canoeing, kayaking and other adventures: December 2005

Ever see a sunshower in December? Only in the UK, where they boast all four seasons in one day. The view from our front window was marvelous.

Happy Hogmanay -- Edinburgh's Night Afore International

Edinburgh's Night Afore featured pipers, people towers, the world's largest Strip the Willow, tap dancing, dancing dinosaurs, more pipers, and a rock piper, blending the Catalonian traditions with the Scottish.

The Castellers were a troupe of Catalonian performers who build human towers. When we gave up getting past the traffic jam at the tap dancing stage, we were treated to two of their towers. They stacked people from the heaviest at the bottom to the lightest (the children) at the top. The amazement of the crowd was funny. "Look at the wee lasses!" "Oh look at the babies!" as the smallest girls made the tallest climb. The first tower was a single stack of four people. The second tower was a taller, thicker stack. They took a break and joined in the traditional Scottish dancing for a while.

Strip the Willow is a traditional Scottish line dance. Eight pairs form two lines facing each other. Then the pairs take turns spinning down the lines alternating a spin with their partner along the way. In the street party setting, it quickly degenerated to spinning chaos, which perhaps was more fun. Many people spun longer than the eight required, just for laughs and perhaps dizziness. One guy said, "Somebody... make... the... band... stop..." as he spun past me. Was it a Strip the Willow worthy of the record books? The target number was 15,000. Time will tell if we made it.

After Strip the Willow, the Castellers went for tower number three, with support (literally) from the crowd at the base. Like before, the tower stacked with the biggest people at the base and the smallest at the top. The smallest were the children. Two young girls, no older than four or five crawled up the top, crossed over and climbed down the opposite sides.

We wandered down to the middle stage and were treated to dancing dinosaurs that "hatched" from a giant egg on the stage. The dinosaurs danced their way to the exit forcing the crowds to part along their path. We followed the pipers down one of the side streets and found ourselves confronted by dragons on stilts, a stilted band and a performance by a rock and roll bagpiper. Sensory overload seems an exaggeration, but that's not a complaint.

The pipers lead the parade to George Street.

The Castellers finish their big tower.

The wee lasses climb...

to complete the tower.

It's a giant egg.

The dinosaurs used size and fire to dance their way through the crowd.

A dinosaur dances past the Christmas tree.

a dragon on stilts

Ever see bagpipes in a rock band?

Happy Hogmanay from Edinburgh!

The Hogmanay festival kicked off with the Torchlight Procession. Fake Vikings (the Up Helly'AA Vikings from Lerwick) led the way with a wooden boat doused in something that smelled like lighter fluid. Accompanied by pipers, drummers and a brass band along the route, the procession wound from St. Giles Cathedral on the Royal Mile, down the Mound, along Princes Street and up Calton Hill. A Highland Coo effigy loomed atop the hill. The boat was set ablaze and as the fireworks began, the coo was lit from its backside. Sarcastic and real ooo's and aaa's surrounded us as we held our torches and watched the fire grow. When the coo was fully ablaze, it lurched its head forward. The crowd appeared to take it as a sign the party was over, so I finally got a full glimpse of burning straw coo. We paid our respects to the boat blaze and called it a night. Rumor has it, the locals leave during Hogmanay, or at least stay far far away from Princes Street. In the next few days, we'll see if there's a reason for the rumor.

The fireworks began when the Highland Coo was set ablaze.

The Up Helly'AA Vikings from Shetland mill about the Christmas tree before beginning the procession with the boat.

It's an interesting walk from the layby to the get-in eddy on the River Ericht.

The boats sort of led us down to the get-in.

Here I am looking sharp just before the paddlesnake forced the fateful swim.

The Ericht Gorge

The view from the get-out above the unfriendly weir.

My first rapid in C-1: the broken weir on the River Tay

My survival shot: no swims for a first attempt!

Bram & Amy enjoy The Last Wave

River Ericht – Part 2 of the Deferred Double-Header – 18/12/05

More plotting and scheming led to a return to the River Ericht by Bram, Amy and myself that Lucas again had to decline. The level was “significantly” lower than the scouting mission the previous week, but we decided to see if we had enough water the hard way, by paddling it anyway.

Rocks were visible in the stretch from the weir to the grade 5 hazard that most people don’t run, but lines were still evident through it all. Pins would be the biggest hazard, or perhaps portages, since more injuries happen on the side of rivers than on the rivers themselves. With me making attempt 2 in the Atom, I would only be marginally useful in a boat.

The get-out has a lovely car park above the well-groomed path to the old mills that line the river below and just above the weir. The get-in has a layby along the road, just past a bridge, followed by a hundred yard hike/bushwhack down a steep hill to the get-in eddy. Nothing like a fifty pound boat to make the hike even more precarious. Amy took a few pictures along the hike. A wee dusting of snow coated the trees, shrubs and detritus along the path down, forming exhibit 1 of why we were crazy to be paddling.

Amy and Bram tried their luck with the first wee stopper of the day as I got used to the idea of creeking with the occasional hint of control. After a few minutes of play, we headed downstream. I caught every eddy that looked inviting and a few decided to catch me. Ferry glides and breakouts to the left were easier than their right side counterparts. It was very much like my first few trips in my solo canoe, except that I felt less keen to try my luck with C-2 to get over the offside tentativeness.

Grade 1/1+ eddy hopping soon picked up to grade 2- eddy hopping. I found myself remembering a summer surprise trip on Clear Creek with Diann, Woody and Rick. Minus the forty degree temperature difference (akin to 65 degrees if your brain works in Fahrenheit), the intimacy of the canyon, the scale of the rapids and the complexity of the rock dodging felt quite similar.

One particularly rocky grade 2 rapid gave me my first swim from the Atom. I was doing fine negotiating the rocks. Amy took a picture of me looking like a stud just before a rock jumped out from nowhere and knocked me to my offside just past my point of balance. A high brace is really just high-siding if one omits the hip flick. I found myself upside down rather quickly and I fell out of the boat before I could make up my mind between attempting a roll and pulling the loop on the spray deck.

My cold swim earned me some soup and hot tea, and oddly enough, I felt more comfortable being in the C-1 afterwards. I knew I could get out. So I didn’t lose that confidence, I hopped back in and went straight back to ferry gliding and catching eddies. We continued downriver for more rock jumbles. Bram continued running scout and I alternated with Amy for second or last, usually opting for last. A few good rapids later, I continued feeling good in the C-1.

Based on the guidebook’s description, we found ourselves on the lookout for a broken weir as the next big hazard. Having no mileage/kilometrage as a reference, we could only guess at where it may be. Any still pool became old weir potential. We passed under the A93 bridge at the widest part of the river and all bets were on weir. The river constricted again with no weir, but at a convoluted rock jumble that Bram went ahead to scout.

Bram took quite some time to scout as Amy and I lingered in our eddies of choice. I decided I needed a look, too, if he was taking that long, so both of us floated down to join him. I had drived downstream into a big congestion of arm-height rocks, and required some creativity to push myself back into the current. As I looked at the rapid, Bram pointed to the top line that looked easy enough and then to the bottom options. Left good, right bad was the basic description. Right was clearly bad, as it was a fairly steep drop into an obvious stopper. Left was not clearly good. It had a more gradual slope, but the big boulder dividing left from right made left very difficult to see. I chose the far right portage, but first I would sit with a rope while Bram and Amy ran the entrance.

A wee accumulation of ice in the eddies formed exhibit 2 of why we were crazy to be paddling. Too late for that now. I continued my careful wade to the best big boulder to set safety. From this perspective, the first drop was fairly straightforward, but the second drop was still more of a mystery than a clear scout. Amy followed Bram and they caught the eddy below my rock. Approaching drop number two, Amy followed too closely and both appeared to do more bouncing off rocks and each other than actual paddling. They made it safely to the bottom and then helped me carry my boat. On that hike, I noticed the rather large pinning rock on the right side of the “good line” and felt better for my decision to portage.

A few more wee rapids later, after however many false alarms, we found the broken out weir that the guidebook warned about. Bram got out to scout and decided he could shove both Amy and me through the chicken chute rather than test our luck with the main jumble of rocks and water. He followed, and the quicker pace continued.

The constriction of water toward the left suggested we had reached the second to last rapid according to our previous scouting excursion. The mill on the right beyond the pile of rocks confirmed it. Bram decided we would drag rather than scout and run, which was easy enough. I used my towing harness for the first time to drag my boat most of the way over the rocks, feeling pleased with my ability to use it for its almost intended purpose.

The last rapid was another read, run and scrape pile of rocks and water. In case the sight of white and the low roar of fast water weren’t enough to notice the rapid, a large grayish blue pipe spanned the width of the river maybe fifty feet above. Bram and Amy ran ahead as I loped along in the Atom. At the entrance I realised I was sitting at a bit of an angle, so I had no problem turning to the left, even when I wanted to go straight. The rapid became a wee more stressful as I turned left “intentionally” away the best flow and had to figure out Plan B. There wasn’t enough water for a proper break-out. Plan B materialised as a scrape across a rock followed by a ferry glide across to another good line that turned out to be much more straightforward until I performed a perfect slow motion crash into the big boulder at the bottom. Except for that last bit, I think I hit fewer rocks than Bram or Amy. Definitely combined, but perhaps each. If hitting the big boulder doesn’t carry anti-bonus points, it should.

The downside of the get-out being above the weir is the long heavily-laden walk up to the car park. The upside is it offers a first opportunity to warm up with a wee cardio workout. Amy decided that boats need names, especially after, weeks ago, I dubbed Bram’s C-1 The Spud. She dubbed the Atom The Tank, since aside from self-sufficiency on the flat part, I needed help hauling it up the hills.

After changing, faffing and retrieving vehicles, we set out for Dundee to check out the pool with all the water slides, since Amy heard it might be closing down forever. Two Tesco’s, a bit of driving in between, and then a mall excursion, we found the pool was closed, perhaps forever or perhaps for it being a Sunday evening, so we retreated to Bram’s again for tea and dinner. This time, Lucas didn’t join us and Momo decided to prowl instead of lounge. Both missed out on a yummy vegetable stir fry and a cozy fire.

River Tay (Stanley) from the Beginner’s Perspective – 10/12/05

A flurry of text messages and phone calls led to a half-baked plan to do a river double-header in almost-winter Scotland. Bram, Amy and I would run the River Tay at Stanley to give me a proper beginner’s christening in C-1, and then we would head to the River Ericht at Blairgowrie for a wee taste of something harder. After the paddle, we would retreat to Bram’s cottage in St. Andrews for tea and perhaps dinner, and Lucas would join us there by train. It was a brilliant plan, except for it being the tenth of December, where daylight greets us at half eight and twilight returns before four. As we rolled from Edinburgh after sunrise, only the River Tay was in the paddling cards for us that day.

Still, the River Tay was a perfect introduction to the joys of C-1. Having seen it twice already, once in the range of high and flood and a second time at more of a medium flow, I knew the river well enough and felt comfortable enough drifting downstream with a hint of control here and there. We met Bram at the get-out, which offers a more luxurious area for changing than the get-in, and then piled boats and bodies into Bram’s car to head to the get-in. We found a few open boaters getting ready there and enjoyed a wee chat before setting off ourselves.

Like our Pakboat trip, the river was low enough that paddling upstream was possible. We didn’t go as far up as the portage to the whirlpools, but far enough for some swift current and eddies. I did ok with awkward break-ins and break-outs, and I even managed to turn a bad break-in into a surf, but the ferry glide across the swift current didn’t work out as well as it could. Starting from far river right, it took me at least a hundred yards and a spin or two to get close enough to the river left eddy to give up and float downstream. Another time. Being in control on Day 1 wasn’t really an expectation of mine.

Downstream from the get-in was the biggest rapid of the day, the weir that the fishermen didn’t completely destroy. I was nervous, but confident enough to try my luck with the centre line. Again, the far left line that we chose on the high-to-flood trip was dry. Both Amy and Bram caught the big eddy on the right just after the big drop. I didn’t even look at it, and instead concentrated on surviving the big wave train. I found myself surprised at how easily I rode through the wave train. I didn’t even bobble. I did learn that if you lean back a little, the boat crests the waves even easier.

After a successful path through the wave train, I decided to find a river left eddy, leaving the big eddy where we nearly impaled Emily on the last trip as sort of a last resort eddy. Each time I saw a potential eddy, I saw a stopper below it that I didn’t want to test. I’d paddle left a little and then paddle right a wee harder. I thought twice doesn’t really count as a pattern as I caught the Emily-impaling eddy and waited for Bram and Amy to catch up. Since they were far enough behind, I decided to stretch out my legs. Patrick Wilson’s suggestion that I get used to not feeling my legs was spot on as I half-crawled, half-slithered onto the river bank for a wee rest. My legs took at least a minute to get to where I felt safe putting weight on them. So what did I do at that point? I hopped back in the boat and put them back to sleep.

Post-weir, the river offers a series of wave trains, with most of the best being on river left. As we headed downstream, I caught the occasional eddy with very little bobbling. Bram and Amy caught more, so either I was way ahead as scout or way behind as sweep. The only remaining challenge of a rapid was the last one, and only because I thought it might be awkward, so I enjoyed catching friendly eddies along the rapids in between. Amy had an awkward day of half-playing because she was determined not to flip and therefore tentative with edging and therefore getting played by the water more than she wanted. Funny how that works.

The last rapid of the day proved easy enough. Bram and Amy attempted to surf, but I just plowed through to the bottom. I solved a wee bobble with a short low brace, and arrived triumphantly at the get-out with no swims to my name. They continued down to the surf spot for one last go before the long carry up and out.

I discovered that the Atom is significantly heavier than any kayak I have ever paddled. Like the canoe, there was no way I could carry it up the steep parts without hurting myself. Amy helped for a while and then Bram, perhaps feeling guilty, stepped in. We changed clothes partially, loaded boats and then headed to have a look at the Ericht and perhaps a go at paddling it.

Between the faffing and the late start, we arrived at the River Ericht after 2pm. From the get-out car park, it’s a short hike down to a footbridge across the river that offers optimal guessing at the water level. If the rocks are all underwater, the river is runnable. The degree of rock exposure determines the degree of scraping along the run. From the mandatory portage weir down to the grade 5 it could kill you Linn, all of the rocks were underwater. The Ericht was running. I could tell both Amy and Bram were keen to have a go, but I was concerned about the daylight. We talked through the math of current time to sunset to corrected gorge sunset and I felt guilty making the decision against running it. We decided to walk a bit and scout the last stretch for a future run. We walked up past the weir, examined a few rapids and located the get-out eddy before returning to the cars. That trek took maybe twenty minutes. Then we drove to scout the get-in and along the way the darkness started to creep in. I felt a hundred percent better about my decision as we reached the get-in layby and examined the long pitch down to the invisible get-in. There would be other days and, based on the limited views between the get-out and get-in, I was keen to find one of those days sooner rather than later.

Somewhere between the villages of Stanley and Blairgowrie, I realised that I had unplugged the phone that morning to check water levels without waking Lucas. I hoped that he would notice the lack of dialtone and then notice the lack of connection to the wall, rather than just wait for me to come home to tell me the phone was broken. Guiltily, I helped with the shopping for dinner food, pushing Amy through the store in the shopping cart as the other patrons gawked and whispered.

On the drive between the Dundee Tesco and Bram’s cottage, Lucas made the discovery about the phone, corrected it and phoned. We talked him the rest of the way into joining us. The plan had him phoning us upon arrival so we could retrieve him from the station. In the meantime, we drank tea, prepared dinner, snacked and played with fire. After about half an hour of our presence, Momo the cat decided to investigate us a little closer. As the guacamole was prepared in the kitchen, she found herself torn between continued back scratching if she stayed in my lap or potential treat if she abandoned her position. Unbeknownst to her, the treat was for us, not her, but she chose the wiser of the options anyway.

Just before dinner was complete, Bram decided to go to the train anyway to see if Lucas was there. If he caught the early train (unlikely) he would have been waiting a while. If he caught the later train, he would be arriving, or waiting already. He returned and we enjoyed a nice dinner followed by some quality lounging time by the fire. More trips need to end like this.

Happy Christmas!

My Charlie Brown Christmas tree is decorated for the season!

Another Tandem Trip to the Teith – 4/12/05

After a few weeks of miscommunications, busy schedules and unexpected cooties, we found our way to the River Teith for an open canoe trip with Amy and Bram. As with the last trip, Saturday’s weather varied between rain and wind with the clouds hiding any rays of sunshine and the clouds parted for a beautiful, if chilly, Sunday. We were grateful for the sunshine.

Everybody ran late that morning. We couldn’t find all of the stuff we wanted to bring, specifically the large blue dry bag, so we were grateful when Amy was running late. Hints of sunrise followed as we drove to the boat shed to meet Derek. After we arrived at the get-in and Amy went to find her bacon butties, Bram called to say he was on his way, i.e., late as well, so we had plenty of time to assemble the Pakboat as well as explain how it worked to the occasional curious onlooker. Once it was assembled and so were we, Bram called again to say he was almost there, so Amy drove to meet him at the get-out. I think we were in the boats heading downstream by noon.

The river was much lower than the last trip, so in a way it was a different river. The wee shingle rapids were still there, but they had more rocks this time. We found a few. Amy and Bram had a good opportunity to practice catching eddies in slow to moderate current. They found that right turns (Bram’s on side) were easier than left turns (Amy’s on side). Since Amy was in the bow and Bram was in the stern, Bram won. Right break outs went reasonably well and left break outs ranged from awkward to cartoonish. Aside from the m-broach on an otherwise easy rocky shingle, our eddy hopping went rather well. We still need practice with the left turns, but a few worked.

We stopped for lunch at what our stomachs suggested was the halfway mark. Lunch for us included fish cakes and other goodies. Bram shared some sweetened rooibos tea with me. It was the same tea Amy had fed me at the weekend away and it is my new favourite tea. Lucas brought birthday cake for me. Chocolate on chocolate. Mmmmm….

After lunch, we continued downriver. As on the last trip, the rapids pick up as the run progresses. The first of the bigger rapids has an island and a rather large boulder in the middle. Routes go either side of the big rock and a challenging move is to hit the big eddy behind the rock. The current is moving rather swiftly there, and the river left approach is a wee bit awkward because of the shape of the boulder on that side. We got a little offline approaching from the left so I needed a dynamic offside draw to help us finish the breakout without impaling any of the kayakers already in the eddy. We had seen this group arrive at the other car park at the get-in while we were assembling the Pakboat. They must have enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before paddling, because they were barely ahead of us on the run itself and our faff factor was pretty high. Bram and Amy missed the eddy completely, so we continued after them after a couple of quick hellos with the kayakers. We caught up to them when they had forced their way into a river left eddy among a bunch of low-hanging branches. We passed on the impaling branches, so they had to catch up with us.

Next up was the wee rapid at another island where the river left channel is better but has a strainer that got Amy’s attention on the last trip. We took the right channel. Amy and Bram tried to catch the left eddy at the top of the channel and ended up beaching the boat on the island instead. Oops.

At the next big friendly eddy, I tried to explain to Amy how to do the bow part of the left break-out, but since Bram hadn’t figured out the sweep on the right, it still didn’t work real well. With practice…

The last rapid of the day is the most fun. The approach rapid is a small (but not quite wee) wave train with a big river right eddy that allows for good scouting of the big drop. We nailed the breakout to hit that eddy high, but to do my part, I ended up heaving myself across the canoe to get a good crossover draw. My poor knee didn’t appreciate it, but we were in the eddy. Bram tried to drive Amy through the tree to get in below us. It worked, but not without a wee scream from Amy. The best line on the big rapid is river left, so either a dynamic break in or a good ferry glide will get you across river from the scouting eddy.

The kayakers were playing in the waves below. When we started our approach, they started pointing, telling us where to go. They pointed for a really long time, so I guess they didn’t realize canoe visibility is better than kayak visibility. The line was crystal clear. We hit it perfectly, although I missed my timing on the backstroke so we took some water along with us. Bram and Amy hit it just fine, too.

We caught the big eddy below and tried our luck at surfing. There’s an awkward wee stopper in the washout from the drop. The kayakers were doing spins and popups on it, but not really staying on it. We ferry glided across to it and then got thrown to the river left bank. I guess it wasn’t in the mood to be a surfing hole.

The last time we were on the Teith, the big rapid followed with a second part of boogie water and waves. This time, it was flat with the occasional rock. We drifted and paddled the rest of the way to the get-out. The water level at the stick gauge read a few inches below 1 ft.

I believe our corruption has begun. Amy and Bram enjoyed the open boat immensely and both of them are looking forward to learning a bit of control in the future, especially on the left turns. Lucas and I enjoyed our second Pakboat adventure. Except for the crossover awkwardness and the low height of the gunwales, it behaves very much like a whitewater canoe when we set up the seats as such. I really like the Teith, too. Two trips, two different Teiths. They say the river is always runnable. I can guess what medium flow looks like, but I wonder what a scrape would be like.