Screams of Fright to Whoops of Delight

Richard's river Tees trip (Barnard Castle to Abbey Rapids) Started with some screams of fright, you know who you are, and ended with Ian whooping with delight at every rapid we encountered.


We met up at Barnard Castle at 9am ish, I was un-usualy late. We had to do a quick shuttle made very easy thanks to Ron and after a quick warm up lead by Tom we were heading down to the river.


A quick practise of breaking in & out and ferry gliding we were off. On the first bend we encountered some fishermen who were friendly but not as friendly as the children on the bridge above us saying hello to everyone. The first challenge was a broken weir followed by a river wide ledge 1 meter tall, All but Richard, Tom and myself walked round but had this been the last drop of the day then I'm sure everyone would have run it.

After this there was a small amount of screaming and one handed paddeling as people ran into the occasional rock. During the lunch break we managed to convince Tom to go swimming so as to practice throw line rescues, thank you once again Tom.

As we progressed towards Abbey Rapids everyones confidence was buliding and there was a marked improvement from everyone. James, in between taking photos, was a great help with the setting of safety on rapids he even managed to show people how taking photos in a stopper is a bad idea. The only section we did not run as a group was the final grade III drop in the Abbey Rapids, Ron was on hand as a photographer whilst the whole of the group was involved in setting up throw lines to cover incase of a mishap.

Richard, Tom and myself ran the drop without a hitch though I think my line may have caused some slight concern if not a smile. After this it was a nice cruse through some grade I & II rapids to the get out.

The day was a great sucess. Ron took over 40 photos, no doubt there will be some on here soon, we only had two swimmers, but I'll spare their blushes we know who you are. Everyone performed realy well and all improved tremendously as their confidence builded.

Now for the thank you's:~
Richard, for running the trip and coaching through out.
James, for providing safety cover and being our on water photographer
Tom, for providing safety cover and amusement whilst practicing your stern dips. ;-)
Ron, for running the shuttle, taking photos and giving Daniel a lift home.

And not forgeting Daniel, Kirsty, Ian, Izzy and Andrew for making the trip a very enjoyable day.