dallam school has a strong outdoors tradition and it showed through. From the start, Ben had a pragmatic, hands-on approach and built, layer by layer, skills and procedures that became second nature as the weekend progressed.
Despite an element of "I've heard it all before" from one quarter - deftly dealt with by Ben - I'm certain that the remaining 11 of us learnt stacks, even those doing refreshers.
An enjoyable couple of shandies on Saturday evening and, after Sundays coursework, a mad dash up a hill in Langdale and dinner at the ODG with Mark, Angela and Katie really made the weekend something memorable.
What a great bunch - looking forward to hooking up again and to my next two courses at Dallam.

Sunday 22nd April - Yes it was, so....

Teeside! 126.3 miles each way and there's a McDonalds just down the road (and how would I know that then?) Blame it on the petrol / diesel / me... to be continued

Saturday April 21st - Is it really this dry....?

Not a hope of paddling unless it involved salty water but Debra was up for a walk so it was out with the boots and up onto Scafell Pike. Followed the beck up from Wasdale Head but even that and the little-used path alongside Piers Gill was busy, so I decided on a kind of compromise, between the Styhead zig-zags and Piers Gill. Result! Ended up being forced onto an ever-narrowing neck of a ridge by two becks that ran from deeper and steeper ravines; a really interesting and teasing walk since, until we actually got to the top, we never knew if we'd have to reverse all the way down again! 3:45 to the summit then back down to Mickledore and Hollowstones, keeping high on the west flank of Lingmell back to the car at Wasdale Head.