These are my memories of the club River Soca trip in Slovenia. It has been a while now, so rather than a day by day account, I will try to convey to you the sights and general feeling of the trip. Our group left for Slovenia tea time on Friday 22nd July. The group consisted of Matt Burnham, Tom Tom, myself (Adrian), James my son, Alex Elliot and David Elliot. David did all the driving, towing a trailer full of…
Despite being the biggest wuss when it comes to the cold, I love winter for the simple reason that it’s whitewater paddling season. I spend far too much time checking and rechecking forecasts searching out heavy rain. The chances of getting heavy rain at a time when we are not working, haven’t got family commitments and can find a fellow paddler or two to join us is low. However, when it all comes together it results in a lot of…
In the downstairs bathroom at Lledr House Hostel, where we stayed, was a quote “Life is not waiting for the storm to pass it is about dancing in the rain.” As a group we would have been happy with a storm of any kind as long as it contained rain and we would have been more than happy to dance and even paddle in the rain. After a dry October there was little choice for paddling in the club trip…
Every year we try to put together a European kayaking trip to find some white water in the sunshine. The last few years we have been to Austria but this year we decided to try Slovenia. Dates were set for mid July and finally, after much waiting and planning, it was time to go. We had 3 cars going with 10 people in total. 4am Friday morning myself and Sarah started the 1000mile drive to Bovec in Slovenia (07:30 ferry).…
On the morning of Wednesday the 30th December my alarm went off at 5.30 am then it hit me I am off to wales. The idea was to paddle the river Ceiriog there was 6 of us went down Steve, Sarah, Alan, Adrian, James and myself, Adrian wasn’t paddling due to a bad shoulder. So we all met up at Tesco café at Telford at around 8.30 and after consulting Rain Chasers the Ceiriog was to low so we went…
After returning from a great week away last year we aimed to do the same again so since before Christmas we had been planning a return trip out to Au stria for a week of white-water kayaking. The size of the group kept fluctuating but with 2 months to go we were settled with 9 people (Myself, Sarah, Jason, Joy, Tom Tom, Chris, Dave, James and Alex). Finally after weeks of waiting the departure date arrived. Myself and Sarah were…
A short trip for all you hardened paddlers, with a group of 11 boats in all, but for a very novice paddler, an ideal length and very much a fun trip . thanks in part to those brave souls who helped in hoisting the less supple (me) on and off the sit-on-top! The assortment of three canoes, seven kayaks and one sit-on-top set off around 10am on a sunny Sunday morning, paddling past some lovely College buildings and scenery…
At the end of the Spring Half term holiday we ran a Div 2/3 slalom on the whitewater course. Unusually this year we got a flood of entries well before the closing date, and we closed entries three weeks before the competition. This is a big help, as it enables us to plan the timetable, order the trophies,etc, knowing our numbers. It also reduces the rush on the Saturday and Sunday mornings trying to get the startlist prepared so that…
6am alarm on a Sunday morning was challenging and the weather looking grey and miserable didn.t help- well it was July! The Triathlon paddling rescue crew met at Pitsford sailing club at 7ish. Athletes, marshalls and other important people with clipboards were milling around. We layered up with cags, hats and other suitable attire for a potentially chilly, windy paddle on the hostile looking reservoir. Steve briefed us- spread out around the course; keep an eye out for struggling swimmers;…
The last 3 months have been an absolute blast in terms of trips that have been planned via the clubs trips email list and some last minute trips. It all started with some rain in early November with me and Sarah driving up the M6 to find some water and resulted with the two of us on the Conwy a great little Grade 2/3 river in North Wales. We had a group coming up on the Sunday but we decided…
