I’ve tended to avoid this weekend over the last few years due to my uncanny powers of getting the Upper Dart levels to rise to ridiculous levels. Each year I’d come down and each year the level would be higher and each year we would have an even hairier paddle which culminated with a level not far off rendering the get in car park unusable as it was under water. This was the straw that broke the camels back and we were forced to walk off (along with no end of other groups) due to the sheer height v volume!! For those of you who are sitting there saying “rubbish” I bet its great when its high – be careful of what you wish for!! We used to think the same!! High is good – flood is very scary and very, very big!! So as I set off on Friday morning with the windscreen wipers on full blast and water everywhere. I was less than enthused!!
Setting off itself was a tale in its own right. A Sales Meeting on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday which in the best traditions of such meetings involved staying up very late and drinking heavily so it really wasn’t my best idea agreeing to meet Mark at Exeter services at 10.00 on Friday morning. (For those who don’t know, I live in York so this was a little 300 mile trip which meant getting up pretty much before I’d gone to bed!!) My ever patient wife was also less than impressed: “let me get this right. You’ve been away all week. You get home late. Spend all night loading up your car. You’re now going to bed, going to get up at a stupid hour and you I’ll have gone to bed by the time you get back on Sunday”!!
Very impressively/Stupidly I arrived early at Exeter and was ready to go by the time Mark appeared followed shortly by Polly and a couple of her friends. I’ve now been paddling with Mr Aplin for an awfully long time and have had many, many adventures over the years and regard him is one of the best paddlers and river leaders I know. His one slight flaw is his enthusiasm which tends to vary depending on injuries, weather or options on offer.
However Mark’s now brought himself a very comfy creek boat and is transformed once again into the keen young pup who will spend all his time paddling. This enthusiasm meant we were going to spend the weekend exploring Dartmoor ditches and notching up Club first descents. Excellent ……….and now all I had to do was dust down my trusty Microbat which has been unused for the last few years.
The first ditch was the East Okement which was at a perfect level (despite difficulties in seeing the gauge due to the driving range). A worrying drive through an Army firing range saw us deep into Dartmoor looking for the river which at this time resembled a stream no wider than your average bath! Anyway to cut a long story short (and not to spoil all the fun for those of you who want your own adventures) It took us 5 hours to paddle about 5km. There were huge fantastic slides which enabled manned flight if you hit the right bumps, slides that ended in grabby stoppers, a very, very large un-runnable waterfall, fantastic continuous sections, hours portaging through knee deep mud, or chest high gorse to avoid tree jammed sections and a really continuous bouncy section to finish. Absolutely brilliant and now we know where to get in/out & portage would be fantastic a second time. The only hiccup was trying to locate the cars again as it was now pitch black and Dartmoor was covered in an impenetrable pea soup fog.
A few quiet beers and an early night saw us up early and ready for a full day of adventures. However hours later saw a cast of 1000’s descending on the West Okement ditch. It was planned as a small and unobtrusive group but our attempts at an early start were thwarted by our cars been blocked in, people oversleeping and then everyone elses inability to make their own decisions as to where to go. Once again it was hammering down but the level which is dependant quite a lot on dam overflow (you get in right at the foot of the dam which is very impressive) wasn’t too big. Again a very, very nice paddle with only one “interesting fall” halfway down. After yesterday’s warm up on a grade 4+ it was nice to be able to relax somewhat. After two first descents the general consensus seemed to be the Upper Dart next. However time, logistics, and my down right refusal to go anywhere near it saw a very nice paddle on the Tavy at a very pleasant level.
Myself and Mark with Lisa & Jim then headed off to the Lyd to try & bag our third 1st descent. However a combination of a pub at the get in, encroaching darkness and my reluctance to drive up a 45 degree bridleway onto the Moors meant we had had to stop and drink beer instead.
Sunday saw me and Mark up at 5.30 with the plan of getting on the Lyd at day break. Strangely our hardcore first descent team was now only numbering the two of us but reinforcements were on the way in the shape of Kath and Simon. The car had been parked miles from the bunkhouse so we didn’t get blocked in & my micro bat had been taped up (small matter of a 6 inch split under the seat which meant I could only paddle for 5 minutes at a time without sinking. I do like Microbats but this is now the 2nd that’s split and at least the 5th I’ve heard of so I don’t think I’ll be buying another one!!).
We reached the Bridleway in pitch blackness and I even consented to drive to the top. Alas no rain overnight meant it was a bit too low so that will have to wait for another day. Undeterred (and with 3 hours to kill) we set off in search of water and by the time we met up with Kath & Simon we had three sections and two first descents lined up to paddle.
First up was the lower Tavy. A warm up for reinforcements and a chance for me to try Mark’s Prijon Creeker. All fine on the river and I’ve since brought a creeker (Prijon bombproof plastic and £300 cheaper than a new Microbat so had to be done). Next up was the Meavy which runs into the Plym at the upper Plym get out. A slightly late start (due to me leaving my helmet at the get out on the Tavy – oops!!) saw a highly entertaining tree dodging, rock bashing, Microbat emptying descent of what was again a great little river. The biggest surprise however was the lower Plym. Probably not paddled that often as everyone gets out after epics on the Upper and never bothers with this section. Absolutely great fun and a real good introduction to boulder gardens and route finding and well worth doing in its own right.
So 4 club first descents we think – West and East Okement, Meavy and Lower Plymm, which were all really, really good paddles and not just something to tick a box. Personally I was really pleased that after over nearly 25 years of Whitewater paddling I was still getting to do new rivers. So a fantastic weekend ended with 6 hours of driving home in Sunday traffic and me managing to avoid the Upper Dart!!I eventually got to bed at just gone midnight and fortunately Faye was asleep which meant the joys of telling her I needed a new boat would wait until in the morning!!!
Mike Millington