Devon December 2003
From ICCC
People
- Tim 'Elephant' Burne
- Rob 'Constipated gorilla' Tuley
- James 'Cow' Pratt
- Ralph 'Frog' Evins
- Simon 'Spider' Mann
- Jim 'Seagull' Pullen
- Sabine 'Snake' Munch
- Kathy 'Cat' Langford
- Sophie 'Sheep' Gore
- Ella 'Fish' Bonnist
- Nick 'Lion' Farren
- Emily 'Sheep' Davies
- Theo 'In bed' Petre
- Ruth ' In same bed' Loeffler
- Nicky 'In different bed' Convine
- + Leo the mosquito, some bloke Simon knows that we met in the pub.
Trip Report
This report will, not mention certain events: What Ralph, Simon and Jim did at the motorway services on the way; Ralph, Tim and Rob did driving down the motorway; lots of people did at the hut while/instead of drinking; Ralph did before paddling on Saturday; practically everybody did after paddling on Saturday; Simon did before paddling on Sunday; Ralph did instead of paddling on Sunday; several people did on the way home; and Ralph has been doing ever since.
With everyone at last in position for take off, and Nick wedged upside down amongst the kit for ballast/comedy reasons, we left London, the polluted centre of the IC universe, for the relatively short trip to the Devon asteroid belt, and the Mecca of all whitewater in the South-Western kayaking galaxy, Planet Dart. Piloted out of the South Kensington launch station at Mach III by Captain Theo.
Arriving at last at our hut - a 12th Century stone barn - all quickly descended into drinking in its organised, disorganised, drunkenly-reorganised-with-additional-porn and horizontal varieties. In a surprisingly short space of time, it went from some un-Godly hour of the night before to some un-Godly hour the next morning, and miraculously we were all at the put-in on time. Except James and Sophie. So the rest of us headed off while Rob waited for them.
The loop was low but runable. All successfully navigated Washing Machine (short steep rapid run river left), with Ella taking the bravest line, straight through the hole. Theo, Ralph and Nick did the big seal-launch from the tree line, all landing ridiculously flat. Simon made his buddy Sabine fall in while ferry-gliding. Lover's Leap (big cliff the bottom, right-hand bend) claimed Ella and Sabine to inconvenient rocks, while the boys splatted photogenically against the cliff. Both sections of Triple were successfully navigated, with Ella leading down the second drop. Somewhere near Spin Dryer (or possibly Dishwasher) Ralph broke his paddle. He then took a technical swim at Holne Weir by shooting far left - normally the chicken-shoot, but currently a rock far from the water. Ella got caught in the hole, but without getting recircled (this hole as been known to swallow 2 spuds at once in high water). No-one much paused to play at Anvil Weir (home of weekly freestyle competitions), it being seriously castrated-metal-monkeys in temperature.
Those keen enough to head on to the Upper Dart found it rather lacking in water, and somewhat below its customary grade of 4 - this is one amazing run in medium or high water, so we really must go back soon. We paddled the whole thing in about 2 hours, making it very continuous in nature - no slacking allowed. Most people ran Euthanasia (everything pours over a ledge that then disappears between some big rocks), which was decidedly tame at this level. Ralph failed to spot Surprise Surprise (also called Pandora's Box) until after having run it. Normally the surprise is the sudden appearance of a big drop after a technical boulder garden, but we happened to go river left, down the boulder choke instead. Ralph pinned (head-up) on three rocks in quick succession; Ruth pinned on the same three rocks head-down, swimming from the last one. After waiting for the shuttle in wet kit in New Bridge car park, the absence of showers at the Country Park was annoying. All crowded into the cafi for tea/beer/chips, to hear tales of people getting stuck on slides and falling in holes, from those who spent their afternoon in the playground.
Onward to the pub in Manaton for supper, where we met Leo, a mate of Simon's from Edinburgh Uni CC, who told us stories of paddling in Canada, having many of us noticeably dribbling in anticipation by the end of the evening. We were then introduced to The Animal Game by Simon and Leo - see nicknames for everyone's animal of choice.
The next morning it was decided to run the Exe. There is no apparent reason for this - it's flat. Admittedly there are weirs. Wow. After the by now customary antics from Theo involving turning the bus around in a confined space, we arrived at the lay-by serving as a put-in. Emily, Sabine and Ralph chose to walk instead of paddle - along a railway line for added excitement. Apparently some people fell in on some of the weirs, but nothing serious (Though Sophie did learn the hard way about surfing in stoppers). After shooting the last weir, in the middle of Exeter, everyone then paddled the additional half-mile to the distant car park where the bus had been left. Blame Theo again. Rob threw his paddle at some pigeons. Then three warm people laughed at all the cold people getting changed. Then we drove home.
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