Wales January 2009
From ICCC
People
- Adam Holland
- Alexa "flapjack goddess" Batten
- Alistair "didn't cook" Cott
- Amie "resisted the gin" Young
- Andy "Algol 60" Turner
- Ant "toothy/dairy products" Farrington
- Chad "split crotch panties" Sankey
- Derek "dirty pint"
- Ed "happy hat" Haythornthwaite
- Harry Wood
- Joe "delegation" Freeman
- Kirsty "Altiplano mammals" Reynolds
- Mark "double yellows" Wardle
- Nic "oldest ladder champion?" Burne
- Oli "dunked" Carson
- Ralph "lower the tone" Evins
- Rob Macrae
- Simon "that's what she said" Richardson
- Tim "mummy's boy" Burne
Trip Report
We had a remarkably traffic free journey up: left Beit 6:50, left Paddington 7:20, at Shrewsbury by 10:15, at the hut by 12:20. Nothing very remarkable occurred. Radio 1 played some reasonable tunes for once. Tim, Amie, Mark, Alexa etc had been waiting for a while, as the hut now has a key rather than a combination lock. The fire soon got the place warmed up, and people chatted and drank until about 3:00.
On Saturday we'd planned to get breakfast going at 7. The first people woke up around 8:30, so we were very late leaving. We decided since there was a bit of water but not a huge amount to try something different: the Dwyfor fitted the bill nicely. This turned out to be 5km of grade I/II in a very scenic valley, followed by 6km of more interesting grade II/III. And that's without much water (4.5 on the gauge below the 1st weir). With more flow the lower would be lots and lots of nice III. We'll certainly be coming back here again, as its only 25 mins from the hut, although we probably wont bother with the upper next time.
After a brief visit to the pub, a few people went back to cook the chilli. This was completed in record time, and received many compliments (thank you, thank you). We then got all current and past committee members involved in doing the ladder, plus the two people who hadn't done it before: Ed and Tim's Dad. Then we began the usual set of drinking games (classic-rules circle of death, wheel of chunder inc. tea and yoghurt), diverted into the clapping-and-clicking game (the tone was eventually lowered somewhat, although geekiness generally prevailed), followed by new-school ring of fire. Having destroyed Kirsty, she was then the victim of beer jenga, involving some very skilled balancing. Most people made it to midnight, but not long afterwards.
On Sunday we did the Wnion. No-one present had done this before (or so we thought: in fact Harry had, but didn't mention this) , but in fact ICCC paddled this in 1988 - the UKRGB guide was written based on this! Check out the old school boats!
This is an awesome run, starting off at tree-filled Grade II-III, before narrowing down into a powerful Grade IV gorge. Incidents of note: Andy backlooping the Jefe, Oli taking a swim shortly after a discussion about not swimming for a while, Ant kissing a rock and chipping a tooth and Derek punching rocks. We had no access issues, which was nice. A farmer at the top came and told us that he didn't mind us getting on as long as we didn't damage any fences.
On the lower section (down from the campsite) Kirsty managed another swim but Ed avoided getting wet. It was a bit bumpy, with one interesting drop. We got out at the enormous road bridge.
We were off the river by 3:30, and made a quick getaway despite getting the bus stuck in the mud (tip: shove sticks under the wheel that's spinning). On the way home Andy cleverly avoided a complete idiot who'd got confused by some traffic lights into trying to drive around us on the wrong side. Prayers were said to the gods of ABS. We went to a chippy in Welshpool, but they were very grumpy, nowhere near as nice as our usual one in Llangollen. We were back at stores by 9:30 - amazing!
