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.

The Phulangma and the Suru Rivers

Arriving in Kargil we decided to have a look at the Suru, the main river through the town and one of its tribuataries the Phulangma. We based ourselves at Sanko, about 40km upstream of Kargil where the two rivers meet. Our jeep took us up to Kundi, although the road carried on it was getting late in the day, so we put on there.

(Photo Tim Burne)

The whole valley was full of friendly locals who seemed pretty amazed by what we were doing. I really enjoyed this river, it contained what was probably the hardest rapid Ive paddled in India, which went well, but unfortunately moments later, adrenaline still pumping, I found my self in quite a large hole.

Ralph Evins on the Phulangma.

I escaped in my boat, but pulled my shoulder and decided to walk out from there. It was 5km back to Sanko, which was hard work with one arm, but the friendly locals came through and I was assisted by a whole host of randoms on my journey, including a school teacher, a truck driver and the local youth club.

The next day the other guys paddled the Suru back to Kargil, I decided it was best if I gave my shoulder a rest day. I spent a few hours at the local police station waiting for the bus, which they stopped for me, all in all really nice guys who are keen to promote tourism in the area.

Heading North

After inspecting the start of the Spiti gorge below Sundo and hoping to paddle to Chango the army insisted we needed permits, which we didn’t have, so it was time to head to Keylong and the Chandra.

One of the many monuments covered in prayer flags along the pass.

We arrived in Keylong late afternoon, giving us chance to have a quick look at the Bahga, which looked really good, but unfortunately we didn’t get around to paddling it. We put on the Chandra at Koksar and paddled down to Tandi. I must say it was one of the most terrifying sections I have ever done, the water level was surging by 3ft at a time, meaning the features were continuously changing!

(Photo Tim Burne)

Our frantic schedule meant we had to carry on our journey that night, getting a jeep upto Leh and putting on the Indus at Nemu. Paddling the Indus had many plus points: First of all its an amazing section of big volume water, secondly we got to meet Shilabh of Splash Adventure Tours; who has been very helpful with the logistics of this trip and thirdly there was a bridge down on the road to Kargil, meaning we could beat the road block by paddling past it.

Exploring the Spiti Valley

Leaving Manali we headed over to the Spiti valley. Initially basing ourselves at Kaza we were able to explore the upper sections of the Spiti and some of its tribs. Initially the group split, with Ralph and myself choosing to paddle the upper Spiti, whilst the others attempted a walk in on the Gundi. I feel I made the right decision, getting in at the bridge 20km downstream of Lossar we found some of the most dramatic grade 2/3 I have ever paddled.

That evening we hired a jeep and went to investigate the Lingti valley. The Lingti is a tributary to the Spiti and comes in about 20km below Kaza. Except for the final 500m gorge the river looked good to go, mainly grade 3, with a couple more bits of interest. A local monk told of a big fall upstream which may be of interest to us.

The next morning we traveled back to Lalung and 5 of us decided to walk a further 3 or 4km upstream. We were pleased to find pretty much continuous read and run grade 4 below a nasty rapid, which we can only assume was the monks fall.

The treacherous walk-in.

Adam Holland on the Lingti above Lalung.

Our jeeps collected us from the bottom of the Lingti and took us up the Pin valley, another, but rather larger Spiti tributary. We set up camp in a farmers field along the ‘North Fork’ after the river split and in the morning enjoyed a great paddle into the Spiti, intending to get out in Tabo, but realizing at dusk we had overshot by about 8km.

The Spiti, aproaching Tabo.

A busy week in India

After having an amazing time on the Yamuna we headed for the Tons, a river we knew little about.

We arrived in the valley in the dark and pitched camp next to a hole we were sure was the size of a house, come morning, it was still huge, but more like a medium sized hatchback.

After an awkward first 2 kilometers, walking as much as we paddled the river calmed down and we enjoyed paddling for a few hours before setting camp and building a nice fire.

In the morning the river had risen a couple of feet and there was a thick layer of mist hanging over the river.

 

We carried on for annother few kilometers until an ominous looking gorgey bit, whilst inspecting the rapid, the army showed up and informed us we needed permission for this section of river. As we didnt have this permision he told us it would be in both of our interests if we left by the road, which we did.

Since then wee taken a hideously long bus journey up to Manali. Paddled the Manalus ( a Beas trib), the scariest thing Ive done in a long while and had a quick blast on the Beas, which resulted in the first swim of the trip for Adam and Tims boat sliding into the river.

Yamuna River

Ive paddled my first himalyan river. We got on the Yamuna not really knowing what to expect, but hoping for a nice warm up, getting used to our heavy boats. The Yamuna is the river that flows through Delhi and Agra, but we got on several hundered kilometers upstream in Naugon.

 
(Photo Ralph Evins)

The river was exactly what we needed, fairly continous, with a couple of impressive rapids before calming down a bit before our takeout at Yamuna Bridge.