The Mighty Lyn
With no rain forecast for the weekend, it looked like it was going to be a quiet couple of days for paddling, so we decided to head out to the Lyn on Saturday and catch the last of the runoff from the moors, for a possible low water trip. I headed off early Saturday and picked up Sam (The Boy) from Taunton and we headed to Lynmouth to check out the river. The river level looked good (low-medium) and as Martin McDermott and Matt Jones were still an hour behind we got changed and paddled the section above the gorge. After about 1-½ hours we got off and walked back to the top (in five minutes) and waited for the others. With ‘Sick Boy’ and ‘eddy’s’ arrival we jumped back on the river and headed off.
We cruised the top section and we all managed to run the crux move with out major incident. The last drop of the gorge was, however, to prove more difficult. I headed off first and once again managed to run the line backwards, followed by Sam executing a narrow escape from the bottom hole and then Martin also deciding backwards was the new way forwards. Sick Boy, as he is known to the paddling community, managed to nail the right hand line, only he forgot the last paddle stroke (along with his trusty Java) as he and his S6 went pencilling into the hole. After a worthy (?) battle, Sick Boy gave up and took a swim. At this point me and Sam were only half way out of our boats and Sick Boy had to endure another go in the hole without his boat. Second/third (?) times round we fished him and eventually his boat out. During the above mishaps Spooner had arrived on the scene having walked up from the bottom and was itching to get on. We quickly paddled out and me, Sam and Spooner headed back to the top for another blast. At the first major rapid I managed to break my paddle shaft again (home made) and was forced to work the rest of the trip. Sam and Spooner made it down with out incident and we all headed to the Sandpiper for a drink.
With still no rain, and the Lyn holding up so well, we planned to come back on Sunday and have a go on the “forbidden” East Lyn section. We agreed a twelve o’clock meet at Lynmouth and headed home.
Now it has to be said, all the best things in life are either forbidden or illegal, and the East Lyn is no exception. Right from the start there is some entertaining grade three rapids and the river slowly picks up over the first kilometer until a nice series of grade IV drops. The last is a nice pour over with a hole at the bottom. Not particularly hard but requires a final boof to clear the hole at the bottom. Having changed paddles back to an old right angled pair I missed the last stroke and pencilled straight into the hole, knocked out a couple of ends and ‘wet monkeys’ before escaping still in my boat. We carried on down slowly and found loads of entertaining rapids with the exception of one with a tree at the bottom. The rapid itself was ok but about 5m a tree blocked the main flow with a branch at head height and one just under the water. Feeling a bit wobbly I was happy to let Sam go first and watch him just edge around the tree. Looking at Spooner I had my doubts and declined the invitation to go next. Spooner ran the drop and then paddled hard towards the tree to try and get over it. His nose came up and the back caught and the boat flipped backwards with Spooner getting wrapped around the branch. Me, Matt and Martin quickly got out with Sam getting to Spooner first and managing to get him out of his boat and off the tree, luckily the water wasn’t too pushy.
After a short walk we got back in our boats and ran a waterslide type rapid. The river continued at grade III+ with two harder drops. The first Sam and Spooner ran well while the second pushed grade V with a very narrow line and a branch in the middle. We declined and carried on down to the Lyn via a series of slides and nice grade 3+ rapids, superb!
Nick “Jungle Boy” Clendon
