How to organise a trip:

Step 1 - Choose a river.

Step 2 - Find accommodation

Step 3 - Book a minibus

... so for the weekend of 2nd to 4th November that would be

1. The River Usk

2. Camping at Llangorse Lake, complete with fireworks and cheap bar.

3. 1 student union bus.

Problem 1 - The Usk was closed due to Foot and Mouth

Problem 2 - The campsite was flooded and the hire caravans were fully booked because the cheap bar and fireworks were too popular.

Problem 3 - The trip was too popular and we needed another minibus but LGBT booked the other 2.

Solution 1 - We did an easy section of the Wye.

Solution 2 - We found a cheap bunkhouse to stay, 5 miles into the middle of nowhere, not to mention the hills and narrow roads and no pub within walking distance.

Solution 3 - We booked a hire bus and found some more drivers. All this and the trip hadn't even started yet! Friday pm Some really nice members of the club with nothing better to do turned up to load the minibus before the rest of us got there. The result was that we left campus with minimum faff and on time! 1 hour later, the hire bus started to sound like a two-stroke lawnmower and worse still, it was actually going at roughly the same speed as a two-stroke lawnmower. Foot to the floor, downhill and we're still only going at 40 mph. Phone call to Lucy and the other bus.... "Lucy, our minibus might be about to break down" "Fuck a stoat" After that helpful piece of advice Lee and Mat B got out and wiggled some cables under the bonnet. Having exhausted their combined knowledge and experience of minibus maintenance they got back in the bus. RESULT! - the bus was fixed! Several hours and a Burger King later we turned off an A road (and the navigating by road atlas) and onto a progressively narrower, hilly (understatement) road (and navigating by photocopy of OS map). 20 minutes later we arrived in the middle of nowhere, locally know as Llaneglwys (but for obvious reasons never pronounced as anything other than Middle-of-nowhere.) From what I've heard, the uni minibus experience was much the same as that of the hire bus except subtract the near brake down and add 2 stops for fuel, a couple of crates of beer, the inevitable endless toilet stops, too many drunken, slurred "when you get to the phone box, turn left up the hill"'s and only an hour and a half extra! Having accidentally drunken all the alcohol before our arrival, the partying on Friday was short lived - until about 2:30am when we all fell into bed except Lucy who fell onto the sofa. Four and a half hours later, and in one of the earliest known starts on a canoe trip (excluding the Dee) everyone eagerly got up to a delicious (not), fully cooked (kind of!) full English breakfast (minus the bacon and mushrooms 'cause their too expensive and if you want your own Nic, you can buy them yourself!)

We were out of the centre by 8:20 and on our way to the river to start the first of two runs because there were soooo many of us! We had even organised groups before hand! Everything was going smoothly UNTIL we realised we couldn't find a suitable spot to get off. Faff set in. The pace slowed. Everyone got restless. Eventually, thanks to a pre-made hole in a fence, we were sorted again. We arrive at Buith Wells, got changed, had a quick safety talk ("avoid all trees and if you're heading for a rock, hug it!") and get on the river. With most of the Poly missing it was on opportunity for last years freshers to get some experience seconding for the first time. Thankfully, except for a couple of swims (not from the seconds), it all went well. Soon we were back up at Buith to run the river for the second time. We had a few more swims, including Amir who is now very familiar with breaking in and out and of eddy lines and someone who instead of hugging a rock, managed to plonk their boat on top of it - and the an almost inevitable swim that ensued. (Maybe that was Sunday, I can't remember and don't really care. What's important is that nothing held us up from getting into Brecon for dinner.)

Later we found ourselves on top of a toilet building watching fireworks across the river - very picturesque. Even later we found ourselves back in the Middle-of-nowhere with some beer bought in the Brecon Safeway's after the fireworks. Everyone had a lovely time getting pissed, some more than others. Silly games ensued - some sad individuals never did get the spoons game. We even had a nature quiz! It was about this time and in response to a suggestion made by someone on the other side of the room that a drunken and very tired Alex mumbled en route to bed that he'd rather take Iain than me with him! (I'll try not to take it personally, Alex.) Iain decided he needed some fresh air which happened to coincide with Lucy and Scott also deciding to go outside. They came back in with chronic munchies and along with Mat S and Simon (who had overexerted themselves bundling Katie) decided to raid the kitchen for toast and cornflakes. Mat and Simon had a margarine fight. I went to bed.

7:15am Sunday morning. Everyone (except Simon and Iain who both vowed they were never getting up) came down, not quite as eagerly as the morning before to a not quite so cooked and definitely not quite so full breakfast. (I'd forgotten to buy more eggs and extra sausages on Saturday and despite now having tomato ketchup and margarine for the toast, we were a bit short on bread after the night before.) The strangest thing was that not everyone shared my enthusiasm for mars bars and maltesers as a good thing to have with beans, sausages and toast for breakfast - their loss! Faff struck again as we tried to work out how to do just one run of the river. It was impossible. Despite the hangovers, sleep deprivation and near food poisoning, we were soon on the river again, having a laugh, making rafts, falling off rafts, getting generally cold and wet. Lucky for us there was a pub at the get out (although a bit cruel for those who had go and run the river for a second time.) The rest of us posed in front of a "hump" road sign as several other canoe clubs looked on in what can only be described as a deep jealousy for our obvious insanity. After such excitement we went into the pub for lunch except the pub had run out of lunch by the time it came to my turn to be served! Meanwhile Lucy wrote an essay back in the Middle-of-nowhere while organising those who had decided not to paddle to clear up after the night before. The journey home was uneventful so I won't write about it. Apart from anything else, this trip report is long enough already. Thanks to everyone who went on the trip, the freshers who were mad enough to try canoeing, the leads and seconds and also the drivers (particularly Giles for not falling asleep on the M23). See you all at the Barle.

By Lindsay