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.

13th - 15th April - Freestyle mid-drought?

Down to Llangollen where Andrew was competing in the first round of the BCU Youth Freestyle series. A couple of hours warming up on the Friday night and we realised that there was more water running off our foreheads than down the river Dee! Still we'd had a good play so went up to Bryn Fawr where Andy was judged to be an adult and we were stung by the Duelling Banjos inbred on the campsite; no worries, off to the pub where Andy was immediately demoted back to being a child and greatly enjoyed his shandy.

The comp took place at JJ's where there was more water evaporating than running through the features. Decidedly dodgy, the event was judged on eddyline action rather than in-the-hole moves. There was also a down-river race with the age groups battling it out before an all comers final. Great day on the river with about a hundred youngster competing and having a ball. Andy score reasonably well coming an overall 17th place (above ykw so big smiles all around).

Andrew stays in the box, top hole at JJ's

Sunday was on the Big T, three good runs on the Graveyard and lots of playing on various waves but especially on the NRA wave all in early spring sunshine. Does it get much better than this? (Answer - see what happens in May....)

Thursday 5th April - The end of a taxing year....

Back home from the driest 6 days I ever dreamt Fort William could offer. The only real whitewater as the frozen stuff on the tops, especially on Aonach Mor where the ski lifts were still running and the sun belted down through clear blue skies....
Drove up on Friday (though forgot that we had only booked into Calluna from Saturday night...) and had a late evening play on Triple Drop on the Etive (running it, appropriately enough, three times), before driving through a huge herd of deer and into Fort William.

Triple Drop - the good bit

Auto-boof!

Gravity wins - Right Angle Fall

We met the West Mids team back in Glen Etive on Saturday morning where much discussion about walking / rock climbing / skiing etc., was had. Nothing doing, we wandered up for a look at the Allt a Choirrean which was as dry as a very dry Martini with extra olives. Back to Fort William and an afternoon in the shops... living close to Keswick really does take the therapy out of retail therapy when looking for goretex Gucci.

Sunday and an early start. The old faithful, Findhorn Gorge from Randulph's Leap down. Reasonable level; the Cauldron looking pretty nasty as Nige narrowly avoided swimming into it due to timely rope-led intervention by Bec, Becca and myself (I put the video camera down as it looked so serious - tsk, missed the swim through the grade 5 section!). Pity then that Andrew had the camera in his mitt and filming as I took my shoeing at the Triple Step like a man (well, at least I didn't cry and shout for my mammy, though did hit the "eject eject" button before floating under the central strainer...). A good run, sunshine and fun company. Bec's air paddling put Spinal Tap fans to shame as she corkscrewed her way through a rapid known as... corkscrew. Odd that.

Andrew fights the Corkscrew

What happens when the last stroke is on the wrong side....

Andrew - how to run Corkscrew

Some of the team decided to have a splash on the Pattack on the way back. This time I was filming when Pete ended up pinned and did cry out for his mam! And when Nige took his second swim of the day... strange; two in one day but the first two in twelve years!! Ah well, we are all between swims I guess.

A lazy day and the long trek out to Oban for a gander at the Falls of Lora resulted in further plans being hatched. Some of the players would drop in on the falling tide on the morrow (??) while the rest (that is the more refined among us) would take to the briny and hunt out some seals. The chips in Oban were just as good as I remembered them as well - bonus!

Tuesday and back to Oban. All the beer had gone last night so it was with some ashen faces that the hard men pulled over to stare in awe / terror (select as required) at the maelstrom of whirlies and swirlies that is... well, you get the idea? Bec, Becca and me poodled down through Oban to Cuan Sound. Fabulous; blue sky, bluer sea, ripping through the narrows. After collecting empty scallop shells and making certain that we had a polo ball in my boat, we set off to the north of Luing and out into the Atlantic (just a bit). Becca turned a strange colour as we basked in the sunshine on the glassy calm sea; must have been, erm, seasickness setting in. Decided that the cure was to walk back over the island while yours truly towed back her boat. And her kit. And the rocks that she and Bec had collected. No worries, we reunited opposite the ferry slip and manfully (!) made the long ferry glide back to the mainland. Satisfying, having watched two sea kayaks being portaged along the beach due to the strength of the current. Becca had recovered enough to take on Bec and me with a solid hour of polo training. Hmm - women!

We'd had a grand day out (thanks Grommit), topped when we heard that the playboaters hadn't managed to surf anything and had one of the hardest days paddling ever. Shame huh : )

Since the rest of the team were heading off in the morning, this evening was Andrew's birthday party. Cake, profiteroles, alcohol were consumed. After we came back from the Chinese / pub / etc.

Despite threats of hoofing up Tower Ridge, we ended up skiing on Aonach Mor for the youth's birthday. We both came close to sunburn, Andrew's eyes were red raw, the snow was icy and the walk back uphill to the Snowgoose gondola hurt, but a top day with 6 hours on skis and not a few laughs. Happy 15th birthday mate!!

Ben Nevis and Carn Mor Dearg from Aonach Mor