Welcome
Canoe Polo
Gallery
River Running
Surfing
Trip Reports
Waterfall Madness
New Members
Where Are We?
Links for Malton & Norton Canoe Club
Message Board
Guestbook
Event Calendar
Mail Form
|
D Of E Silver Expedition 2002
 | Friday
We meet at Brooklyn youth centre at 9:00am. We packed the remainder of the kit into the barrels that we were taking with us. We had gone to Brooklyn the day before to pack most of the stuff into the barrels so that there was no messing about the next day. We then travelled up to West Ness and unpacked the open canoes and load the barrels into. Phil and me launched off!
We had to wait a little while for Ian and Al to get them selves sorted out, but we were soon on are way. At first we were using some old plastic paddles as it was very shallow and we didn’t want to damage the very nice, (and probably rather expensive) wooden paddles. At around 10:20am we reached West Ness weir. I hoped out to have a look at the bottom of the weir and Phil, assuring me that I didn’t know what I was looking for, soon joined me along with Ian. Phil and I were to shoot the weir first, we managed it easily and Ian and Al followed after they took on a bit of water and so we stopped a bit and let them bail it out.
The next bit of the journey was just plain sailing. We encountered a bit of a wind but it didn’t bother us that much. We reached Butterwick and Al took a picture of me and Phil going down the rapids. At Butterwick meet Adrian who would be following us for the day. We were now on to the next part of the expedition. We were slowed by the wind and so didn’t meet Adrian at Newsham Bridge. Under the Arches of the bridge we ate our lunch and finished at about 1:00pm.
We gathered some speed on the next part and made it to Ryton bridge in good time. Here we stopped of a short rest and to check out the Rapids. The only bit the was that bad was the fact that there was trees on one side and the current was going under the trees. Al and Ian just hit the trees slightly but Phil and I did it quite well. We then headed for Howe Farm and this took us a while as it. Before we got there we stopped for a rest. Were we stopped was incredibly slippery and Al and Phil messed around there a bit until we heard a man shout, so we left in a hurry.
At around 4:00pm we arrived at are camp. We dragged out the boats and set up camp. Dinner was eaten and then we went into Al and Ian’s tent where we listen to Minister FM’s cheese hour, as it became know. We were all asleep before 10:00pm, as we had to be up early the following morning.
|
|
Saturday.
 | .Phil was the first to rise and exclaim about the river having risen. Breakfast was cooked and eaten. Then we packed are stuff and waited for Richard to come hoping that he wouldn’t call off the expedition. He, luckily, didn’t call it off and so we carried on. We pasted through Malton at 10:00am and stopped under the second bridge as Phil, (being a coffee addict) had to have another drink of coffee. Heading of we made average progress and arrived at Menethorpe Swing Bridge for lunch around 12:00. We stopped for lunch and had a loo break as well. After we had finished lunch we packed it away and headed of towards Kirkham weir. When we reached Kirkham we sopped as we were going to have to portage this one. Phil’s and mine went down fine we made had no troubles. Al and Ian’s on the over hand got stuck on a rock at the bottom and Phil and I had to rescue their boat for them, we were soon back on our way. Just before we made it to Howsham we encountered a tree blocking the way, so finding the lowest point that the tree was to the water and with a little struggle we managed to get over it and soon arrived at Howsham. We started to mess about, (after putting all the kit up) and then Phil and I decided to seal launch a Canadian. Not a good idea as we ended up getting wet and nearly losing paddle!
When the night had set in and Richard had been and gone we ate our dinner ate sat around on the barrels talking and listening to Phil’s radio. Being only human we al had to go a do our business. That night we all settled down early and got some rest for the final day!
|
|
Sunday
 |
The day dawned but even the extra hour of sleep grated to us was not enough for Al who slept in till long after the rest of us had risen. The river had again risen over night although the effects where no where near as visible as the day be for how ever the wind had started to show its self forcing a chilly breakfast on us as we where preparing our selves for the day ahead. The arrival of Stewart and Julie prompted us to increase out efforts to break camp and head of to see what ad happened at the weir so after taking on water and chatting for a bit we set of to see what awaited us.
On arriving at the weir and inspecting it we found that it was not greatly changed from the night before that along with the arrival of some kayakers made us feel confident in shooting it. This turned out to be fairly dull although it provided some entertainment and filled our boats with water so we had to proceed a little down stream to empty them. On pulling up on the bank to empty the boats we discovered that our assessor was wait having watched our decent and so we chatted as the boats where empted before setting of again. We then had uneventful paddling till we reached Buttercrambe weir. This was our first big no no of the trip and we new we would have to portage it while this was happening peter tested the weir with a rubber duck we had found and the results where fairly scary (the duck didn’t come out).
We set of again puzzled for a bit because our maps where ate telling us there should be another weir when there wasn’t so paddling continued to Stanford bridge despite the heavy wind. We had to do a large portage here through a caravan sight to avoid the weir that was a straight drop, then we paddled a bit further to our lunch spot. This was a picnic sight with no cover from the howling wind that was now making us very miserable and wanting to get it over it also meant that we couldn’t have a good break. On setting of again we discovered that despite the heavy going that we where making better time than we though so we got to our finish in good time to go home the only event full things that happened where peter sinking the map, Phil breaking his seat (fat boy) and Phil and Peters constant arguing over controlling the canoe all in all a good trip (sort of). |
|
.
| . |  |
|
Afternoon WhiteWater!
Last Sunday me and my dad headed over to Slenninford Water mill for a paddle on the white water section or the river Ure. We arrived around 12pm and used the facilities and changing areas provided to prepare for our paddle. It costs £3 per paddler to the owner of the campsite by the river if you want to use their parking and facilities. The section of river is only short so you don't need to worry about any shuttles between the start and end... BUT DON'T go down the weir at the top!!! It's deadly! We got in just below it, and this gives you a gently section of about 100/200m to warm up on. The river was quite high so there were lots of little surf waves on the way down to play in.
When we returned the main rapid by the campsite the river gets a bit more fierce! Or it looks like it does at least! Its narrower so the waves are bigger and it flows faster, but it provides a brilliant environment for practicing breaking in and out, and ferry gliding.
We got out on the right hand bank to investigate the main feature of this section of river, a small drop in the centre of the river. Walking along the island on the right we inspected the drop and planned a route down, I knew the route, but as a reached, the top I didn't seem to have much choice! However there were no consequences for my misjudgement and I happily bounced down to an eddy below where my dad was waiting. Just below here is the get-out, a beach on the right. We walked, and dragged out boats back up to the top and ran the whole section again, my dad managed to fall get capsized right at the bottom this time though, and after several failed but close roll attempts, and a few bangs on the head swam. A few minutes later he was back in his boat, minus one shoe!
A great short and exciting paddle for an afternoon, and afterwards you can always check out the GO2H2O paddle shop to look longingly at all the latest kit!
MNCC Paddler |
|
