Mountains

I’m currently back in Manali fending off the beggars and avoiding the dog crap. We had a superb mission over the Rohtang Pass and into the Spiti Valley. We based ourselves in a superb guest house (Nimaling) in the lovely little town of Kaza. We were dubious having heard it’s nickname as “Kazai”, but it turned out to be nice and have just about everything we could need including a tailors. (We all have new shirts!)

Adam, cool in the face of gnar!

We spent 3 days kayaking sections of the Spiti which had nearly everything you could want from a river. Deep gorges, blind corners, BIG holes, jazzy lines and amazing scenery. We also managed first descents(?) on the Gyundi, Lingti, and the North fork of the Pin, which ranged from grade VI terror-fest to grade II/III cruising.

More info in due course, but for now, enjoy the photos….

Patrick hiking into the Gyundi, a montage that I will improve when I’m home and have Photoshop!

Ki Gompa, Spiti Valley

Pin Valley

Scouting (and running away from) the unrunnable “Shotgun-Not!” Canyon of the Lingti (Pic P.W.Clissold)

Patrick running one of the many gorges of the Spiti.

Some of the group are now heading to the Chandra/Chenab and the Dras. Good times…. I’m off to get a suit tailored, get home and have some beef!

Well, we made it Manali. The bus journey was rubbish, other than a couple of hours of sleeping strapped to the boats on the roof. Turns out this is pretty illegal, so it’s a good thing we weren’t noticed!

Beas

We’ve been based out of a lovely hotel, hot showers, cider, comfy beds. It’s been lovely. I’m currently stuffed from a  curry and Baskin Robins icecream. Oh and a bloke gave a beggar a good kicking. What a super place! But I digress….

When Tim arrived, several of us jumped on a few km of the Manalsu behind Old Manali. Shrinkavision kicking in nicely it proved to be pretty blind, super continous and really good fun. A few chunky pourovers to get beaten in, and plenty of tasty lines. Just the job before some cider and momos! (yes Liz, they are ace!)

Today we ran a few sections of the Beas. Patrick and Tom H were feeling a little worse for wear and so decided to get on lower. It seems they had the best time… (click)

The rest of us put on a swollen grey river that was thundering along at a fair old rate. After a km of so we reached a (more) blind rapid and pulled in for a scout. It looked like a nice chunky rapid, a few bigger holes to dodge but nothing major, before (appearing to) flatten off and provide a big eddy. We all dropped in and made it through to the corner, but it didn’t flatten off. Out in front I could see the eddy I was after, but guarding the main line to it were 3 of the most horrendously jazzy pourovers of doom and destruction I have ever seen. Somehow I got through, don’t ask me how, I don’t know!

Tim and Ralph found a sneak line waaaay out in right field and Dave and Adam managed to stop above. All good fun. While we were faffing about Tim’s boat headed off for a solo mission, and me and him legged it to the boats to give chase. After a couple of hundred metres I was forced to conceed, but Tim manned up and got his boat out (using Ralph’s boat). Just was we were all getting it together Adam took a  raping and parted company with his boat. We got him out but the chasing and illness combined to leave me and Dave resting by the bridge while the others carried on. We played cricket with the locals and did a lot of sleeping…. More boating tomorrow, and then on to more multi day adventures…

Me, Dave and Adam on the Beas.

Phew, it’s sweaty out here in Uttranchal Pradesh! I’ve been out here for about a week so far and been having an excellent time. Patrick tells the tale of the Yamuna river on his blog. All I’l add is that within 36 hours of landing in Dehli I was in the middle of some awesome rapids!

Yamuna locals

Following on from that we took half a day to catch our breath and stock up on grub before heading to the next valley over, the home of the Tons…

Taxi!!

We had heard vauge rumours that the Tons might be paddled or rafted, but had no real info, so we picked some points, booked taxis and away we went!

In the absence of a eggs benedict, how about some breakfast gnarl?

Arriving after dark, all we could hear was an enormous roar, and by torchlight we discovered an enormous hole! Fortunately daylight showed us that we had lucked out and camped at the bottom of a monstrous (2km?) long rapid.  Luck was with us, and other than a couple of portages it all went nicely, and we soon arrived at a lovely little spot to camp.

Patrick on the Tons

Read and Fun!

Overnight the rain brought the river up to a much more jazzy level, and combined with the early morning mist we made slow progress before being ejected from the river by a millitary type who insisted we were breaking the law. Keen to avoid a fine we skedadled!

Scouting the Gnar on day 2 on the Tons.

We are now resting/recovering in Missoori, and heading to Manali shortly for the next adventure……

That’s the Alps done and dusted for another year. Just a short trip for me this year, mainly to have a couple of events… These went off ok, more on them coming soon.

The recent ban on paddling the swollen rivers was lifted the day we arrived, the sun came out, and other than dodging an avalanche it was all good.

Cruising down the sunshine run in the sun.

Will Laws dropping in for his first big seal launch, on the second river he’s ever paddled!

Kicking back in the sun after some cracking Briancon Gorge speed descending.

The Gyronde, with a hangover. Splashy at best, mainly crap.

Dagger Beers. Cheers Cheese!!

The first back hammer where I didn’t land on my head. Woo!

All pics thanks to Lowri Davies

Ken Hughes 

Today I was lucky enough to be invited along to a Gorge users seminar at Plas Y Brenin. The idea was to get the CCW, gorge walkers, the WCA and so forth together, pool some info, and try and make a start on a conservation plan. I was enthralled to hear a presentation on the flora of some of our local gorges, and it was great to get a load of info on the Prysor Gorge from the guys who know most about it. It was also good to hear that so far there is no significant damage being done to these sensitive areas. Testament perhaps to our respect for our landscape. Refreshing also to take a step away from the legal access aspects, and look at “How and Why” rather than “No canoeing”, and with some hard work from lots of dedicated groups, these gorges will remain in fine fettle for generations.

The land owner of the Llugwy, Conwy, Lledr came along, purely it seems to try and cause trouble in the afternoon, rabbiting on about how he paid for fishing rights, or some other out dated arguement. I hope you are reading this; Sir, you are out of touch, and would do well to learn a little more of what canoeists and other outdoors groups do before you shout yourself horse to a group of them. I notice that you didn’t bother with the morning session, or the session after your little outburst. Well done.

Cheers to Ash at the WCA for the invite, it was excellent.

Ooh, and exciting news, there is now a series of physical guages on the Aberglaslyn. Very simple to use, if its below the line, DON’T PADDLE IT!!! 

Well, it’s been a while!! My Easter Holidays zoomed past and I’m back slogging through more uni work.

I kicked off the Holiday with Jules and Danny, celebrating hi sbirthday in fine style with a few Welsh rivers, including a little run gnarl fest, more of which later!

From there I headed to Manchester, dumped the car and headed to the Lakes. Lowri gave a couple of Four Borders Expedition talks, and there was no water. There were however cream teas, fudge, and pub dinners. Marvellous stuff.

That done, we headed up to a very dry Scotland for a few days paddling with Aber Uni Canoe Club, before a 5 star assement and the student safety camp. All of this went off with minimum fuss, and before I knew it we were back in Yorkshire, and Lowri was doing her level 3 coach, again cruised! One more talk in York, then back to Manchester to rouse Dave Fairweather for victory breakfast and home to Somerset.

A few days loafing about, some classic Saunton surf, and I’m back in North Wales in time for lectures, assignments, and a whole load of other stuff.

Pictures coming soon…. in the mean time…. http://www.digibug.com/tlphotography/

P.s. Still no rodeo pics! Sorry!

 We’ve been talking about getting out for a night mission for a while. Me and Mitch finally managed to get our arses in gear, and did cruisy scramble up the Gribbin, followed by a sketchy descent just beyond Bristley ridge, in near daylight conditions. Hell of a moon!

Tryfan and Bristley Ridge, with the bright lights of the North coast faking a sunset.

Cantilever Rock, 20s of posing!

Last time I put something up about exams, lots of people looking for mating tigers found my blog. Perverts.

I spent a pleasant Saturday with the gang from Leeds, Notts and Brum on the Aberglaslyn Gorge at freeride (low) level, and the Cwm Llan, still a long way up Snowdon, and still great fun.  Highlights included finding the most improbable hammer spot in the world, Sara’s line down the breaker (amazing!), discovering I could sidekick a creekboat, and all those nachos. Alas the rivers were up again today, and instead I have been slaving over such excitement as Wade’s Rules, the Styx approach and the Butler Volmann Equation. Not long to go….

Hick “The Huck” Norwood. I love my new lens. Crisp like there is no tomorrow, this is an ISO 1600 shot!

Fresh from a nice long haul flight and sweaty cross London journey I arrived in “the bush” and met up with two fifths of the team for our jaunt to Portugal; namely Patrick Clissold and Lowri Davies. A brief break to watch kayaking porn, and we were on our way to salubrious accomodations provided by Rob Tuley and family close to Stanstead. After a brisk morning’s travel we were met in Porto by Theo, who had flown in from Sweden. Notable by their absence were a few others, put off by the poor forecast in the preceeding weeks. I don’t doubt they all had a cracking time sitting at home/going to scotland/driving into big puddles.

A mark of how welcoming Portugal is; even the baggage handlers are paddlers, speak good English, and pointed us in the direction of a new kayak shop in Porto. We didn’t visit in the end, which is a shame. Having collected the hire cars, paid up the waivers, and noted the damp nature of the weather we set off into the hills. After a good deal of beard scrathing, Theo’s “trusty” TomTom sat nav brought us to the top of the Rio Castro in Northern Portugal. The river was a good couple of feet below the advised maximum, but being keen to see what was coming we cracked open a beer or two and went for a walk. As it turns out we walked the length of the chossy lead in, and heading back with the horizon line of the granite gorge just in sight.

Camponatrual di Portugal, Lowri fastibreak o granitorock. Pic Rob T

Carros hiro dependablios

After a spot of wild camping we awoke to discover the mist had lifted to yeild a mountainous version of Dartmoor. Excited by this we paddled/walked into the top section of the Castro. We were treated to a fantastic gorge of steep, clean slides (or tobbogans as the locals call them) and drops.

Rob a kayako di unknownio.

Patrick tobogano, Tom a filmo Pic Rob T

After a few fun warm up slides, it was time for one of the main events. Known as back breaker, a gang of Irish paddlers ran it blind last year. Being a bit more cautious, we had a good scout!

Tom a “Back Breaker”, nae boofo! Pic Rob T

After Back Breaker, there are a couple of tight rapids, before a couple of large portages off cliffs. Carelessly, my boat suffered a little more than most off these cliffs, and a good session with the duck tape was required before we could carry on.

Lowri e Portagio a Castro Pic Rob T

After the portages the river relaxed, loosened its belt and filled up with boulders. After a km or so we hiked up to a nearby village, chatting to some local cows on the way. Victory dinner was taken in a casino in Spain, followed by some frosty wild camping.

Mornio e chillio di Portugal Pic Lowri D

From here we headed accross to Melgaco, and met up with Simon “Gene17″ Westgarth and his lady wife, the Irish, and some locals. After a wander round town picking out things that might mend my boat (thanks George + others!) we were fired up to hear about a river right there in town. The Mihno is Portugal’s answer to the Afon Dee. Still, it was sunny, sociable, and after a massive breach of shuttle etiquite the Irish took pitty on Patrick, Theo and myself and fed us.

Boat brokeno

NewYear was celebrated Portugal Style in the basement of a restaurant that was arranged for us by the locals (cheers again guys!) and would have been memorable, had it not been so alcohol fueled. There were a lot of courses, and a lot of wine and other spirits, followed by a club that turned out to be just round the corner. The next day we checked out a few rivers that looked a bit low, a bit easy, a bit hard, or a bit too much like they would make us sick, before trying to wild camp, giving up and finding a Motel near the Cavado and getting an early night…

After some more sodding TomToming we made it to what we thought was the start of the walk into the Rio Cavado. Theo was feeling delicate so drove shuttle.

Rob E Patrick sloggeo a Cavado

For reference, you will note the river in the top left of the picture, and the track leading to the river top right. We didn’t use this track, we walked a good hearty distance over a hill and through bogs, vines, brambles, gorse and a ploughed field. The river was well worth it. A short portagey lead in, followed by an excellent granite section.

Pot de Melto a droite, boofio a left! Pic Rob T

Trainio di Slopejamo!

Rob a nae concussio a Cavado

Team Runio di Maxifun Pic Rob T

We had a few blasts on super fun happy slide at the end of the gorge, which gave the river time to come up a fair chunk, and both Rob and myself time to fall a good 25 feet down cliffs into the river. Not for the unpadded behind. The short paddle out was made more entertaining by seeing how far I could paddle before I sank. (Further than you think!)

Back to the motel (for Theo’s health) we made grand plans for all weathers. These were pissed on by the fact that our maps weren’t detailed enough to show all the roads, and we had no gauges to go on. In the end we got on “7Km of Class III”, as it was getting dark. It was 7km of flat, and 3 rapids at the start. Swines! The only consolation was making up plays on the name of the damn thing. “Tamega”.

For our final night it was rude not to wild camp, and then paddle the Paiva “sex up” section. I’mlead to believe this was a fun section, I walked out of it, after the lead in finally killed my boat.

Lowri a SexUp Paiva Pic Rob T

All in all, a cracking trip, well worth the perseverence, and of course, thanks to Metcheck for putting off the people with real jobs!

We used the Kayak Portugal guidebook, which would be well complimented by some good walking scale maps of the area. We flew with Ryan Air (cheap and cramped, no probs with boats) and rented with Easy Car (cheap, and you can trash the car if you pay the excess). Big thanks to Rob’s parents for the late night driving, to the people of Portugal, kayakers and others who made our trip so delightful, and especially to the owners of Restaurant Central in Melgaco who opened their family dinner to 14 odd kayakers, including one who tried to elope with their daughter, and one who took a shine to wife!

This christmas I was lucky enough to enjoy a damn fine family holiday to Sun Peaks in British Columbia. We visited last year, and were hooked. It gets good snow, the people are friendly, and there is more than enough to keep you excited for a long time. We had a cracking number of “powder days”, including an amazing first trax breakfast on Boxing Day. When me and my younger brother weren’t up to our knees in soft fluffy powder we were cruising perfect rolling piste with the parents, or floating merrily over the pristine and well maintained terrain parks. (Kind of like skate parks, but made of snow)

Truly excellent. For more info check out www.sunpeaksresort.co.uk

To get there, fly to Vancouver or Calgary, then get an internal flight to Kamloops and a short bus ride up to the hill.

On the way back, executive class was an unexpected delight, champagne before take off, 3 courses with a choice of wines, and a hearty breakfast made the fact that I had to sweat across London to meet up for the next stage of my adventures that bit more bearable…

Well that was a helluva year! “What!?” I hear you cry, “its only half way through December”.

Very astute of you, but on Monday I am off to the big playground that is Sun Peaks in British Columbia for some festive fun, and then a bit of a new year do in Portugal. I gather there are a few waterfalls out there as well….

It’s been a corker, bring on 2008, graduation, more student boater X, SlopeJam, the rodeo, Busa Slalom, my 21st, Dublin, France, Norway, teaching practise, India, and no doubt some academic work as well….

… I’m applying for an extra 12 hours in my day, I certainly need them.

Some recent photographs…

I had a fantastic weekend doing my REC Level 2 Emergency Aid course this weekend in Cheshire. Really really excellent, a whole shed load better than the watered down stuff I’d done before. Loads of the course was spent doing practial stuff outside, in many layers, in drizzle, in the dark and with a load of less than helpful “passers by”. My course was run by Phil Hughes, and is part of the REC (rescue emergency care) scheme. If you are thinking of doing a course, do a REC one if you spend any time outdoors!

And in the spring she will become a beautiful butterfly.

Why do things never fit back in the bags?

Pictures and Captions - Mitch “Carl” Mitchell

We had a pub lunch. It was lovely.

Photographs can be found HERE for the daytime shots, and HERE and HERE for the night time party shots. Photos by Me, except the ones of me!

Thanks to everyone who helped out, or got me drunk.

The WCA are once again proving that they are years ahead of the Canoe England campaign for rivers access. For more info check out this short video from BC HERE and for more info on paddling in Wales, check out www.kayakingisnotacrime.org.uk

October, and some members of new committees from uni canoe clubs accross the country make a pilgrimage to Plas Y Brenin, for the 11th annual Student Safety Symposium. University canoe clubs are traditionally gung ho, disorganised, and some might say have a reputation for being a bit dangerous! The aim of the weekend (dubbed Octoberfest by some) is to try and address some of the issues commonly affecting canoe clubs across the county.

Chris Eastabrook - Llugwy. 

Friday night is an opportunity for the staff to get together and have a catch up on old tales, tell new extravagant lies (For example; “I just cycled here from Manchester”) and try in desperation to drink the bar dry.

Me, Swallow Falls - Pic Chris Eastabrook

Saturday morning dawns far too early, and after a slap up breakfast and a quick intro the students are treated to a couple of hours of lectures on minibuses, blagging from the AU and playing safe in general. Meanwhile the staff slope off to nurse hangovers, paddle if it’s rained, or go for a climb. This year it was dry and we went to the RAC boulders.

Milling about - RAC Boulders 

The afternoon plays host to a number of local based workshops, from CSTs and steep ropework to open boating for those who don’t. Ably accompanied by Pat Clissold and Rich Brookes I took a group of people for a potter round the lakes in open boats, and introduced them to the idea that paddling doesn’t have to be uber gnar to be fun.

Safely back to the centre, tea and cake is provided, followed by a selection of Q + A sessions with people well versed in various fields. I very much enjoyed chatting with people about the French alps alongside Fran, Dave and Adam D.

Carelessly, some idiot had booked England to loose at rugby that evening, meaning not as many people as hoped made the excellent talk from the 4 borders expedition, safely back from Siberia. Amazing Dave followed this up with a short (and great) video from his jaunt down the Thule Beri at Easter. The bar is then drunk dry, and then anything else that looks like drink is drunk.

Team Tea - Llugwy 

Breakfast stomached again, and the meat of the day begins. The whole of Sunday is spent on the water, or by the water working generally on skills and techniques to help lead in a club environment, from intorducing people to the water, all the way up to managing a group on a steep section of river. This year, myself, Pat, Lowri, and Dave joined Adam and Pete from the Brenin in taking a group into the heart of Welsh tourism and paddling Swallow Falls.

You’ll notice this post is pretty general, if you want to find out more, there is a safety camp at Easter in Scotland, and this another Welsh one next year, get in touch with Tom Parker at www.tomparkercoaching.co.uk

There is a lot of video footage to be edited, expect a video sometime soon….

The last couple of weeks have been dedicated in some way to convincing freshers that paddling with Bangor Uni Canoe Club is a wholesome and enriching activity. The WCA academic planners went down a storm at the freshers fair, and the “Have a go” sessions at Llyn Paddarn was over subscribed.

Pic Jessie Knights

Friday was Lucy’s birthday, and so an excuse to not do much work!

For some reason we ended up in our garden drawing on the paving slates with chalk, before going to the RAC boulders in the heart of Snowdonia.

Tim doing some bad ass heel and toe hooking, RAC.

Birthday cake!

The next day it was time to take a whole gang of freshers on a fafftastic trip to the lakes at PyB to try and introduce them to paddling on edge, and maybe paddle some moving water. Courtesy of an Indian Summer, there was no moving water, but everyone seemed to have fun in the sun.

Once again I made the pilgrimage up North to the Wet West Paddle Fest, a fantastic get together at the start of the season, with some dam releases, and some partying.

Thursday afternoon, we left Bangor laden down with haribo, crisps and quiche, the food of champions. After being pulled over by the police and questioned about our drug habits, and a few wrong turns we made it to the Falls of Falloch, and kipped in the car park. In the morning we were joined by Jules Pike and Liam Kirkham (of Design Crisis fame) and made tracks for the Orchy.

Me running a drop on the Orchy, it probably has a name. - Pic C. Mitchell

The Orchy was running at a lovely “2″ on the gauge, with some fantastic curler rides and wave trains to enjoy all the way down. Pausing only to admire Jules and Mitch’s lines on the drop above, and to watch a salmon leap clean up the big drop towards the bottom, we blasted down in a mix of sunshine and showers.

Jules, Same drop, different line. - Pic C.M.

The afternoon was spent in Fort William searching out some tip top 70’s funk gear, and generally loafing about, before pitching camp at the Kinlochleven Ice Factor for an evening of frivolity. The entertainment for the evening came from a series of talks, me on Corsica, Dave and Giles on the Thule Beri, and finally the 4 Borders gang on their jaunt to Russian parts. Well lubricated by beers we slumbered merrily, for tomorrow was the Moriston.

Having looked in on the Thistle Stop tea room, just the other side of Fort Bill, for all day breakfast (the service takes all day it seems) we made it to the Moriston to join the million and one other people that were already there. The carnage was, quite frankly, amazing. How so many people avoided serious injury is a mystery to me, with only one ambulance called (I think). Still it made fantastic video!

Atti cruises down the Moriston, Pink lid and all. - C.M.

A few runs later, suitably knackered after a flat out speed run we called it a day, grabbed some fish and chips, and made fot the Nevis Centre and Mama Funk. A quick warm up game of 10 pin bowling next door, followed by some inventive drinks, and we were ready to throw shapes til the wee small hours.

Some old geezer. - CM

Once the wee small hours arrived, we discovered, to our joy that we were at the house of a local dentist, enjoying laughing a lot and a not very hot tub. These duties dispatched, 3 hours kip was all that we needed to go and watch Mitch and Atti have a crack at the Etive with some water in it, before stealing the march, and heading for home.

The Wet West Paddle Fest was fantastic again this year, and this is in no small way due to the hard work of the SCA Recreational chaps and chapessess, Cheers everyone! We videoed a good deal of boating on the upper Moriston, which will feature in a short video, available shortly on my blog. I’m sure I have lots more thoughts on the event, and hilarious stories to fill many pages, but these can wait a while.

Rosie tries a new look. - CM

The last ever 4 star from the old system is done and dusted.

The hardest thing about the Ardeche is not getting run over by the constant stream of mad French loonies on sit on tops.

Typical scenes on the Ardeche. Hot, sunny, lots of holiday makers.

A big thanks to Performance Kayaks for the loan of a Dagger Mamba for the week.

The Mellte in South Wales has been “discussed” a lot recently on UK Rivers Guidebook, so it seemed only right and proper to go and run it again. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite as high as last time, but it still wasn’t that scrapey, how people tolerate paddling it lower I have no idea. Anyway an all star cast of Me, Cheesy, Rosie C, Rob C, and Danny Y got on about 8pm, and got off an hour and a bit later, grinning like mad men(and woman). That makes 3 days in a row I’ve been paddling in decent flows, and its July! We often struggle to get that in winter. Enjoy this short feature presentation…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfkW8HnIfqA 

Its July, and I’ve just got in from some frankly excellent boating. First off some tasty ditch slide fun time on the Tawe in South Wales, which would have been really awesome if the gorge wasn’t just a big pile of tree mess.

Cap’n Morse on the Tawe.

Next up, the massivly hyped, uni group breaking Mellte, but with a difference, it had some water in it. Not loads, but enough to keep it all clean.

Me on the Mellte. Cracking shot by Si Morse.

Back to Brissle, and lured in by pizza and garlic bread, I was heartlessly tricked into going to an Avon Polo Club evening. Turns out polo is actually really good fun, providing you don’t take it too seriously!

The more astute of you will notice that the day was a bit old school, not only because Mike Moxon came along, but because I carelessly left my creek-boat in my other house. Hurley or Dartmoor tomorrow. Hurrah!

Turns out the alps are a long way away, and take about 3kg of Haribo to get back from.

The boater X rocked, full report coming up when I am more alive, cheers to everyone who helped/raced/cheered/got naked.

It was the summer solstice on the way home, by total chance.

I’m back in Wales after a short foray to the shire, and back in my seat of learning, with paper and pens and everything! Obviously we couldn’t start the term without a barbecue in our damn fine garden, so we did.

George, Mitch and Adam near the summit of Tryfan

Mmm, meat!

George gets stuck into the cider