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| Reviews & Photos | Usk 31 October - 02 November 2008 | |||||
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Usk Me No Questions… Another year, another freshers trip, and some more nervous looking young ‘uns to get drunk and take down a river (not at the same time, that would be mean!) As is tradition for the first trip of term, all the uni busses were out to other clubs (Frisbee!? What do they need a bus for, can’t they just go and play down at the level!) so we had to sort ourselves out. This meant hiring a minibus from Choice, the company who we hire the shonky Astras for the summer Alps trips. Amazingly, they came up trumps with a Black Transit which was immediately christened Stealth. After minimal faff, as we didn’t have to tie any boats on (Lee’s car was already on its way with a trailer and roofrack full of boats,) we set off for South Wales. A combination of Stealth and my amazing driving skills got us to Wales well before pub closing time. Result! Cue lots of drinking. The next morning involved lots of being cold- the weather was doing its best January impression- also the first taste for many of Lee’s greasy breakfast (mmm!). Despite the low levels and the fact it was the Usk, I was quite excited about paddling today, as I have finally completed the all the gear and no idea look by buying myself a shiny new (2nd hand) boat- which Doug and Deb, being the legends that they are, transported from Exeter for me- woo! Also exciting was the fact that Myself and Bo Bo were taking our very own group down the river. [Insert deity here] help the poor saps who got put with us! Unfortunately before we could get on with the paddling, epic amounts of faff had to occur. There were at least three Uni groups at the get on for the section (Sennybridge to Aberbran,) all who seemed intent on winning a ‘who are the biggest faffers’ competition. When we (finally) got on the water, team extreme (Myself, Jo, Rosie & Bramm) headed towards the first of the three interesting rapids on this section. After taking a look at the first rapid, team extreme boshed down it in one piece, with no swimmers- a great confidence boost. Team extreme paddled the rest of the section with minimal fuss, skills and confidence growing all the time. Except for Jo’s drain plug skills, as she managed to lose her drain plug. Luckily, Bramm came to the rescue by suggesting we use our wine gums as a drain plug. These worked really well until they started to dissolve and had to be replaced by some bandages from a first aid kit! Bramm also managed to find a drain plug at the get off to replace BoBo’s lost one! Rosie’s fingers also went bright blue, despite me lending her my gloves (that’s gratitude for you!). Dr Sloan was on hand to make it better, as Rosie apparently hasn’t done the Blue fingers module of her medicine degree yet. The evening started with a meal at the Castle in the bustling metropolis that is Llangors. This fine establishment was chosen as it was the only pub (of the 2 in Llangors) to offer vegetarian options. One of these was tuna however, so I’m not sure they fully grasped the concept of vegetarianism. After the meal the important business of getting shitfaced was undertaken at the Llangors lake campsite bar, which was full of drunk locals and their families (also drunk). Music was provided by a surprisingly good cover band who we all rocked out to. There was much jug of doom and face licking going on. Next morning was uber faff! Most people had only had about 3 hours sleep and were still drunk. Luckily paddling is officially the worlds best hangover cure so back to the usk it was, this time for the Talybont to Llanguidir (I think that’s how you spell it) section. This section is much shorter than the day before, and includes the ‘Mill Falls’ rapid, which is certainly quite scary if its your first river! No problems for team extreme though, conquered upright by everyone. The rest of the section was quite enjoyable, with frequent Grade II rapids to keep everyone interested. ‘Interesting’ tree on the river left route around one of the islands though. We snuck under it fine but I reckon it could cause real problems at higher levels. After finishing the section and packing the kit away, we drove Stealth back to Brighton after another fun but tiring weekend! by Duncan Stokes |