River
Tees
Sunday 30th October 2005
News
of the fun we had on the same trip in March had obviously spread as a mass group
of club paddlers turned up to run the Upper Tees - and we weren't the only ones
on quite a crowded river. (and there were a fair number of supporters following
on the bank - could this be the most photographed club trip ever?)
The
top section of the trip was quite simply a torturous bum scrap down rocks with
the occasional bit of river in between. However the torrential rain was a more
telling pointer to how the day would turn out. Stoppy, paddling his new creeker
led off in the hope of simply knocking the rocks aside for the rest of us - but
to no avail.
So
having done our best to wear the bottom out of our boats (some even got out to
walk in places), we arrived at the first biggy - Salmon Leap falls (aka the s-bend, aka the dog-leg).
 After
inspecting (much umm-ing, ahh-ing and chin stroking) everyone seemed to know the
line to follow. So with safety in place the only thing left to do was let John
go first.
As
everyone followed down there were some good runs, some that were a bit ragged
and the start of a slowly increasing jellyfish count for the day! The swims are
too many to mention - but a honourable mention to Lawrence who disappeared for a
worryingly long time as he swam down the middle part of the rapid!
Also
worth a mention was Rob S, who started with thudding into the rock wall at the
top of the rapid before recovering to do some big and impressive (although not
convincingly intentional) pop-outs either side of the third drop on the fall.
  
 Regrouped
after the s-bend we quickly arrived at the next of the big drops - Low Force and
the nasty little horseshoe fall immediately above it. The result - even
more pondering here than at the previous drop. The stopper on the smaller fall
was looking rather grabby, but most were distracted from this by the size of Low
Force - probably the biggest drop that most of the group had contemplated
paddling.
Finally,
everyone was set, so we sent John first to see what happened to him - his big
boat helped him through the grabby stopper on the horseshoe. Following behind
was Ian S - who bypassed the main horseshoe passing behind the assembled
throwbaggers (and but for a timely shout would collected Rob A on the way).
Just
to demonstrate how sticky the stopper was Gareth obligingly swam in it - much
tugging on the throwline brought him and his boat out - and helped quite a few
people decide that walking round this would be a good idea! Although a few other
decided that they had to check the stopper out for themselves.
 Low
Force itself handed out plenty of treatment to the un-wary - spitting people our
of the boils sideways and into the rock wall or flipping people and washing them
into the wall where rolling was difficult. A particular highlight was young Tom
- having (wisely) walked round horseshoe fall, set off over Low Force, as he
went over the lip he was heard to scream the he'd changed his mind about running
this bit! Too late - he got flipped and a bash in the head for his troubles.
Cheers
from the assemble support team greeted each paddler as they came over the drop.
And then worried look if the paddler came to grief! (not that that stopped then
from taking pictures!)
 As
we were doing Low Force, the river rose - check the different levels on the
picture to the right with the one above!
The
rise in river level meant that the little drop before the get out was somewhat
tricky and gave out a bit more punishment for those that ran it.
And
then there was the few who explored the little side fall - but that's a another
story!
All
in all an enjoyable trip, ensuring everyone paddling was tested - and lots of
jelly fish activity!
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