So there I am, in the middle of the Upper Dart below Euthanasia balancing between John and Martin’s kayaks and praying that I don’t get my lovely dry clothes wet…
A Sunday in February and a run on the Upper Dart beckons. We opt for an early start so we can get down to the river quickly and meet Mat, Steve and Spooner at the get in.
However, me, Theresa, John, Martin and Rich P bring new levels of excellence to faffing as we spend about half an hour trying to decide whether to take two cars or one. After much debate (i.e. arguing) and reasoning (i.e. bad language), we decide to take one and recklessly spend ages trying to balance the 5 boats on my car – though Rich’s highly unfashionable relic (aka black Topo!) makes it an awkward fit!
We scoot down to New Bridge in surprisingly good time and once everyone has stocked up on pies from the service station we wait in the car park for Mat, Steve and Spooner to arrive. As usual Mat is late, but it gives us the chance to say a quick hello to Mackey as he heads off down the Loop.
Theresa and I opt to walk the river – it’s cold, we’re tired and everybody else has brought creek boats (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it).
Martin illustrates some of the skills he learnt on the Plas Y Brenin Steep Creeking Course by going over a drop sideways, getting stuck in the stopper for awhile and then rolling (still, it’s hard to laugh when you couldn’t even be bothered to paddle).
We struggle to keep up with the paddlers as Mat’s on a mission, overtaking weaker groups left right and centre and running everything on sight. From the bank, the BCC paddlers look surprisingly co-ordinated and, dare I say it, almost skilful as they storm down the river.
After Euthanasia, Theresa and I are confidently told that there is no path down the left side of the river and that we need to cross to the right hand bank. In amazingly co-ordinated style, a raft is set up by John and Martin, the aim being that the innocent walker gets on and then Mat and the others push the raft across the river. It all sounds highly dubious, so being a gent I let Theresa go first. It all goes surprisingly well and again BCC seem oddly co-ordinated. With just a slightly damp shoe I’m also across the river and we can press on to the finish.
Theresa and I both agreed that the river looks easy from the banks and was definitely at a much, much harder level the last time we ran it in November 😉
All in all, the path (at least the one we took) follows the river quite closely and we could just about keep pace with the paddlers. It’s a bit of a scramble in places though, and I wouldn’t like to have to walk a boat/victim out on river left!
[PS. It turns out that the slightly worrying lean to the right that my car adopted after the trip was a snapped rear spring! Apparently the chaps at BMW had never seen a clean break in one before and were quite excited. I blame the Topo!]
Jon Kerswell