I arrive at the upper car park at 8.30 in the morning and ask to join the first group getting on the river. This was made up of Pete and son from Newbury, John from Oxford, Colin and an Italian lady named Stef from Brighton. Oh yes and me from Bloxwich. Try and make that sound Posh!
The sun was out, the steam was rising off the river and the shiny outlines of the paddlers headed off down the river. I decided to paddle at the back which is where I prefer to be for some reason.
The sun shining into our eyes added to the difficulty of the paddle but nothing was too pushy at the level we were paddling which was about 0.7 on the gauge.
The first tricky rapid is called lucky tor rapid which I’m becoming more familiar with each time I go. Through the slabs and I cruise through sections which have forced me to roll in the past. This is the perfect level!
Through Euthanasia and Pandoras box with the young hot shot with no problems. The rest of the group portaged these rapids which is easy to do. The river eases off from here and we cruise down to Newbridge. Two of the group did take swims on the upper but the boats didn’t go far and the swimmers went into eddies easily. Ive now run the upper 5 times and will feel more comfortable taking a group on there at that particular level. The paddle season is short. Lets try and do it.
I then ran the loop with a group of beginners and enjoyed lots of boat chasing! I was then treated to a nice coffee in the dart country park whilst waiting for the faffing( I mean shuttle) to be sorted.
I then put a post on the river dart fb page which I meant to put on our fb page and couldn’t delete it!
Great day. My short term fix will benefit a number at the club in the future when we get down there together.
It was 4.20pm when I got back to my car at the upper car park and a lad was getting on the river to run the upper solo. He must have done it quick before it went dark.!
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