Liverpool University Canoe Club

From the point of view of a Fresher, having never been to the French alps before I had a whale of a time. The sun shined (most of the time) and the water levels were high which made some awesome paddling possible.

The campsite was a stone’s throw from the slalom course so that had to be conquered first. With water levels dropping from what had been chaotic floods throughout France the rivers were brown and flowing super fast. There were few eddys but still plenty of rocks. On arrival the club went upstream to what was meant to be a placid introduction to alpine paddling. It turned out to be a swim festation as unsuspecting boaters came face to face with rocks and turned upside down on eddy currents. Everyone made it to the bottom, just, and from that moment on the swim handicap was obliterated daily. The swim beers began to come in thick and fast….

Every morning before the sun had even time to creep over the mountain all sleeping beauties were awoken by the morning monster… LLoyd. Enthusiastic and ready for action he rallied everyone into the bus and set off to the river for some more Liverpool river carnage. Fitting in two rivers a day, and each one progressively getting harder throughout the week everyone was beginning to discover the steep, exhilaration and thrill of the alpine rivers. (Or more the overwhelming sense of relief at being alive when they stepped foot on dry land at the take out point.)

I can’t remember the name of the river I was on yesterday, never mind those in the Alps, but the steep gorges and crystal water was everything the holiday brochure described. In-between rivers was cheeky banter, beers, meeting new people and plenty of French baguettes. The campsite was full of university students so it gave us a chance to mingle and eye up the competition for BUSA next year.

The annual meal in the Argentiere was a French 3 course meal, with a Captains Viagra initiation drink handed in Andy’s direction, congratulation’s boy! Maybe it will become a tradition?

On the whole thanks to everyone who organized it, but next year, can we make it say 3months longer? It sucks to be back in the UK!

Report by: Flic

Pictures by: Flic and Mary

Slide Show

May Bank holiday weekend saw typical British weather as we headed to the west coast of Wales to St Davids. We arrived late friday night after leaving ahead of schedule with minimum faff which must be a record for the club. We arrived in St Davids where we met some others in the local pub, after a few fizzy sherbet lemons we went and found the campsite and put up tents in the dark.

Saturday morning the majority of the uni members got up at 7 to bright sunshine and paddled around the bay and onto whitesands beach to try and get the best surf early on. There was some surf but nothing huge, which was good for beginners like me. After messing around on the beach for a while we decided to head back to the campsite, some paddled back and some walk around the coast. On the paddle back we saw some of the ex uni members paddling the other way and struggling with the tide and head wind. I then had a lazy Saturday afternoon at the campsite and watched the sun set before heading to the pub in the evening. Others were more active and went for walks or bike rides around the area.

Sunday morning we woke to rain and no surf and many took a while to venture out of their tents. Some of us ventured into town to see what there was to do, so we ended up in the pub less than 12 hours after leaving it, this time with many cups of tea instead of pints. Sambo and Flic then arrived having just brought monopoly, so a 3 and a half hour monopoly session followed. After this the rain had stopped so we headed to the beach nearest the campsite to play frizzbe and play on the rocks and rock pools.

Monday morning the strong winds that we had most of the weekend persisted, we took down tents and loaded the van and trailer and drove to whitesands for a last morning surfing, the surf was better than it was on Saturday and everyone seemed to be having a great time. It started to rain but this makes no difference when you’re in the big wet ocean being struck by waves. We came off the water got changed and some of us began loading the trailer. An hour later all the boats were tied to the trailer and I was absolutely soaked by the time I got in the van to leave. We left at 2:30 and arrived back about 7:30. All the way home we heard of severe weather warning and gales force winds in the south of Wales, but it didn’t seem to have effected us too badly. We only had 3 tents damaged by the wind and rain, so unfortunately Kayla and co didn’t quite have such a good weekend as the rest of us did.

I found this a really relaxing weekend, and a good break after exams, so would thoroughly recommend it to anyone next year. 

Photos: Sue, Jon, Flic, HelenJ

Words: Helen H Photos: Alison B http://www.koolkayaking.co.uk

Dave R and I went to Bala for the weekend. There were over 200 guides and scouts, around 30 coaches, from all over the NW, and 2 days of continuous sunshine. I was paired up with Tom, another coach from an Air Cadet group, and we were assigned two groups of 6 kids - a one-star group, and a “paddle passport” group. Tom was super and knew lots of games, and the kids were great, really eager to learn stuff. For one of the sessions we used Bell Boats, which can fit up to 12 folk on each - these are good for having wars between pirate ships.

The whole event is really well organised - this is down to hard work by Ian and Alison Bell, managing all the information and equipment - everything is set up and ready for you to get on the water and coach. After 4 x 1.5 hour coaching sessions a day, you are absolutely exhausted, and ready to sit around with the other coaches drinking wine and chilling out, listening to guitars and paddling stories, or watching kayak DVDs in the mess tent.

This was a very fun event, though exhausting. Anyone wanting to help next year, that would be great. Its an opportunity to get either L1 or L2 Training and assessment if you do not have those things yet, and to have a very fun time teaching a bunch of kids.

More details about the annual scout Bala weekend can be found at:

http://www.koolkayaking.co.uk/

One or two photos.

Kim Album 1, Kim Album 2, Katie

and some more (which require login):

Lindsey 1, Lindsey 2, HelenJ, Kev (Etive), Kev (Mountain walk), Kev (Orchy), Stu (Poorly boat), AndySq, Stu (Rescuing poorly boat), Adventures of TamTam, Penny 1, Penny 2, Cath, Laura N (walking), Laura N (paddling), Alex, Ash 1, Ash 2, splinky Phew.

A very random selection:

See also AndyR’s report and Si’s report

Photo by Finn

Fantastic news, LUCC girls won silver medal at BUSA, congratulations!!!

Unlucky for the blokes - a great start, winning all their games, but all this came to an end with a mix up over cards and their games being voided Well, now they have a taste of what it feels like to be on a winning streak, I’m sure LUCC boys will be back next year ready to do a great job.

The girls team were on fire the whole weekend, ending with a close-fought match against defending champions Durham. Durham were held to 1-1 til half time, but managed to break away and score a further 2 goals, winning BUSA once more.

Photos on facebook from Finn, Mary, Helen J

Results at Busa website

Fantastic result!

By Andy R 

Easter comes around again, and with it our annual crusade in search of scottish waters…. for me, this year was a little different from the normal however

Easter

Scotland

45 people

and a cubic sh*tload of snow to go with it

After discussing how Mary was going to travel from Devon to meet us in Roybridge on the Thursday, the options included; train, plane, bus, driving and cycling. After we’d established that cycling up to Scotland was ridiculous, train and bus tickets were booked and the matter was sorted….. A short time after this conversation, involving short term memory loss, it was decided that i was going to set off early on sunday morning and cycle to scotland, to meet the minibus at the river get in on thursday morning.

Four days, 323.5 miles and 24 1/2 hours in the saddle later, i arrived at the bottom of glen etive, where a warm bed in Stu’s bunkhouse (the “Smiddy”) awaited me. Thursday morning involved serious bum-ache and a further cycle up the glen in search of signal, to find the others were getting on the river a further east in Glen Orchy. I abandonned, and braved the winds a further thirty miles to wait in Morrison’s for them to show up. (serious bumache by now…) The Orchy from what i gather, was an iconic run featuring swimmage from messers Si and Will, amongst others, in true trip’s first river style. Sad to have missed helping pick up the pieces….

Friday involved the Arkaig and the Spean in miserable cold conditions. After difficulty scouting the only drop of worth on the Arkaig, team safety Lloyd myself and Andy H set our selves up to prepare for the carnage that was about to unfold. Barring the safety team and perhaps 3 or 4 others, of a group of 25, everyone ran the drop on their head, resulting in utter carnage with boats, paddles, bodies, swimming, rolling all over the shot. A picture ingrained in the back of my retinas for a while yet i think. A special shout to Andy Squirrel, who’s whole group ran the full length of the drop following on their bums, being overtaken by all their equipment! Utter Carnage. The Spean proved less eventful, a couple of swims, but all survived (freezing) to the get out, while Team-Shoulder headed on down the gorge. A fair amount of rolling (most notable was Adam’s capsize on the eddy-line above headbanger, in which he ran completely on his head, only managing to correct on 10th attempt in the pool below - lucky boy) and Swims from Penny, Rob and Adam (cough!), resulting in reoccuring shoulder dislocations, a sad end to nice run, and more bother for future medical implications. The Ade-machine ran (litterally) the shuttle for us and we were back at the hut for tea (as ever, cheers Ade). Spean gorge an excelent run, tight and technical.

Saturday - cough, The etive. utter carnage on triple-two, lots of fishing from the Nicholl’s yahoo squirrel combination, as per the norm, and Loonsey (among others from other clubs) doing an excelent washing machine impression in Letterbox (more Nicholl’s yahoo squirrel combination fishing), before heading to hospital. Politics forced a walk out, but crack team chris, myself and dale met Squirrel and Andy H at the bottom to shoot right angle.

Sunday - SNOW and lots of it, on the way to the Findhorn. Ever seen a brown river????? This was brown from snow….. and rather chilly. Excelently run, groups and leadership sorted, and a very nice river. A Captain swim amongst a few others (Si sent to stand in his corner), and extremely cold conditions to arrive for lunch at the church. A few hardy souls further braved the gorge and made a very good job of it in tricky medium levels, but most were content warming up in the front of the van - yes, that would be eleven in the front of the van (dave left brown residue on the gear stick he was enjoying it so much)

Monday - again, the etive. Everyone on the same river at once this time, and everyone progressing and taking less swims and less rolls in the process. The Duo worked well down the whole river, but paddling efficiency is much reduced when you are preparing to hold your deck on down drops, instead of actually putting strokes in. Mixed with going deeper under water than ever in your life, and gaining access to this depth by way of a 7m waterfall is an experience. Having not personally seen it, a highlight must have been Will swimming embarassingly on the dog leg above right angle…… and was it on camera????? Monday afternoon, and the minibus, van and all related cars leave for liverpool, leaving Myself, Mary, Loonsey and Andy H in glen etive to carry on the holiday with stu and other friends in the “smiddy”. (insert chinese poker shots here - drinking marmite, cheese, curry power, sunflower oil, and sweet chilli sauce supirsingly good fun!)

Wednesday, my 21st birthday, and the guys had gone to Argos to buy inflatable swimming pools. A drive up the road to Right Angle falls in borrowed dry cags to plunge down the waterfall in said inflatables, in pairs. Absoultely hilarious fun, theres a whoooosh and a huge thrill running it in a kayak, and a larger crazy head moment running it in a duo, but drop off it in an inflatable mini-copper clutching a can of beer out the window, is jsut something else. Unfortunately this also resulted in Loonsey’s second injury of the week, as Mary headbutted her, and broke her hand. the holiday continued. As for getting home - Loons and Andy set out to meet Warwick Uni CC, Mary and three others left for Bristol/Bath in Nick’s car, leaving me and stu to hitch home via trucker and van BMP van driver. Free trip home, and quite a funny experience, getting back to liverpool at 6:30, before the other guys arrived in Bath. a crazy end.

Top notch trip, Another successful scottish Easter, thankyou all concerned

So its been a while since my last article, been slacking a bit (sorry Helen). This is due to sorting out my new job (yay) and doing lots and lots of paddling. And i mean lots. Last weekend was my 10th consecutive weekend on the water water, with around 8 out of those 10 encompassing two days paddling.

Photos from Andy Squirrel on Facebook

March has been an excellent paddling month for myself, bearing witness to my first ever runs down Fairy Glen on the Conwy and the Upper Lledr, as well as returns to the main section of the Lledr as well as the Upper and Middle sections of the Conwy.

The first weekend in March saw me hooking up with a friend from Nottingham who also provided discount delivery of a new boat for one of Stu’s housemates. We set off saturday morning after a hearty cooked breakfast, but nearly never made our destination. En route along the A55, in the outside lane there was a 4×4 and trailer ahead of us in the inside lane. Next thing we knew the wind caused a wooded pallet loose in the trailer to become airborne, hurtling and rotating through the air like something out of Hollywood blockbuster Twister. We braked and fortunately the pallet came to a halt straddling the lane markings just before we reached it enabling enough room to swerve between it and the central reservation! This definitely woke us up, so we proceeded to the Conwy.

Here myself, Si, Robin, John and Phil jumped onto the Middle Conwy for a warm-up before heading down the Fairy Glen. The second Grade 5 was at a good level, and i fair-ed better than last time down remaining upright though exiting backwards into the pool below.

 So onto the mighty Fairy Glen, know as a test piece of British paddling and one of the best runs at its grade - 2km of Grade 5 comprising two gorges split by Fairy Falls (5+). The phone gauge had read around 1300, and at this level the first drop of note - Sticky Hole - lives up to its reputation. One ran it one portaged and the remainder of our group sneaked down the left. I then proceeded to end up in the hole below against the gorge wall, performing some creekboat freestyle for the rest of the group sat in the eddy below before paddling out along the wall. The run comprised of being explained the line in the eddy above each rapid/drop, followed by everyone paddling off followed by me tentatively following on.

For a first run it is great to have a group that knows the lines, this speeds things up , but can make the run seem more full-on. Inspection is difficult however, and you could spend hours on this inspecting and not really seeing much! A quick inspection at Fairy Falls and it was a goer. This leads into the second gorge, which contains rapids including Pipeline, SpeederBiker and End of the World. Before you know it your at the Lledr confluence and you can pause for breath - what a fantastic section of whitewater.

The following day saw our number cut to three, the phone gauge at 1400, and an even quicker run down as i didn’t need all the lines explaining, just occasional reminders. Sticky hole runs nicely at this level, ride a cushion wave to the left then two stokes to straighten up and boof the drop. Managed to nail the line through the hole i spent time in the previous day, only to end up in the nest one at Monkey Drop - doh. No inspection at Fairy Falls, Robin informed me as the level had risen it definitely ran, however some of my marker rocks from the previous were now underwater! A fantastic sight looking back up the gorge from above End of the World seeing the rapids you have just run bathed in Spring sunshine. Then off to the Middle for a quick blast. Both days paddling were followed by visits to the lovely Conwy Falls cafe for refreshment, very enjoyable.

 The following weekend was Student Rodeo weekend, but rain forecast in Wales saw me and Si van camping near Dolgellau in the hope of paddling the Mawdach, Gamlan,Gain etc. Sadly this was not to be as we checked levels saturday morning whilst heading north towards Betws y Coed. As we drove past the Lledr on the A470 it appeared as through the rain had fallen in this catchment, and we resolved to investigate the Upper Lledr and continuing down the raging lower section. After some faff our group was united with a get-on decided. This section has some enjoyable drops and small rapids before a section of flat above the testing rapid at Ponty y Pant, but allows for a warm up and extends the paddle by some 9km.

The Lledr from Pont y Pant is a excellent run and everything goes at lower levels. We walked the entrance drop to the Rhiw Goch gorge and Viaduct Falls, but everything else went nicely. Some of the guys rounded the day off with a run down the Llugwy from below Swallow Falls to Chip Shop Drop, much to the entertainment of passing tourists. After food we headed to Llanberis for a party at the Boulder Adventure boathouse for some beers and a catch up with old friends.

Sunday saw a lazy start with breakfast at Pete’s Eats followed by another trip down the Glen.

Last weekend i only ventured out for sunday, electing to stay home and watch all three Six Nations rugby matches - the right choice as the rain didn’t come until saturday. Sunday saw me, Joe and Martin hook up with various ex-Nottingham Trent paddlers for a run down the Lledr at a slightly lower level than the previous week. Another great paddle, followed with a run down the Upper and Middle Conwy to round things off.

What a month it has been so far, with Scotland still to come. Enjoy

Squirrel

Pics from Mary H , Stanley pics

So Saturday morning saw Stu,Helen,Dale and Joe arrive early morning at my house, where i had prepared pre-trip bacon sarnies. Then off we went to meet up with the guys that had set off the day before and stayed in the camping barn. We convened at the Llugwy at the Plas-y-Brenin centre, but alas no water. The decision was made to paddle the Conwy from the main road bridge through to Penmancho Bridge, with an alternative get out at Rhydlanfair Bridge if preferred.

It was a sunny day with a good group of us on the river. We split into several groups, and in order to have aproductive day decided to take the opportunity to work on skills, including river leading. Everyone did well, and the trip passed without much incident until Bryn Bras Falls, which inevitably unseated a couple of the less experienced of the group, however they were quickly extricated from the cold water and reunited with boats and paddles none the worse for their dunking.

 A few people egress-ed at Rhydlanfair Bridge, whilst the rest of our depleted number continued down the shorter ‘middle’ section. Before long the first Grade 5 was upon us. Stu was the only one to fancy the run, and bashed down it unscathed, though not sure he would recommend it to anyone at such low levels, bony to say the least.

 The portage saw us launch just upstream of a tree lodged in river left, exposed at this level. Safety was set, with everyone passing safely through, even though Erica took the opportunity to take another dip to cool off after the portage in the winter sun. Most of the group got off river right some fifty metres upstream of the second Grade 5 to enable easier access to the road, prudent as the ladder river left allowing access to the seal launch avoiding the Grade 5 is no more, making access back to the river awkward.

 Myself, Stu and Andy Raho continued to the next rapid. Having briefly inspected, i decided to go for it. Having made the first part of the move to the right i failed to get far enough left after and glanced off the rock wall before being held against it sideways by the flow. Briefly managing to hold my edge by bracing against the wall with my head, i was then flipped. I rolled up in the river left eddy-bonus, before breaking in for the drop into the pool below.

Andy followed next, only to end up vertical against the rock after not making it far enough right at the top, the proceeded to do the rest of the rapid upside-down before eventually rolling up in the pool below - kudos for staying in the boat and continuing to attempt rolling that many times.

Stu took the ’paddle into the rock that’s in the way’ route and came off better than the rest of us, fair play.

Sunday brought no rain, and the group split into a Stanley and Tryweryn trip. The Tryweryn was on a relatively low release, but a good level for practice nonetheless. Well done Claire P for her first roll on moving water. Some of our party then headed off to the Dee, where they also met up with the Stanley guys.

 An excellent weekend rounded off with a trip to Kelly’s sunday night.

Squirrel

A quick check of the 5 day forecast before leaving work on friday showed nothing but heavy rain for the next five days in North Wales-brilliant. Myself, Stu, Ric and Lloyd set of in good spirits. Staying in the £2.50-a-night farm cottage in Beddgelert as the week before, Niall, Matt, Tom and Jack arrived shortly after us. We spent the evening by the fire discussing rivers for the next day, and listening to the rain outside.

Getting an early start, we checked the level on the way past the Aberglaslyn gorge-significantly higher than last week, and a definite run for later. We settled on going just up the road to paddle the Cwm Llan, before meeting the Uni day trip for a run down the Glaslyn, with the option to run on through Beddgelert to the gorge for those wanting a harder paddle.

As the only one of our 8 strong group to have paddled the Cwm Llan, i set off first, having assured everyone the walk-in was only a couple of kilometres (its not in Sladden’s Welsh Rivers guide).Hoping i had remembered the way from a year previous, the memories of the walk-in flooded back-several km to a steep river flowing off the southern flank of Snowdon, with a boat, across tracks,fields and eventually up to the river was pretty tiring. As i had hoped though, the level was good (otherwise i would have been lynched).

 With some of us paddling the majority of the drops, and others choosing to do certain sections, time was soon getting on. This run is great fun, with numerous drops and slides of varying height and gradient. The last potentially runnable drop looks cleaner on the right, but then ends in a small pool with a cliff face making protection that side hard. The left line looked rocky but doable, however it must be noted that following this fall there is only about 20 metres before a large unrunnable fall.

Stu wanted to do it, and so we set up safety and watched him bounce down it relatively successfully, though needing a roll at the bottom. Not to be outdone, Ric headed to the top. What followed was a somewhat less graceful descent than Stu’s. Partway down the fall Ric hit a rock, span sideways and the nose hit a rock at the side of the fall. He then did a barrel roll, landing face first onto rock, as he pin-balled out of control down the remainder of the drop. Paddles having been wrenched from his grasp, Ric did what can only be described as the quickest hand-roll ever in the pool, as livebait Stu dived in to ensure he was ok and rescue the paddles.Miraculously everything was intact, except the dent in Ric’s ego - good job he borrowed some elbow pads and a Sweet Rocker helmet before attempting the drop eh!

 It rained again over night, and those that stayed for Sunday were in for a big day on the river. Off to the Aberglaslyn gorge, the level had risen further, lapping at the bottom of the wooden walkways by the main drop. I embarked with Stu, Andy Rahoo and Andy as the second group down. The first few hundred metres were somewhat washed out compared to the week before, but before i knew it we were at the start of the gorge proper. As the gradient increased, i was too close to Andy to avoid taking the same line through the middle of the first big hole. Lucky, being in a playboat, i went under it with the water above my head. I realised that i was going to have to be switched on if i was going to avoid getting a pasting! It was pretty full on paddling with little time to think. Lots of volume, no eddys to speak of and big holes made this a rather sporty paddle to say the least, where if something went wrong you were probably on your own. At this level this is a continuous and commiting apline style run, plenty of Grade 4 to keep your attention.

Having had already scouted the main drop from the bank, I decided to go for the guts and tuck up to try and avoid a repeat of last weeks backlooping. It worked a treat as i resurfaced the right way up and grabbed an eddy, knowing this was about the only opportunity to do so. Andy was last, and unfortunately ended up taking a swim at the main drop. He was pulled out by the guys on the bank, but the boat was gone. I paddled down the next section alone with Stu watching from the bank downstream. I hit a big hole and tried to pull myself over it, only to be dragged back and backlooped before flushing to my relief.At the bottom Andy’s boat had been rescued, complete with a new nose shape and split in the hull - bad luck.

Stu and Ric did another run, before the group split, and we headed to the Conwy. It was unrecognisable-a fast flowing, river wide, brown flow, with big boily eddy lines and plenty of waves and holes. Some fun was had through Bryn Bras Falls, before dodging the 20 or 30 metres of scaffolding fence at the road works that was now running directly down the middle of the river. We stopped for Stu and Ric to do some dirty ditch paddling,  but before we knew it Rhydlanfair bridge was reached. With only 4 of us continuing on the next section, we tentatively made an eddy upstream of the first Grade 5, which looked a grade up at this level. A portage followed then a quick run before another portage at the second Grade 5. With the flow still river wide, the water was flowing over the seal launch rock and into a hole with a nasty recirculating eddy to the right and ugly looking boils on the left. It was not for us, so we made our way to the Conwy Falls cafe for hot choclate-mmm. 

 The other group had headed off to the Eden, but that story is not mine to tell…

 Andy_Squirrel

By Martin 

The first weekend of December saw the start of rainy season, and a small group of LUCC paddlers took advantage of this to get some training in before the new year.

River leadership was the aim, and that is what we practised.

Friday night saw, Nev, Mary, Kim, Andy, Lloyd, Tammy and myself gather at sheds and load up our kit. We were joined by our newest member, another Andy, whose just moved back to Liverpool from uni.

We set out on our way, but before even leaving town disaster struck as Mary’s car became paralysed in the Tesco petrol station. Half an hour’s cursing and fiddling later and the car leapt back to life and they finally got on their way. Next stop, Hebden water, and a disapoiting level was found. The descision was made to carry on to our next river option, the Wharfe. We arrived late, pitched our tents and slept.

An early start Saturday, saw Nev and Myself inspecting the river, then rousing the troops for the day’s activities. We discovered Tammy had forgotten to pack a helmet, so she sat out the first run, in the warmth of the cars. The rest of us got on the river. We had a short introduction in the top eddy, including some river signalling basics and leading techniques explained by both Andy and Nev. We broke out and Nev took the lead for the first rapid, then we swapped to Mary. We each took turns at leaving the group, deciding on appropriate progression techniques, inspections and lines to follow down rapids. We kept good communications open throughout the day using the river signals agreed upon in the top eddy.

We ran the river a second time, this time i sat out to allow Tammy to paddle with my helmet. This gave me a good chance to grab some photo’s and do the shuttle. We then headed to the nearest pub for a chat and to decide on the next days activities.

After our pint, we headed over towards the Mint to find a place to eat and set up camp. We had a lovely pub meal, then Wild Camped near by. We awoke early next morning, and heading down to find the river a little low and decided the Lune was a better bet. we dropped Tammy in town, and she enjoyed a pub crawl with some locals while we headed off to paddle the Lune. We practice the skills we’d learnt the previous day and had an enjoyable paddle on the lune at the highest level I have ever seen it. We ran everything, and got some good video footage of some parts too.

Thanks for an interestin, if faff-ful trip. I believe those on the trip feel they can now contribute to leading rivers for the club, i know i have gained confidence. I look forward to seeing them leading a club trip soon, and can’t wait to run my own…

Martin