Fun in the sun

What a scorching weekend, who needs far flung travel when you can go camping in the Lake District in glorious sunshine. Six of us headed up to Thirlmere on Saturday morning for some scrambling, a bbq and some beers.

We set off up Fisherplace Gill, a fairly steep rocky ditch that flows into Thirlmere resevoir, which was great for clambering up over all the trees and saw a few people getting a bit wet.

After lunch we had a little abseil down one of the falls, making sure we were all absolutely soaking!

The evening followed with a carnivorous bbq and a few beers.

Sunday saw a trip to Derwent Water and a paddle/swim around Derwent Isle before returning to the pub for a well earned dinner.

Iceland

Maddy and I have just returned from 10 days in Iceland, experiencing mixed weather we saw two sides to this beautiful island. Starting in Reykjavik in the South West we had sunshine and clear days:

We hired a car and drove the ‘Golden Circle’, which encompasses Pingvellir (former parliament site and meeting point of two tectonic plates), Gullfoss (a two tiered waterfall) and the valley of Haukadalur (a geothermal area containing Geysir and Strokkur).

We then continued to drive 2400Km around Iceland’s coastal road, continually stopping to savour the country’s natural beauty, not forgetting to appreciate the warm water of the Blue Lagoon, heated by the outflow of one of Iceland’s many geothermal power stations.

Continuing along the South coast we saw inumerable waterfalls of varying volumes falling off the cliffs and out to sea interspersed by glaciers and lava fields.

As we continued around the East to the North we saw more and more snow and at times could see nothing of the road other than the snow poles poking out on either side!

Once in the West the weather again cleared up to reveal more of the stunning scenery we had left in the East for our return journey to Reykjavik.

Click here to see more of my Iceland photos

Fort William – Finally a wet week in Scotland

I spent last week up in Fort William, visiting friends, boating, walking and watching films in the outdoors capital of the UK.

It made a nice change from my usual Scottish pilgrimage; there was some water in the rivers! This meant that I got to paddle some of the classics that have often evaded me like the Nevis, Upper Spean and the Coe as well as some other fun runs like the Kiachnish and Arkaig.

(Photo by Rob Brackley)

Not forgetting the inevitable Banzer Burn, a rocky ditch in the middle of nowhere that Banzer thinks would be a good idea, this time was the upper Abhainn Righ, above Inchree Falls. A possible first decent for the three of us.

(Photo by Rob Brackley)

(Photo by Banzer)

We had fun on the Falls of Lora, although not forming properly and my play boating skills leaving a lot to be desired I did catch the odd wave in my Burn.

(Photo by Tori)

Besides the boating we went on a beautiful walk up some of the hills behind Loch Arkaig, at times knee deep in snow in the sunshine and spent an evening at the best of Banff at the Fort William Mountain Film Festival seeing what people around the world are getting upto in their chosen sports.

All in all a great week

Sprinting to the Kent

I got out in my boat again yesterday and spent a few hours decending the Sprint river down to Force Falls on the river Kent. I was hopefull for a little more water, but we didnt scrape, so I shouldnt grumble (1.5 on the Sprint gauge).

The Sprint was most enjoayble and the Kent although flat through Kendal picked up again at the end of the trip to provide a bit of sport before returning home for a well deserved cup of tea.

(Photos by David Fairweather)

Catch Up

Its been a while since I updated my blog. I would love to say its been because I’ve been doing too much boating to have the time, but that wouldn’t be true. Over the last few weekends Ive been out walking in the Lancashire countryside, its right on my doorstep and there’s plenty of it to explore.

The low mist coming in over Abbeystead Fell.

View from ‘Windy Clough’ looking towards Lancaster and Heysham, The Ashton memorial and the two power stations in the distance.

I have managed to get out in my boat once, on probably the coldest weekend we’ve had I paddled part of the Lune at a medium low level. It was nice to get out on the water and the snow did allow for a more interesting snow boating seal launch.

Maddy waiting for me to stop messing around with the camera at the get in.

And finally this weekend just gone I went up to Edinburgh for the weekend. No boating, just visiting the tourist attractions. We were lucky to get some good weather, offering us some good views from both Arthur’s seat and the castle.

Arthur’s seat, overlooking Edinburgh.

Turning to the dark side…and enjoying it!

Porl has bought an open boat.. he hasn’t bought any airbags.

With last Saturdays rain and the sunshine on Sunday it would have been rude not to get out boating, we paddled the Lowther near Penrith, a guidebook grade 3 and had a really nice day.

Neither of us had ever paddled an open boat on moving water before but had been on the quays a few times, so the river provided a steep learning curve.

What I enjoyed the most was the fear and adrenaline, it was only grade 3, and if I’m honest tame grade 3 but being in an open boat I could just about control and the thought that if I capsized the boat wouldn’t be easy to rescue makes those little waves look like Himalayan monsters!

Porl at the helm

Making the most of the weather

Last weekend a few friends came upto Lancaster, with the aim of getting a day on the water in the Lake District. As is always the case, when you try and plan these things in advance, the reliable British summer failed to deliver and there was no water. So a walk along the Rothay, with a convienient stop for a pub lunch had to do. : )

(Photo Dave Fairweather)

Back to Blighty, Fun on the Brathay

Ive been back in the UK for two weeks now and its been hectic with moving house and zipping around the country to see family and friends.

Making the most of the weather we paddled the Brathay yesterday, getting on below Skelwith Force. It was only a short section with most of the river being in the fields, but was nice to be on the water again.

Maddy hiding behind her paddle.

Chris Eaton demoing a Burn on the final rapid.

The Zanskar, what a way to end an awesome trip!

The Tsarap-Zanskar is perhaps one of the most spoken about kayaking trips in India and the Zanskar valley itself renowned for its magnificence with trekkers and tourists.

From Kargil we had two options, drive the 200km back to Leh, chill there for a couple of days and go home, or drive the 200km to Padum, get on the Zanskar and paddle back to Leh. Obviously we went for the second option.

We didn’t get to paddle the Tsarap,  which is above Padum and contains most of the harder whitewater, but we did get to experience the grandeur of the Zanskar gorge.

 

We camped on a beach in the middle of the gorge, but had a rude awakening at 2am when we discovered the river had come up a good few feet and we were in danger of getting wet!

At the end of our second day on the river we reached the Indus confluence and took out just down stream at Nemo.

Opening up the Dras

Returning to Kargil we bumped into some other British boaters who had just returned from the Dras, which was where we were planning to go next. From what we knew the Dras has a reputation for being an amazing run, which the other guys confirmed, the only downside is it also has a reputation for the army kicking groups off the river due to its proximity to the Pakistani border. The other guys had had no trouble from the army at all, so we decided to give it a go.

(Photo Tim Burne)

We put on 20km above Dras, where the river is quite flat and braided, but the river soon turns into something which really feels like a Welsh creek; relatively low volume in shallow rocky gorges, with 2 portages where the river constricts to less than a boats width. As more and more smaller streams enter the river the volume quickly increases and you are reminded you are in the Himalayas.

It took us two days to paddle down to the confluence with the Suru, with nothing more than friendly waves from the dozens of military personnel we saw on the banks. So if your in India, or planning a trip here I think its safe to say that after two successful descents within a week, the army are much more relaxed about paddlers than they may have been in the past on this amazing section of river.