Wet, wild and wicked are just 3 words to describe our first club weekend away.
The first Peak Paddlers weekend away took place in North Wales and a great time was had by all, despite the interesting August climate! We set off from Buxton on the Friday night, with a trailer load of sea and river kayaks, our first mission was to find a chippy, mission accomplished, thanks to Jonathan or Daz’s (can’t remember who it was – sorry boys!) knowledge of the local chippies! We set off as we meant to go on, looking like a bunch of trouble makers, sitting on the wall by the chip shop! This was only the beginning of the fun!
We all got to know each other, and the country lanes (diversion – what diversion?!), a bit better on the way to the camp site! We finally arrived at Llyn Gwynant around midnight and set up our tents in a rather boggy field - thanks to whoever set my tent up (was rather concerned about putting it up, as I had never done it before and didn’t think a wet, rainy campsite at midnight was the best place for my first experience of this!) We all gladly tumbled into our little homes, Jonathan had to do a bit of house hunting, and found a lovely landlady named Dawn, to look after him for the night (in other words he forgot his tent!)
On Saturday we decided to paddle the Conway, hoping that the weather was going to be slightly kinder to us than it had been during the night. The sea kayakers set off further up river than us river boaters, so I can’t really comment on what they got up to – what happens on the river stays on the river!! After about 5 minutes we stopped for lunch, getting our priorities right – kayaking or food? Guess which one won? After a lunch of squashed sandwiches etc we set off down the Conway. The weather was still on our side and with the wind behind us and the tide going out, we had a fairly easy paddle, until we hit the sandbanks! Lara and I were pleased that we didn’t ground our boats and made up for the lack of weight at the end of the trip by eating lots of chocolate biscuits! (They keep us warm don’t they Lara?)
The sea kayakers caught up with us near the harbour and we made our way in, or so I thought. Me being me, wasn’t listening to Debs properly, (great teacher I make – do as I say, not as I do, is my motto!) and was all ready to get out at the wrong place. I saw my parking spot, saw that I had an audience and decided it was time to show off my skills and do a bit of reverse parking! It was all going fine, until .... I got out of my boat. To say it was muddy was an understatement, I was sinking, falling all over the place, covered in mud and looked a complete fool! (No comments please!)
We carried on round the harbour - we had finished our decent of the mighty, mighty Conway, a great time was had by all. We then waited for Debs to come and find us, while Lara and I kept warm by eating more biscuits! We then headed back to our site, it was only then that the true smell of dried Conway mud hit us all - I stank – and that’s putting it politely! Back at the site the heavens opened, but luckily for us it had held off for the paddle. Some of us hit the showers and we then caught up for dinner, beer and wine. It was a fantastic evening and I really enjoyed getting to know other club members better, we were all shattered and most of us had hit the sack by 10.00 – who said paddlers were gnarly?!
The next day Suzanne and Mike went off to play in their sea kayaks and the rest of us were ready for a trip across the lake and were looking forward to playing in some white water. Paddling across the river Bob gave us some excellent coaching. When we got to the section of river we were going to paddle we saw that the water had risen so much that it wouldn’t have been much fun to paddle, due to the possibility of being decapitated by a tree. There was a small (actually it was a huge Grade 5 rapid – honestly!) rapid at the top of the river that we were able to play in and do a few runs down – I even did it without my boat! Again Bob gave us some excellent coaching and it was a great chance for us the gain confidence – we were all eager to have a go at some more white water at another point. After playing around on the water we had some more skills coaching from Bob and Simon, and then we headed back to grab lunch and to start packing up, luckily it stayed dry while we cleared up.
Around 5 we headed back to sunny Buxton – all looking forward to the next weekend away. We all had a fantastic time, I know that it was just as much about the socialising and getting to know people as the paddling that made the weekend so fantastic and I certainly can’t wait for more like it.
A huge thanks to Debs for organising the trip, coaching and all the driving - you’re a star and we all really appreciate all you have done and are doing. Thanks also to Bob and Simon for the coaching and sarcasm! Not forgetting a big thank you to everyone who made the trip so memorable. Let’s hope this is the start of something great and I am sure there are going to be many more great opportunities for us to paddle and have fun in the great outdoors.
