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We arrived at Symonds Yat on Saturday morning. Everyone except Martin
and Dr Dan was bright and ready having stayed locally overnight (even
Hils and Pete who had arrived at a campsite on Friday night to find group
singing going on, and fled to a hotel). Since I was last at Symonds Yat
East they've put in a 10-foot slide from the bank to the river, which
made launching more interesting. Even if I couldn't talk anyone into
doing it backwards.
We went through some skills on the flat bit - low-brace turns, support
strokes and ferry glides. Then we headed down for a quick go on the rapids,
to practice in moving water. Some practiced their techniques, others
did their best to paddle back up the rapid - though no-one that day managed
to get up the top wave. Then back to the cars for lunch. Lunch was on
a scenic patch of grass by the river, sharing orange and carrot muffins,
which were nicer than they sound. Rosie found a 4-leafed clover, which
had to be lucky, didn't it?
After lunch we scoured the gear shop, which had a sale on. Unfortunately
Dr Dan had already recently bought all the kit he needed. Back on the
water, the group split, as Hils led a group on a sight-seeing trip upstream,
while Dr Dan, Pete and Martin tried to see if there were any waves at
all to surf. There weren't, but not for lack of looking. After a while
there was a loud cry and Dan J appeared over the top, and he and the
others showed off their training by joining us in the eddy. On a ferry-glide,
Rosie demonstrated that probably we should have told her about edging
the other way as you enter an eddy. Best not to rely on multi-leaved
foliage to avoid a capsize, then. After a bit more playing we somehow
found ourselves in the pub, eating salmon and horseradish flavoured crisps.
Martin
All images ©2006 CSCC. Pictures by Martin S, Dan J, Peter and Hilary.
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