Dave has already posted a little report on our day out at the ‘T’ but here are a few extra titbits. We were originally planning a threesome but Kee cried off at 7.15am saying he was poorly (hungover I reckon) so we were down to two before we’d even set off. I met Dave at Dobbies to load the boats onto my car – this could have been the end of the trip as Dave’s spare straps were not long enough to tie his boat onto my car (apparently Tim has Dave’s proper straps) I had spares, so all good!
Even though we had the sat nav on Dave’s phone we still managed to go the wrong way after knockin but ended up in the right place eventually. As we drove up the pass and over the moor the weather closed and it started to snow (maybe Kee had the right idea)
but we pushed on and eventually arrived at the T around 10.45 in drizzly but ok conditions.
We paid up and got changed at the centre and jumped in the shuttle only to find Dave’s paddle missing when we got to the top car park !@*K! It had bounced out of the trailer at the car park entrance but was happily retrieved. We ran the top little section twice with Dave completing a more eddy’s each time and ferry gliding across the flow with more confidence. At the end of the second run we continued down to Ski slope with everything going smoothly. I ran Ski slope first making the eddy on the left and then waited in the pool below. Dave came right down the middle but pretty much side on and got grabbed by the stopper – he was bracing for his life but looked pretty calm and almost made it out before being sucked back in again and that’s when the fun really started. He got spun around a few times then his bow shot straight up in the air, did a nice pirouette and went under – out he came and safely swam towards me. His boat took a little longer to emerge but i managed to get it to the bank and all was well. We decided to do it again and got out for a good look. Dave ran a smooth line from left to right and nailed it.
Just realised how long a ramble this is turning into; so to cut the story short we finished off the run to the raft get out and decided that was enough. A quick change, chips in Bala and off home to see the best team in the Midlands cruise to another victory.
Happy paddlers!
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