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A day 'op North'... Last weekend was the first time this season we've seen any decent amount of the wet stuff descend from the sky. Which meant only one thing- time to tie on the boats and head north in search of some rivers! Three stops for 2 boat re-ties and a coffee later, Peak UK team paddlers Jon Best and Jen Chrimes along with good friend Pete Scutt from Whitewater The Canoe Centre, had arrived in the great Yorkshire dales. We had one plan for the delightfully sunny yet breezy day ahead- 3 rivers before sundown. First on the list to tick was the Whitsundale Beck a nice grade 3 warm up run that flows into the River Swale. After nearly being blown away getting changed out the boot of the car we descended on mass onto the small beck. 40 minuets later we arrived at river number 2- the Swale. Personally it was my first time on the river and it did not disappoint. At the first drop we bumped into local boy Sam Ellis and fellow team paddler Claire O'hara who lead us down the river and laughed at my amateur lines down some of the drops. We finished up on the Swale around 3pm, we had the Doe as our third and final choice but the slowly disappearing daylight threw this option out the window. Instead Sam Ellis suggested we should accompany him on the Aysgarth, a short run with 3 falls which was on our way home. The first drop had a hard landing knocking the wind from my chest and making a mess of Tom 'the talent' Wakeling's ribs, the second was a cheeky boof of a shelf with a nice soft landing- by the time we had reached the third and final drop the daylight had gone and it was getting hard to see. I couldn't see a great deal but could make out a decent looking double drop, plenty of water, a crashing hole and one hell of a dirty pour over in the distance. We watched in ore as Sam and Jason Raper paddled into the darkness.
Article by Jen Chrimes
Images by Pete Scutt (Posted on the 29th Nov 2011 by pete) |
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