White water river trip, Sunday 4 October.

[Clive Ashford]

Hi All,

I’m down to run the first white water river trip of the season on this Sunday, 4 October.

The short version of this post is that this trip is very unlikely to go ahead due to the lack of water. I haven’t completely ruled out paddling and I will post again on Saturday morning to confirm.

The long version of this post is for those new to river paddling.

In order to have a successful and enjoyable paddling experience the river level needs to be within a suitable margin. We do have some options as to where to paddle, so we can take conditions into consideration and often go somewhere where we can achieve a meaningful trip, but not always.

If the river level is too high, then the risks become un manageable and we have to cancel our planned trip.

If the river level is too low, then paddling becomes an exercise in scraping along the river bed and bashing rocks. That’s not fun and again we have to cancel our planned trip.

At I write this (midday on Thursday) the level as recorded at Austins Bridge on the river Dart is 0.41m. That is at the very lowest level for paddling anywhere. With no appreciable rain in the forecast that level is likely to drop over the next few days, making it unlikely that this trip can go ahead.

Educational isn’t it?

Clive A
Mob 07854 648584.

[Clive Ashford]

Hi all

The level at Austins Bridge is 0.34m so I see no point in waiting until tomorrow to cancel this trip.

This trip is cancelled.

Lets get doing some rain dances, but not too many!

Clive A

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