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| Reviews & Photos | Symonds Yat November 2003 | |||||
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As usual this trip didn’t quite follow the designed plan. During the week prior to the trip the Union AGM wasn’t quorate (as usual), so in their infinite wisdom the Union decided to stop all activities including mini-buses. Still this wasn’t to stop us intrepid canoeists, we arranged our own transport with Matt’s van, Andy’s car and my car (yes Simon, it is a car!).
Our next problem was the campsite! Due to our previous adventures at Symonds Yat we appear to still be banned from all the sites in the surrounding area, so Andy managed to located us a Golf club green to stay on (are they mad), in Abergavenny. We arrived in plenty of time to visit the pub, which turned out to be a pretty packed place full of ‘biker types’! The next morning with only very minor hangovers, I dragged everyone from their beds for breakfast and then sped off to the Symonds Yat section of the Wye. With little faffing (amazing) all 12 of us got on. Richard capsized in the eddy while the majority were still on land. We floated down to the big seal launch rock, where Andy, Claire and I (was there anyone else - I can’t remember!) impressed the locals with our boat wrecking abilities. Then before you can say, ‘It’s still bloody flat’ we were at the rapids. After a litlle ‘playing’ on the rapids, I was determined to get another section in, dragging everyone to the Mill Falls section of the Usk. Paddling this despite been a little on the low side, the 6 or so of us that paddled it had fun! Then back to the campsite for a lovely shower (did anyone actually try the showers?), before heading into town for food at Wetherspoons. When we returned to the Golf course we changed the little club bar (it had 3 people in it when we arrived – the bar man and 2 locals watching a cowboy film) into a rowdy night hot spot! The barman excelled in his shot selling abilities, by getting us to try shot cocktails then charging us for them! We started off a whip, and began downing rounds of shots, and finally when we were kicked out, we hid from the rain in my car(!) for a smoke and some red bull and vodka! We all retired to our lovely tents (except, and this is purely rumour Andy & Jen), for a drunken sleep. Sunday, came and so did our hangovers – ouch! Still, I had a busy day planned for everyone, off to the Hell Hole section of the Wye. This turned out to be a pretty long day (especially for my group that actually compled the river!), with a few good rapids. Most noteworthy was the Hell Hole and the ‘Forgotten’ rapid, which I forgot about and proceded to drop over sidewards only to watch Claire pin backwarsds at the top. After a little wiggling she dropped over backwards with less problems than me. Eventually Lindsay ran the rapid down the correct line! Finishing with changing in the rain – hurrah, the only other thing I have to say is Andy you nicked my changing mat you git! Thanks for a good trip! By Lee Rogers |