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| Reviews & Photos | Usk 4-6 November 2005 | |||||
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We left the lock up at 5.45 and made good time, managing to avoid
queues, (thanks to Laura) and reached Membury Service Station, to
realise that we wouldn’t be leaving it again in a hurry -
unfortunately, only having forth gear wasn’t quite enough to get us all
of the way to Wales. Thanks to Marco and Simon, we managed to get an AA
man to take us, the broken bus and the trailer, back to Brighton where
we unloaded all of the kit which we’d only loaded a few hours
previously. At 2.30am we went our seperate ways back to bed, after my
sad parting words that probably we’d probably not be going to Wales
after all.
Fortunately, Lee wasn’t planning on leaving the South East until Saturday afternoon, and once again came through for the club. Between him and Simon, the other four remaining people who hadn’t planned other things, managed to meet again and got to Wales in record time. While we’d been travelling for the second time, the members who’d made their own way faffed exceptionally well (apparently they need to be organised, and despite having years of experience, can’t get onto a relatively simple river without calling Lee and checking it’s ok to get on!) and finally ran the upper section of the Usk. They had a great time, playing on waves and generally messing around, taking the opportunity to paddle in a different style to their normal ‘with- beginners’ lazy style. In the evening we all managed to meet up in what was, before we got there, a silent pub which served very great food. By 9, everyone was back in the bar on the campsite, taking full advantage of their closing weekend deals - £1.50 a drink :-) By midnight, much to Lee and Leafy’s dismay, most people had gone to bed, or at least back to their caravans for a bacon butty or two. They stayed out for another few hours, chatting up the more unattractive ladies in the bar - see picture on website (www.sussexcanoe.com)!! Throughout the evening and night it rained heavily and constantly so in the morning the river was an ugly brown colour and was very fast flowing. We looked at the get-on of the section that they’d run the day before, and it was unrecognisible. Those of us without much, or in some cases any, white water experience decided that it wasn’t the best idea to get on. So the more experienced guys got on and paddled what turned out to be just big and bouncy continuous grade III, while we waited around at their get-off, so that we could get on. The three weirs which often cause beginners some trouble were completely washed out and there wasn’t a rock in sight - a nice change for a club trip! When they arrived about an hour later we all paddled what was becoming a lower and slightly more sedate river. It was still big and bouncy grade II with grade III sections but great fun. There was only one swimmer which was pretty good going, and Earl managed to be t-rescued many times - well done for staying in your boat! Thanks for a great trip guys, and for those who didn’t manage to come, I’m really sorry! By Grace Norman |