Pikey's past weekend!

By Pikey

Another weekend another great destination and some crazy beginners!

Last weekend Dartmoor this Weekend the stunning Lake District! The Lakes is England’s more mountainous region with breath taking views, every building seems to be made by slate rocks with that grey colour to it, with the water being cold and the weather looking overcast, you knew you were in the English countryside.
So I had the joy of joining my friend Paula again along with The Imperial College Canoe Club.

Arriving late on Friday the guys and girls still found time to drink the rest of the early hours of the morning away and celebrate Burns’ Night in tradition, (a Scottish celebration, haggis was had!).

After little sleep the early morning missioners (hardcore crew) got up at 7 to go get a quick run in on a more testing river, the river of choice was the Leven. A nice class 3 / 4 with a challenging drop, only run by a few and partly swam by one. It was nice to see the countryside in actual light for the first time on the water. We then headed back to the hall to be welcomed by breakfast already cooked; once all was eaten and the buses were loaded we headed for the Lune river.

While getting ready for the river I looked around to see people getting into their wetsuits pulling on their wind proof cags. It was windy and cold, I was stoked I was wearing my nice thermals and dry suit from Kokatat. Once all were changed and ready we got into our groups, I was paired up with Paula (half German) and joining us was Leo from Austria and Derek from Hong Kong, both with some time spent in a kayak and on some rivers. Our last team member would be Christian from Italy, now Christian had spent 2 evening in a swimming pool and was now about to run his first river, a nice class 2/3 river, the bonus of it being his first day out of London as well. I was stoked at how well all three of the lads did, Leo and Derek improved on their eddying in and out, along with pulling off a few rolls and Paula got them pushing their river reading skills. Christian worked hard on his sweep strokes and showed good forward paddling, he nailed some hard lines for a first time on a river. After a swim and a many times upside down, (Hand of God learn it!) We took a few rapids rafted together. It was fantastic fun with me screaming and letting the Rocker do what it does best, running the river! What I was most impressed with was that even with how wet and cold these guys were their spirits were still so high! I’m sure the view of the countryside and the adrenaline of the rapids had much to do with it! But it made for such a joyful run down a nice river with some new friends.

The evening was spent partying it up at Tim Burne’s house party, in Hero’s fancy dress. I tried for the Joker in the new batman movie. I know I ended up looking scary! It was a great night socializing, finishing off with fireworks and people stumbling home.

Morning brought a paddle down the Crake river, to join fellow kayakers in remembering Clive and to Raise money for the village hall in Spark bridge, the place we were currently calling home for the weekend. It was great to see many people joining us on the river that day. Even though I didn’t meet Iain, Clive’s son, I felt honoured to be on the water to mark his return to kayaking. I hope that the beauty of the river and the presence of fellow paddlers, he found some comfort on the day.

Unfortunately due to a flat tire we headed home early on the slow lane (at 50mph).

An eventful weekend was had with many new friends being made and new rivers being conquered. A big thank you goes out to Rob who drove me there and back and the Imperial College Canoe Club for having me along. Hope to see you all on the river soon.

Pikey

P.S well done to the guys who had me in Paula’s group, I believe you all did fantastic!