Devon January 2008
From ICCC
People
- Rachel "Angry Hippy" Fox
- Tom Haywood
- Sophie Gore
- Alistair "Beard Inferiority Complex" Cott
- Zoe Huntley
- Harry "Duo Submission" Wood
- Rik Williams
- Rory "Duo Domination" Fyffe
- Paula "New Wheels" Volkmer
- Adam Holland
- Cat "Miaow" Charter
- Ralph "Actually Got Up Both Days" Evins
- Kirsty "Gin Virgin" Reynolds
- Patrick "2 Girls 1 Cup" Clissold
- Joe "Fish" Rumer
- Theo "Man" Petre
Trip Report
Friday Night
We left at a usual sort of time, but arrived very early. This is because we were staying in Tom's spare house, which is near Taunton, rather closer than normal. So after a mere 3 hours in the bus, we started drinking, continuing until about 2.
Saturday - EMM
Patrick, Adam, Tom, Theo, Ralph and Paula got up at the ridiculous time of 6:30ish to go on an early morning mission to run the Upper. We were joined at the put-in by Paula's friend Pete, who, unusually for a professional coach, failed to mention the fact even once. The Dart was just on the lip of the slab at New Bridge when we put on, making for a great run down the Upper. Even with a fairly large amount of faff, we still got on quite early, and ran everything relatively quickly (Paula at one point had to ask for a break cos she's getting old). Everyone ran Euthanasia sucessfully. Surprise Surprise was in an OK level, with a rock boof possible off the left ledge. Most people missed this. Tom got landed on by Paula.
Theo walked off and then got driven away by Paula. It was all too much for him (or his shoulders).
The kitchen back at Tom's house was overflowing with saussages and bread, but the situation was brought under control, and eventually...
Saturday - Loop
The early morning missioners were waiting at New Bridge by 11am. The others eventually arrived, and faffed some more. Rory and Harry took the mighty duo. Showing off to some other canoe club at the put-in, they attempted a wave surf but failed, and almost incurred an embarrasing broadside pin on the middle pillar of the bridge.
More duo fun at the seal-launch spot, in fact we pencilled it, and acheived total submersion!
Many swims from the beginners, Kirsty and Joe, and one or two from Zoe and Cat, but everyone made it to the end of the loop in one peice. We took out at Holne Bridge, and waited under the massive new group shelter (initially in the middle of the road) for Patrick and Adam to jog the shuttle.
Saturday night
Chilly was cooked on the aga stove, whilst people tested themselves with a hypnotic french boingey wire marble sobriety test.
We played "drinking snakes and ladders". The new rules rule meant that this became progressively more complicated, but from the start it was clear that winning this game was not desireable. Reach 100 and you have to drink the dirty jug. Harry was doing very well at doing very badly, until, in a master stroke of new-rules-tactics, Kirsty reversed the direction of play. Harry was now unable to avoid winning, and so he got to drink the lager, cider, gin, tabasco sauce mix.
Sunday - Erme EMM
The EMM to the Erme was the exact opposite of the previous day in terms of timing. We left very late, and were quite late to meet the main party. We still faffed loads. It nearly got cancelled entirely when Patrick, Theo and Ralph all tried to stay in bed, leaving too many people to fit in the bus. Eventually Ralph was persuaded to come, and was very glad he did. We found the Erme in a reasonable(ish - we're not really sure if it was low or not) level, and drove all the way up to the put-in. We then decided it was too late to run the whole section, as we'd arranged to meet the others 45mins drive away at 12:00, and it was by now 10:15. So we drove all the way back down to near the take out, and walked up 500m to just run the interesting bit (thanks go to a friendly walker who told us where the interesting bit was). This was very good fun - lots of tight slidey drops with blind corners in between, making it feel harder than it was. Paula: "How am I scaring myself s**tless on this silly little river?!".
Sunday - Walkham
Well if I had pet dogs, that's where I would walk'em
...sorry
There was one more difficult slot which forced some rolls. (and double-duo-bracing).
It was raining while we were packing up to go, which always leads to chaos, as some people try to move around and do things while other people try to keep their pansy-asses dry in the bus. Eventually said bus was rammed full of wet kit, wet people, etc. Still, rain is good. Let's hope for more of that.
Media
- Photos
- Video: The seal launch on the Loop - Tom, Rory and Harry in the Duo - 3Mb, 6Mb - Ralph.
