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| Reviews & Photos | Teifi 20-22 January 2012 | |||||
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After a week of rain, we were all psyched to head off to Wales for some kayaking on the River Teifi. The journey started ominously with a trip to Halfords to fix the minibus before we took it all the way across the country, but once the young, female shop assistant had embarrassed all the lads by fixing the headlights for them, we were away, to the quality tunes of Busted and S Club 7. Before long, the first-timers were complaining about how long it was taking – apparently they hadn't realised that Wales is really, really far away – and so us seasoned kayakers (myself, Simon and Wayne) took it upon us to entertain them with a classic game of E spy with my little O. This entertained us (though possibly not them!) all the way to Llandysul despite only being able to see 4 things: Road, Sign, Trees and Cars, although there were the occasional highlights of Bus Stop, Bus W*****s and Llarmarthen (Note: Katie thought Carmarthen started with double L). Unfortunately we made it to Llandysul before anyone killed Simon or Wayne, but on the plus side none of the first-timers had jumped out the bus, and our trusty counterparts, who had arrived by car an hour earlier, had kept the bar busy enough for it to still be open when we rocked up at past midnight. It was only when we had finally dragged everyone out of bed the next morning and got to the get-on, that we realised that lots of rain in Brighton, doesn't necessarily mean lots of rain in Wales. After spending a while unenthusiastically inspecting the river bed of the River Gwili, Lee decided that it was just about runnable, and we set off. It turned out to be quite good fun, if a bit scrapey, with a couple of harder bits, and lots and lots of rocks to get pinned on. There were a few swimmers, and I managed to put a hole through my boat, but otherwise it was bouncier than we thought, with a fun grade III to finish off. Off the water, we had a typical canoe club pub dinner, and then proceeded to make ourselves at home in the bar with several rounds of random shots and lots of pool and drinking games. Jen and Lee introduced us to some new games, which got Deanna flirting outrageously with the barman (all part of the game apparently), and everyone else pretending to climb the walls like geckos, skipping to and from the bar, and adding In My Pants to the end of every sentence. Before we knew it, No Trouser Hour had come and gone, though only Matt and Useless seemed to take part, and we were stumbling back in the general direction of the bunkhouse. Once back, the fun continued until about 4 in the morning, with lots singing and Jugs of Doom, before most of us went to bed. There's still an ongoing inquiry as to whether Sammy and Useless Matt went to bed at all, and the identity of the person found sleeping naked on a toilet is still unknown... Fortunately the next day's river (the River Teifi) had more water and looked like more fun, starting with the grade III slalom course. Unfortunately, upon seeing the aforesaid fun, most people looked like they might throw up, or at the very least fall asleep in their boats. Nevertheless we eventually got on, and paddled the course with remarkably few swims and Graham impressed everyone by doing his first river-roll in Rosie's hole – the rapid which caused myself and all of Simon's group to swim in quick succession! After that we could lie back and pretty much float down the rest of the river, with a bit of faff as most of us portaged the recirculating weir where the only line through was blocked by a handy tree. We finished off at Hellan Falls where half the people got out and dry, and the rest of us brave (stupid?) kayakers ran the grade IV drop with mixed results. Lee went first, handling it like a pro, shortly followed by James, who threw his paddles away rather than put in a support stroke, resulting in the first swim. Then Simon and a few others bobbed down as if it was a mere ripple, followed by Nick who swam at the bottom, me who handled the drop fine, only to swim on the flat, and Graham, who went over on the run-up and very nearly swam down the wrong drop onto a nice landing of rocks! We finished off the trip with roast dinner at Wetherspoons, and fortunately for everyone, we slept most of the way home (and didn't breakdown!) so the bus didn't have to put up with too much I-Spy. By Katie Hedgecock |