Pilgrim's Progress

Norge '07

2007-08-16T14:41:00.001+01:00

New images added to the gallery.

Video snippet from the Brandsetelvi below (Right-click movie icon to download - Quick Time required, approx 10Mb).

Sea Fever

2006-08-22T21:45:00.000+01:00

I must go down to the seas again,
for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call
that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day
with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume,
and the sea-gulls crying.

- excerpt from 'Sea Fever' by John Masefield

Joyuex Anniversaire

2006-07-28T15:17:00.000+01:00

All the best mucka ;-)

Bomb Voyage!

2006-07-18T13:51:00.000+01:00

'Allo zere, mon petites little partisans! Bomb voyage 'ere reporting zat ah gud time was ad by all who journeeyed to ze sweet sweet alpine village zat is Briancon!

Zere is even a little footage for your pleasure...


Lower Guisane - Part 1	Lower Guisane - Part 2


Briancon Gorge	The Onde

(Cinématographie - Monsieur Scott)

Au Revoir mes amis

Do you know what 'nemesis' means?

2006-04-20T11:24:00.000+01:00

Easter amongst the glens of West Scotland saw a return to the Orchy where 18 months ago a third shoulder dislocation had me wondering whether or not it'd be worthwhile jacking it all in. Almost 10 months on from an operation, physio and a painstakingly slow recovery process, it's starting to come back.

Apart from a strangely terrifying moment as I lined up for my 'nemesis' it all went well back in the Highlands.

Click image below to open video or right click and 'Save Target As...' to download (Windows Media <1Mb).

It went well, aye; though mostly due to a few pints o' heavy I grant you! Cracking weekend had by all with top spot honours for 'tool of the month' (pardon the pun) going to Ant: a truly pant-wettingly funny moment I shall ne'er forget; cheers;-)

Oh, aye - and make mine a dooshers!

;)

Zen & the Art of Kayak Maintenance

2006-04-10T11:37:00.000+01:00

Well the summer season is upon us (ha, tell that to my still-frozen hands!) and the mighty Tryweryn is back on. A cold Sunday morning saw our (fool)hardy boaters descend through wintery sleet for a few runs down the local(?) shoot just in time for it to brighten up for the trip home.

Hats off then to all those who made the journey, be it physical or something deeper altogether!

Ahuuuummmm - Paul contemplates his path ;-)

The joy of craftsmanship.

Quality.

Cockleshell Heroes

2006-04-10T11:13:00.000+01:00

Having originally posted this as a humourous story over on UKRGB, it recently featured on Ignacio Wenley Palacios' excellent open sea and coastal paddling journal 'On Kayaks'.

Operation Frankton - An Alternate History

At dawn on 12 December 1942, a series of explosions rocked the docks in Bordeaux. To the utter dismay and horror of the occupying German forces, a number of cargo ships from their fleet of 'blockade runners' carrying vital supplies from the Far East, lay wrecked or sinking. The result of a daring attack by Royal Marine canoeists dropped by submarine at the mouth of the Gironde, and who had made their way some 60 miles up river to the docks over several nights.

As any club paddler will know, it could've all been so different...

(HMS Tuna - Surface, December 7th 7:30pm)

"Whad'ya mean you feel dizzy?"
"He's claustrophobic boss"
"What the **** is he doing on a submarine then?!"
"Well, someone back at the clubhouse said you guys were going for the three star and we thought would be a nice evening paddle and we didn't know the shuttle was gonna be so complicated, like. By the way, have you seen my spraydeck?"

And so began one of the most daring escapades in modern warfare.
The rest as they say; is history...

The canoes were launched with the aid of the submarines gun which was being used as a crane, unfortunately the gun was subsequently knocked out of action when the makeshift winch system (some 15 pulleys, 28 ropes, 32 tape slings and 17 karabiners) improvised by "Swiss Army" Sam fouled the gearing mechanism; though miraculously, his posture seemed much better once out on the water.

The launch went well until Bill and Ted voiced their reservations about canoe construction and began muttering and grumbling "crosslinear" and "htp" to one another. Mysteriously, their canoe 'knocked' against a hatch clamp tearing an 18 inch gap in its canvas side. Despite the crew's pleadings of "accident, dude", they had to be left behind.

The other five canoes formed up and began paddling towards the mouth of the River Gironde. After an hours paddling they heard a roaring sound ahead as the canoes approached a tide race, a place where several currents of water come together. One by one the canoes paddled into the foaming waters, at the other side they waited for each other to meet up. Wallace and Grommit never showed up, another crew went back to look for them but they were not to be found. They returned to the others and headed on with their mission, already two canoes down.

Soon they came to another tidal race; once again they paddled furiously to get through it, this time Bertie and Basset never appeared. Again a crew went back to search, and found them capsized and clinging on to the upturned canoe with its drain plug hanging out. With the boat so full of water it was impossible to refloat her so the order to scuttle her was given.

With Bertie and Basset hanging on to the stern of two of the other canoes they paddled towards the French coast. However, constantantly shouting "kick harder" soon began to wear the paddlers down, and after finally beating their grip loose the two men were "released" for the 15 mile swim to shore.

Sergeant's Wallace and Grommit had lost their way in the tidal race, at about 4am the sea had got so rough that it rolled their canoe and despite valiant attempts to remedy their situation, they both bailed immediately. Exhausted, they managed to swim to the shore where they were spotted by a German gun crew and immediately ridiculed for their garish luminous buoyancy aids and fluffy pogies.
They were promptly shot.

With dawn approaching the remaining commandos had to find shelter for the day. They hauled their boats out of the water and camouflaged them, ate 3 days worth of mars bar rations and had a close call when one of the party lit a bonfire and began chanting and twirling his paddle around. Amidst a flurry of fists, the "ponce" was finally subdued and the party settled down for some much needed rest. Dusk began with the ritual 'puke-fest' and once the empty bottles and cans were removed from the boats, they floated out and headed upstream.

They kept the pace up for six hours, but hardly seemed to be covering any ground until Corporal Dick spotted that they were still tied up. Not to be undone by this minor hiccup, the next dawn began with the ritual 'puke-fest' and once the empty bottles and cans were removed from the boats, they floated out again (untethered) and headed upstream.

Following a long and gruelling paddle and with darkness approaching the surviving canoeists were approaching the last stage of their mission. Leaving the Gironde behind, they entered the Garonne and paddled to Bordeaux. During the dark of the morning of December 11th they found some tall reeds in which they could lay up for the day and sleep off their hangovers, before attacking the ships that lay in Bordeaux harbour.

As the light began to fade they prepared the limpet mines that had sat between their legs since leaving HMS Tuna (except for Corporal Dick and Private Jane, who had left it back on board, mistaking it for a game of "Super Simon"* and inadvertently setting the timer).

*Super Simon is remembered today as a game with annoying blinking lights and electronic bleeps and boops, but it was the height of technological sophistication at the time.

The timers were set for eight hours, giving them time to make their getaway. Mills and Boon went to the north side of the river and Dick and Jane just took off.

Although there were several hairy moments (most notably when Mills clamped his own arm to the hull of one of the freighters, but was resolved after hacking off the troublesome limb with Boon's trusty tree saw) they managed to attach their limpets and get out of the harbour without raising the alarm, though they were accosted by several river bank bystanders to cries of "get off me fish", their shotguns were well out of range.

Apparently, the first mine had gone off at 3am on the morning of the 8th, but the first to go off in Bordeaux harbour was at 7am. The damage inflicted on the ships was quite severe, one ship's hull was severely pitted and two others needed several coats of fresh paint. Another vessel sank, though this was quite rightly attributed to being torpedoed six months later off the Norwegian coast.

The remaining crews now headed down river to scuttle their canoes and make their escape overland to Spain and back to Britain. Unfortunately, the heroes never made it to Spain never mind back to Blighty. Both crews were later found wholly inebriated by a 'wandering' German security patrol. Having holed up in a notorious nightspot the 'heroes in neoprene' were welcomed somewhat over-enthusiastically by the local clientele; certainly a distinctly novel dimension to the average serviceman's view of what constituted 'The Resistance'.

It is believed they died happy.

(ahem)

For the 'real' story, check it out here

"Of the many brave and dashing raids carried out by the men of Combined Operations Command, none was more courageous or imaginative than 'Operation Frankton'" - Earl Mountbatten of Burma.

The story was dramatised in the 1955 motion picture 'The Cockleshell Heroes' starring José Ferrer and Trevor Howard.

Ogwen, Aberglaslyn & Coccyx

2006-03-28T18:18:00.000+01:00

Well the first two are fantastic Welsh rivers and the last is my poor ole - whacked good style at the bottom of Ogwen Bank Falls; to witness in all its full glory, right click picture below and 'Save Target As...' to download (Windows Media 2.75Mb).

Great weekend; top paddling, top nosh, top company - oh yes, and the smattering of snow much upped the beauty of it all...

Or maybe the painkillers just enhanced my appreciation (ta Shaunie!)

One for the future - Cresta Run!

Remember - all good things come to those who wait...

Later;)

Where Men Are Men...

2005-11-30T17:34:00.000Z

And Sheep? Well, they're just worried!

Follow the progress of our intrepid Johnnie as he tackles one of the meccas of the paddling world: New Zealand. Check in with his blog here to catch up with some of his adventures.

Jammy Sod;)

Noah

2005-10-19T10:37:00.000+01:00

Abraham argues with God not to kill everyone in Sodom & Gomorrah. Moses pleads with God not to kill the worshippers of the golden calf. But God tells Noah to build a boat because He's going to flood the entire world, and what does Noah say? Not a word.

Not a word. What a bastard.

Home!

2005-09-16T10:36:00.000+01:00

Well, not much paddling happening for me right now, so taking a break from me endless physio I was recently lucky enough to get up to see Simple Minds perform an intimate gig in hometown Glasgow for a select audience of like-minded (sorry) nutters;)

Broadcast live on Radio Clyde 1, the set was made up from a mixture of tracks from their new album ‘Black & White 050505’ and old and new classics. Atmosphere was fantastic, music superb and the enclosed nature of the venue added to the occasion no end. Brilliant, just brilliant. If you want to hear the set list in its entirety, click on one of the images below…

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut is one of Glasgow's leading concert venues, renowned in Scotland as an exciting showcase for new and emerging bands and as the venue that supported some of the UK music industry's biggest names at the start of their careers: Radiohead, Manic Street Preachers, Blur, Travis, Pulp, The Verve and Oasis (first spotted and signed there). For more information on the venue and its history, click the logo below…

(Da New) Heroes Of Telemark

2005-09-12T10:34:00.000+01:00

Prior to my shoulder surgery (went well, phew!), da bhoys took a little sea cruise over to the Sjoa and Telemark regions for a spot of trouser-shredding derring-do. Check out our heroes blog here for some cracking Norwegian shots.

See ya out there (sometime soon...)

mon amis!

2005-05-24T10:33:00.000+01:00

Looks like I missed out on a great time in the French Alps; work, who needs it eh?

Well, the chaps are back looking a little tanned and toned but it looks as though they went all a bit 'native' out there...

Upper Coquet (or that's some bad hat, Harry!)

2005-04-08T10:29:00.000+01:00

[Upper Coquet put in - glen]

It's a cold and desolate place; bleak, desparing and untouched by the warmth of human presence. Well, enough about Glen's wardrobe... sometime in early January we managed a sortie down the Upper Coquet after several days worth of rain. With just enough to run without too much of a scrape this little favourite tucked away in the mist of Northumberland has the odd surprise to throw at the unwary and a nice technical finish with the 'S' bend rapids and Corkscrew Falls. Check it out in the guidebooks and if it's been raining hard, really hard, go there - oh, and take a set of splits, just in case...

[Corkscrew Falls, just behind me big head!]

Bonnie (Bunny?) Swimmin' - Part I

2005-03-31T10:26:00.000+01:00

Old habits die hard, and it's something of a family tradition to go swimming at Easter in the Scottish Glens. Who am I to disagree with such fine sentiment then?

(And boy, oh boy did I agree - *#"^%!)

[Middle drop, Triple Falls, Etive - jd]

Indeed, such was the pull of this noble pursuit that on many an occassion my fellow companions took up the charge with great gusto, and how proud I was; well, it almost brought a tear to my eye;)

[gotta happen sometime, right? - wayne on Letterbox, Etive]

[just a matter of time - paul on Letterbox, Etive]

(more images to follow...)

Heads Up

2005-03-31T10:25:00.000+01:00

Check out another cracking head cam clip of a foggy day at Mann's Creek (US), from the boys at Local Paddler.

Right-click logo above & 'Save Target As...' to download.

Visit Local Paddler.com for more good stuff...

Dart Chillin'

2005-02-24T17:13:00.000Z

The trek to Rivert Dart Country Park must always consist of the following: flapjack, wine gums, sarnies, latest footie stories, merciless pisstaking, an overdose of tottie banter and of course, the good ole' yes / no game;)
Friday then was no different, although much mirth was added thanks to the hippy smash on the M5 and the amazingly generous lady volvo driver who earlier decided to set the tone for the journey with a spot of fine style 'arborial parking' - many thanks;)

So to Saturday, bloated and weighed down from a bucket of corn flakes and a hearty english breakfast (thanks to the top grill man at the Dart Country Park) the Upper Dart beckoned...

[upright for a change - jd]

[euthanasia falls - shaun]

Levels were low; the area having experienced something of a 'drought' for this time of year but thankfully the 'Upper' holds its water for some time after rainfall. So the frequent bumps and scrapes from lurking boulders were to be expected, what wasn't was two (count 'em) pointless f*%"#ng swims.

[tidying up]

In the end though, after the blue mist had calmed down at least i hadn't lost another skull cap;)

[there, there]

The Upper Dart is generally considered the best Grade 4 paddle in the UK and on Saturday's evidence I wouldn't really disagree; a never ending series of technical boulder gardens interspersed by some challanging rapids and drops (in bigger water, the stoppers would be mightily impressive indeed). Vigilant scouting in and out of the boat a neccessity and given the water level, adequate spacing was the order of the day. It's always easier with help from those familiar with a particular river so big thumbs to our valiant crash test dummies; Tony (Mr. Benn), Mamba Darren and Wayne ("yeah, I know").

[Paul droppping in]

[who enjoyed today?]

[oh dear, lightweights!]

Top w/e but bloody freezin' - thank the lord for the Tea van (and Bob's cash) on the Loop get in!!

Keeping an eye on the future - 'East Lyn', ain't nothing but spectacular...

Sweet Spinnin'

2005-02-15T20:29:00.000Z

Newark Weir beckoned today - little bit more rain would've got the level up nicely, but I wasn't complaining. Whilst the weather did its usual song and dance from sunshine to hail in a matter of minutes (and back again) the local sugar beet factory added its own unique atmosphere to the day's surfing and spinning session.

Xmas Eve on The Greta

2005-01-03T17:04:00.000Z

Mugshot following a chilly Xmas Eve run down the River Greta in Teesdale.

Top day all round; great river with flips and swims for the unwary (oops), drops and rapids aplenty and superb scenery throughout. Definately one of those good days;)

Low Force

2004-12-12T20:30:00.000Z

After finally getting a little bit of strength back into my arm, it was time for a little test for the shoulder before the snow comes down and Christmas sets in. Right then, grab a mates boat and off; never paddled the high force - low force section before but what a cracking little stretch, loved every minute of it and bugger me, not a spanking in sight.

Headed back to the car, grinning ear to ear; top river, both arms still working and oh, how come I never got round to this gem before?

What It's All About

2004-11-04T10:26:00.000Z

Check out this great piece of film from the guys at 'Local Paddler'. Features some excellent headcam work and shows just how the stateside boys like to kick it back and enjoy the river.

Right-click logo above & 'Save Target As...' to download
(Requires Windows Media Player)

Visit Local Paddler.com for more good stuff...

Disconnected!

2004-11-01T09:39:00.000Z

What's the best way to start off a week-long Scottish holiday? Certainly not by dislocating your shoulder on the first day - bugger!!! Done it again then, though mercifully it went back in on the river this time and saved us all from a tortuous journey to the nearest A & E department.

On the Orchy enjoying a laugh before it all hit the fan.

Gonna get back soon as I can, but going to have a wee chat with a surgeon first...

10 Runs In A Day - Tryweryn Challenge!

2004-09-25T22:00:00.000+01:00

Busting out of the camp site at the crack of dawn and heading off for the long-awaited club challenge - 10 runs in a day at the mighty Tryweryn (with a sprint race midway through for good measure!!) all we could think about was another cup of tea and someway to avoid the callous-inducing hikes back up to the put in. Putting the runs in not a problem, but how much of a chore was it gonna be?

before after

Judging by the before and after photos it was a blast all-round; even sitting one out to let an injury calm down didn't put the dampers on the day; just gave me a chance to grab some of the action from our intrepid band of soap-dodgers.

Check out more images in the gallery pages...

New Gallery

2004-09-15T16:59:00.000+01:00

Hopefully, the new gallery will grow into something a bit more substantial, but for now check it out here: new gallery

Countryside Agency findings released...

2004-05-21T10:21:00.000+01:00

The Countryside Agency have released their findings for "A feasibility study on improving access for canoeing by voluntary agreement"

Download the research notes here - right click and "Save Target As..." to download .pdf file [58Kb]

Or visit the Rivers Access Campaign website for further details.