Andy's Blog

Mon-Star at Hurley…

Posted by Andy Wicks on March 9, 2010

0700 in the morning my alarm clock goes off. This is considerably earlier than it goes off for most week days yet this was a Sunday. The reason for this crazily early start? Aaron, of SquareRock has very kindly lent me his personal boat for a few hours and I was determined to make the most of it. I tried his boat at Holme Pierrepont a fortnight earlier and got on with it really well. However, I really wanted to test it out at what is arguably one of the best playspots in the country – Hurley Weir on the Thames.

Getting in the car at 0730 I discovered that the sandwiches I had organised for breakfast and left in the car overnight had started to freeze….. this was going to be a cold session! Pulling into the car park at Hurley about 40 minutes later I was surprised to discover it completely empty – something I don’t think I have ever seen before!

Despite the freezing temperature (it was -1 degrees when I got on the water), the sun was shining over a great three-gate level. I have said it before, but what a way to start a day!

Here is a little video I have put together of the session.

Ken

More photos from the session are available at http://photos.andywicks.com/Hurley7thMarch2010

Posted in Kayaking | Tagged: 3 gates, Hurley, Jackson Kayaks, Mon-Star, SquareRock | Leave a Comment »

How fortunate we are…

Posted by Andy Wicks on March 1, 2010

Paddling down the river on Sunday got me thinking about how fortunate we are as kayakers. Through seeking enjoyment from our sport we get to see places that other people would never normally get to see.

The particular rapid which made me think about this was Swallow Falls on the River Llugwy in North Wales. We paddled down to this rapid and inspected it from the river-left bank. As we were trying to find lines down the falls, you could not fail to notice the wooden walkways and viewing platforms on the other bank, put in so that members of the public can pay to view such a natural beauty. Many people believe that you have to travel to far flung destinations to see wonders of the natural world. Swallow Falls is just one example of why they are wrong.

I was up in North Wales, staying at Pen-y-Clogwyn in Betws-y-Coed, for the weekend with Martyn, Jethro, Dave and the two Emmas. Despite the weather forecasts predicting much-needed rain in the week preceeding our visit, the levels remained low and restricted our options for the weekend. Sat enjoying a beer or two on Friday night as we tried to keep warm, a decision to look at Swallow Falls the following day was made.

As we arrived at the get-in there was still snow laying on the ground meaning we were in for a cold day! Following the initial shock of the water temperature we very quickly found ourselves sat in eddies above the first fall. We all took a walk down the bank to check out whether we were up for running it and which lines we would be going for. It turned out that the third fall was very difficult to get a good view of from the path so it was necessary to climb down to water level – something that sounds a lot easier than it was as ropes were required to make a successful descent down the bank.

Martyn, Jethro and myself all came to the decision that the first fall didn’t look nice enough to run, but both the second and third falls were good to go.

The natural beauty that is Swallow Falls

Jethro went first, launching in to the pool immediately above the second fall before quickly disappearing over the edge for a successful descent. Martyn was up next and I came down last. Before running the third fall we had to wait for Dave and the two Emmas to make their way to river level to provide safety and camera cover.

Martyn at the top of the second fall

I went first over the final fall, making a boof off the top drop before sliding down the remainder of the fall. Martyn was again second down, with Jethro bringing up the rear.

Me boofing on the third fall

We all thought that would be the end of the excitment for the trip. Well, everyone except Martyn who was holding a trump card up his sleeve. As we were getting out above the Mincer – a rapid full of syphons and other nasty stuff – Martyn decided that everything was going a little too well and went for a little swim, immediately above one of the syphons! He very quickly got himself and his boat to the bank, although his paddles were sacrificed to the syhpon. Just as we were starting to re-group about ten minutes later, the sacrificed paddles reappeared from within the syphon and kindly beached themselves on a rock. Jethro was able to scramble along the rock face to retrieve them, much to Martyn’s relief!

The remainder of the run went smoothly and the remainder of the day spent in the pub watching England throw away any chance of a Grand Slam this year.

With more rain forecast for overnight, we were again optimistic that the levels would bring more rivers into contention for the following day. Waking early on Sunday morning to discover that most of the rain had not materialised, the decision to go looking for Cwm Llan was made. Cwm Llan is a steep, pool-drop run that resides a few kilometres up Snowdon. Unfortunately the levels were just too low to warrent carrying our boats up but it is definitely a run that has to be done when the levels allow. With scenary as shown in the photos below, it is definitely worth the walk up regardless of the water level!

The final fall of Cwm Llan

The view from the bottom of Cwm Llan

The weekend was topped off with a quick blast down the Dee which rounded the weekend off nicely.

More photos are available at http://photos.andywicks.com/swallowfallsandcwmllan

Posted in Kayaking | Tagged: Cwm Llan, Dee, Llugwy, Snowdon, Swallow Falls, Wales | 1 Comment »

Longleat Safari Park

Posted by Andy Wicks on February 17, 2010

On Sunday, Lindsay and I made a visit to Longleat Safari Park. Here are a selection of the photos we took.

A hungry giraffe

A football with legs and a head

A Common Eland

A posing Lioness

More photos are available at http://photos.andywicks.com/LongleatSafariPark

Posted in Kayaking | Tagged: Longleat, Longleat Safari Park, safari | Leave a Comment »

Simon’s Norway write-up…

Posted by Andy Wicks on January 21, 2010

Following on from our trip to Norway during the summer of 2009, Simon has written an article on his blog, during which he talks about how you don’t have to be a crazy-hardcore whitewater paddler for a trip there to be worthwhile…

Norway: Trolls, fjords, a-Ha and big scary grade 5 rivers. Having never been there, my entire knowledge of paddling in Norway was based on the tales of beat downs, multiple swims and other such carnage that friends had spoken about in hushed tones after a pint or two. Despite this, in my mind it still seemed to be a place every self respecting white water paddler should visit at least once.

Read the full article at: http://thedrownedfish.co.uk/2010/01/20/norway_without_the_gnarl/

Me on Ula Foss - my highlight of the trip

Posted in Holidays, Kayaking | Tagged: Kingfisher, Norway, TheDrownedFish | Leave a Comment »

Festive paddling on the moor…

Posted by Andy Wicks on December 31, 2009

After a thoroughly enjoyable Christmas I managed to escape for the day on Tuesday and headed to Dartmoor.

I had been watching the weather forecasts intently hoping that there would be enough water the bring the Dart up to an enjoyable level. On Monday afternoon the forecasts were looking very good for Tuesday, so I sent out a few messages on UKRGB trying to find people to paddle with. I was gracious when Chas replied to my message saying that he had a group heading down to the Dart on Tuesday and would be happy for me to come along.

Waking up on Tuesday I checked the Dartcom Weather Station which was showing about 12mm of rain had fallen overnight. It was looking good to go! Upon arrival at Newbridge the river was just lapping at the bottom of the ledge and it was continuing to rise. After meeting up with Chas and his group we headed up to Dartmeet and got on. It was obvious that the level here was about a foot higher than we had seen at Newbridge.

Paddling on downstream a couple of the more difficult rapids were inspected and portaged by some, and before long we had arrived at the Ledges. In higher water, the first of the ledges forms a particularly nasty almost river-wide stopper, which can be snuck past on hard river-right. We all got out to inspect this stopper and worked out our lines. A few of the group decided that they were going to portage downstream as far as Euthanasia. With our lines memorised, those paddling it walked back up to their boats and got back in. I went first and made it through without any issue. Ross (well, I think that was his name?) came next but got caught in an innocuous looking stopper just about the main one. As Ross managed to fight his way free Chris immediately dropped into the same stopper but was less fortunate. He ended up swimming and Chas was quickly upon him with a line to pull him into the bank. His boat quickly flushed and started to make its own way downstream. I set off chasing after the boat and Ross started making his way down the bank. Shortly above Euthanasia I decided solo chase-boating at this level wasn’t necessarily the best idea so started making my way downstream on foot. At Euthanasia I found another group who were looking at one of their boats which was firmly pinned in a tree just above where the rapid normally forms. At this level Euthanasia was almost unrecognisable (well, I ran past it without noticing first-time – it was only on the way back up that I twigged where the rapid was!). The other group realised that they were not going to be able to retrieve their boat and so continued downstream.

By this stage Ross and I had managed to meet up with each other so started to inspect what lay in front of us. Euthanasia looked quite scary with a difficult line to make. As we discussed we came to the conclusion that river left of the island looked a nicer line. Walking back to our boats we found Chas wandering down to us and discovered that the rest of the group had decided to walk out to Newbridge. Chas didn’t like the look of Euthanasia – either side of the island – and so portaged around it. Ross and I got back into our boats and launched out into the flow. The line down the left side of the island was tricky with trees and holes to avoid but we very quickly both made it to the bottom safely. Whilst we were sat in the eddy catching our breath Chas was in the process of discovering that the portage he had chosen was not as easy as it looked! Chas ferried across to us and continued his portage down past Surprise Surprise. Once again Ross and I peeled out of the eddy into the flow and we were very quickly in the midst of the lead-in to Surprise Surprise. At this level all the rocks in the centre were well covered and the line almost easier than it is at low flows. I almost came a-cropper as I took a brief play in a stopper just above the main part of the rapid, before escaping just in time to see Ross right on my tail. We ran the drop only a boat-length apart! Chas decided that the main part of the rapid was not as bad as first thought and certainly a lot easier than the last part of the portage!

Chas starting his run down Surprise Surprise

Chas in the middle of Surprise Surprise

The rest of the paddle down to Newbridge was uneventful, just fast and bouncy water to cope with! Just upstream of Newbridge we met up with the rest of the group, plus those who had decided not to paddle the Upper section. They had found Chris’s run-away boat already on the bank, so thank you to whoever rescued that for us. Back down at Newbridge the level had risen up. The ledge was well covered and the river almost flowing through the third arch.

We ended the day with a nice paddle down the Loop to Holne Bridge. Apart from a little swim from Gordan at Triple Step and a few rolls from others, the run down was uneventful and I found it quite relaxing – a nice end to the day

A few more photos are available at http://photos.andywicks.com/UpperDartDecember2009

Posted in Kayaking | Leave a Comment »

Long overdue…

Posted by Andy Wicks on December 9, 2009

Well, what can I say. It would appear that I have somewhat neglected this blog over the past few months – it has been three and half months since my last post! I am sure you will be glad to hear that this is not because I have fallen off the face of the earth or picked up an allergy to typing. I have been very busy clocking up the miles in my car travelling over a rather large chunk of the country. Since my last post I have visited Plymouth in the south-west, Brighton in the south-east, Frinton-on-Sea in the east and Birmingham in the north. Partly because of all this travelling, and partly due to a lack of water, my paddling since returning from Norway at the start of August has been limited. From 9th August through to the end of October, I only managed three weir sessions at either Chertsey and Boulters – a slight difference from three sessions per week I was managing earlier in the year!

Over the August bank holiday weekend one of those three sessions occurred when I took an old friend, Sam, to Boulters. I paddled with Sam when I first started kayaking but he has only been in a kayak once in the last seven years so this was going to be fun. He was quite nervous at first and required some assistance in launching into the river (a sneaky shove from behind helped with this) and then before he practice his roll (a sneaky shove proved worthwhile here too). His roll worked first time which meant he had no excuse not to go and play in the feature. It was great to be able to spend the day on the water with Sam and this is something I hope we can repeat again soon.

Sam deciding to go for a play

Me attempting a carthwheel

Going for a cartwheel

More photos are available at http://photos.andywicks.com/BoultersBankHoliday

Whilst I have not been paddling Lindsay has been introducing me to the delights that Sussex, and Brighton in particular, has to offer. At the start of November we spent an enjoyable day in Lewes where we had a wander around the old castle and were treated to fabulous views across the county. We were even treated to a dragonfly who perched right in front of us and let me take some photos.

Lewes Castle

The view from the top of Lewes Castle

A very trusting dragonfly

More photos are available at http://photos.andywicks.com/SussexInduction

To compliment our visit to London Zoo in July, we paid a visit to Whipsnade Zoo. We were yet again fortunate with the weather and managed to see all the animals we wanted to – even managing to fit in a picnic amongst the free-roaming Wallabies.

A very relaxed lemur

Baby elephant

A free-roaming wallaby where we ate lunch

Lindsay and I

More photos are available at http://photos.andywicks.com/WhipsnadeZoo

Back in Sussex, Lindsay took me for a walk around Devil’s Dyke. The wind was up which enticed many para-gliders to the top the steep sided hill. At times the sky above their launch site looked like it was filled with a swarm of insects!

Swarm of para-gliders

More para-gliders

Atmospheric sky

At the end of October I even managed to was able to introduce Lindsay to some of the beauty that the south-west has to offer when we paid a visit to Wellington for the weekend. We enjoyed a nice walk around Wellington Monument and savoured the views across the Quantock Hills to the Bristol Channel.

Wellington Monument

The autumnal view back to the car park

The start of November proved to be a bit of a turning point as since then I have managed to get out in my boat an average of once per week, starting with a chilly session at Chertsey on 7th November, Dartmoor for the Upper Tavy and Upper Dart on 14th November, Hambleden on 19th November, Hurley on 28th November and then Dartmoor again for the annual Gene17 Adventure Paddler Weekend over 5th and 6th December.

The session at Chertsey – my first in over a month – was my first cold-water session of the season. Luckily I had purchased my new drysuit (Typhoon Multisport 3) so I was kept toasty and warm, with the exception of my head. I seemed to spend a lot of time upside down and this lead to frequent cases of ‘icecream-head’! It was only a short session but it broke me back into cold-water paddling.

The day on Dartmoor was fitted in as part of a weekend visit back to see my family in Somerset. It rained heavily on the Friday which meant we were looking at high levels for the Saturday. Driving down the M5 on Saturday morning and seeing a considerable number of fields underwater indicated that some of the higher water runs became possible. Meeting at the Dartmoor Lodge for coffee and breakfast a plan for the day was hatched. We were to head across to the other side of the moor to tackle the Upper Tavy from Hill Bridge to Harford Bridge. I had done this run once before back in July 2008, but the advantage this time was that we had multiple cars – I wouldn’t have to run the three mile shuttle! From here we headed back across the moor to run the Upper Dart, hoping that we had left it long enough to drop down to a more sensible level. The run down the upper was thoroughly enjoyable and at a level which I had only done once before – back on the Gene17 APWE in 2007. When we got off we discovered that the river had risen and then fallen 6 inches whilst we on it, with the slab still well covered when we paddled onto it.

On 19th November, I had taken a day of holiday from work for my first Hurley session of the season. Unfortunately I arrived in the car park to find a couple of paddlers returning from the weir who informed me that the weir had dropped to one gate just a few minutes previously. My first session would have to wait. Instead we all headed up to Hambleden for some fast and bouncy surfing. The long lay off from surfing – my last session was back at the start of June – made itself felt after only a few rides as the muscles in my abdomen started to complain. After about an hour and a half my body was complaining too much so I headed home.

The following weekend was spent in Poole with Lindsay. This enabled us to take some time out from all the running around and just relax and enjoy ourselves. Following along from our visits to London and Whipsnade Zoos we made a visit to Monkey World. Here we were able to see Chimpanzees, Gibbons and Orang-utangs amongst others.

Chimpanzee

A chilly Orang-utang

Siamang Gibbons

More photos are available at http://photos.andywicks.com/MonkeyWorld

The last weekend in November was to be spent on a visit to Frinton-on-Sea with Lindsay to see my Grandparents. Linsday was not able to meet me until 11am on the Saturday so I seized the opportunity for a visit to Hurley. I managed to get on the water in time to see the sun rise above the horizon into the clear blue sky, whilst surfing a near-perfect three-gate Hurley, before heading home in time to be ready to head off as soon as Lindsay arrived. I could not think of a better way to start a weekend!

Posted in Kayaking | Tagged: Boulters, Brighton, Dartmoor, Devil's Dyke, Hambleden, Hurley, Lewes, Sussex, Tavy, Thames, Upper Dart, Wellington, Wellington Monument, Whipsnade Zoo | Leave a Comment »

Norway 2009

Posted by Andy Wicks on August 17, 2009

On 28th July 2009 12 paddlers made the journey from England to the whitewater mecca of Norway. 12 days and 3829 miles later we returned having managed 14 sections of river in 9 days. During the trip we paddled everything from very high volume on the Sjoa Playrun through to steep and technical on the Upper Jori, park-and-hucked on Ula Foss and walked into the Upper Asbjornia!

This is the video of our trip.

Photos from the trip are available at:
- http://photos.andywicks.com/Norway2009
- http://picasaweb.google.com/simon.knox/Norway2009

Posted in Holidays, Kayaking | Tagged: Kingfisher, Norway, video | 2 Comments »

Norway….here we come!

Posted by Andy Wicks on July 28, 2009

After almost ten months of planning and preparing we are finally en-route to Norway. We currently sat at Dover awaiting our ferry. We have managed 109 miles of our approx 1200 mile journey to our campsite in Norway.

Somehow we have managed to load all our clothes, camping kit, and paddling kit and still have loads of space in the car…. something that we might find useful during our long drive up.

Car loaded up and ready to go

Half-empty boot...maybe we are missing something?

Posted in Holidays, Kayaking | Tagged: Norway | Leave a Comment »

Getting some practice in…

Posted by Andy Wicks on July 12, 2009

In preparation for my upcoming trip to Norway – sixteen days and counting – I wanted to get some river-running practice in the boat I am going to be taking – my Jackson SuperHero. Despite all the rain we have experienced over the last couple of weeks, it has not been enough to bring up any rivers. This left only one option to get some river-running practice in – Canolfan Tryweryn. I was joined for the day by the Birketts – Emma and Dave. An enjoyable day was had by all and only one minor injury picked up….. Dave had a bit of play in the Ski Jump rapid – showing off to the crowd – before discovering that he couldn’t paddle out. In the ensuing attempts to escape his paddle blade came into contact with his face resulting in a minor cut to his eye-lid, which can be seen in one of the photos. Having hit himself in the face, he threw his paddles away and took a little swim!

A selection of photos are shown below – for more visit http://photos.andywicks.com/TrywerynJuly2009

Me preparing to run Miss Davies' Bridge rapid

Me running Miss Davies' Bridge rapid

Dave and I after running Miss Davies' Bridge rapid

Dave taking off part-way down Ski Jump

Emma running into Ski Jump

Dave following his little swim

Posted in Kayaking | Tagged: swim, tryweryn | Leave a Comment »

Surfing a pancake…

Posted by Andy Wicks on July 12, 2009

For numerous reasons there was no traditional uni trip to the French Alps this year. However, we were still determined to have a trip to the sunshine to mark the end of the year. A couple of months ago we decided to run a trip to a beach in South Wales for some kayak surfing action – a trip which was duly organised by Emma P.

The weekend was drawing closer and both the weather and surf forecasts were looking decidedly less than favourable. The surf forecasts were predicting pretty much no surf all weekend and the weather forecasts was predicting somewhere between showers and horrendous storms! Thankfully at least one of those forecasts was partially wrong, as we were blessed with almost cloudless skies for the majority of Saturday.

Due to an AC/DC concert taking place at Wembley on Friday and everyone going there clogging up my drive home from Northampton we didn’t end up arriving at Hill End Camp-site until about half-past eleven. After watching Emma quickly putting up the tent we headed down to the beach to meet the others – most of whom had been drinking for quite a few hours by the time we got there! A sedate few hours were spent catching up whilst enjoying a few beers.

Saturday started off way too early – Emma woke up at eight o’clock and decided that it was time we were all up! Looking towards the sky it seemed that the weather forecasters were going to be proven correct as all we could see was a blanket of cloud. A quick trip to the cafe for breakfast was required before heading into Llangennith to experience the local market. This was followed by a day spent mostly enjoying the sunshine on the beach – a spot of rounders, some reading and a swim in the sea. A couple of us also managed to get out on the sea in our boats, attempting to surf what can only loosely be described as ‘waves’ as they were almost non-existent.

Saturday night was spent around a camp-fire on the beach. On of the group had brought along some Fire Poi and much fun was had playing with this, and the accompanying paraffin…. fire breathing… fire balls… all very silly (not to mention dangerous) but great fun none-the-less.

Sunday morning arrived and we were greeted with cloud-covered skies, but after a hearty breakfast at the on-site cafe, we again headed to the beach. As the weather was not as warm as the previous day, trousers and jumpers were more in fashion than the boardies and bikinis of the day before. In addition to the clouds, the wind had also picked up. This allowed Jethro to get his kite out for some entertainment. It turned out that his kite had quite a bit of power – certainly enough to drag me across the beach no matter how hard I tried to remain in full control.

Below are a selection of photos from the weekend – more are available at http://photos.andywicks.com/SouthWalesSurfing