Day 1
I arrived in
Darlington on Friday to meet
AdventureX Prize winners Tim and Scott for a 3 Day White Water Coaching
trip.
Our first stop was at
Barnard Castle on the River Tees. The river was low but there were
plenty of
small features to learn new strokes and skills, and to also gain
understanding on how to read moving
water and choose the best line to take through a rapid. I gave them
Guidance and let them decide with that information in mind on how they
were to take each rapid and feature.
We paddled 15 miles
down to Piercebridge which included a long stretch of flat water that provided
a good opportunity to work on some basic forward paddling technique and stoke
efficiency. After a long day on the river our dinner was earned. We made our
own pizzas before heading into the local town to review the day and wind down
with a beer, or two.
Day 2
On the second day we had
planned to use the Tees Barrage White Water Course, but it was closed as there
was a technical problem with their pumping system. There hadn’t been much
rainfall so local rivers were low but after spending some time looking at maps
and surveys to source nearby white water action we decided to head to the Tees
again and run the 10 mile stretch above our get in the previous day at Barnard
Castle.
We found a long stay car
park in Middleton in Teesdale right by the river. On this section the rapids
were quite spaced out so we did a few walk backs on few of them to work on make
the most of the available white water. There were a few play sots that we spent
some time on learning more about edge control and using the water to control
the boat. We had some great fun surfing waves and learning how to get on them.
We then travelled further
west to a friend’s B&B who provided us with a fantastic dinner that we were
longing for after another long day on the river. We had a good amount of
discussion throughout the evening and it was pleasure to be in such good
company. We headed to the local pub where we got involved with the local annual
conker championships. It was such a fun event even with me going out in the
first round after my conker exploded in my own attack.
Day 3
After a good sleep we
headed back over to the River Tees and after some rainfall through the night, the
levels were good. We tackled the section from High Force to Low Force. Although
quite a short run there are some fun rapids on this section which we ran a few
times with both Tim and Scott showing of the boof stoke they had been working
on over the 3 days and also choosing their own lines in style. It was great to
see there smiles after their success.
Low
Force had a couple of entertaining drops. The first of which was quite
retentive and a good boof stoke was key. The second drop was also a
little tricky and it was good to see the boys both styling the drop
All in all the trip
was a great experience all round. It was a pleasure to meet Tim and Scott and
to be introduced to their welcoming friends. They were great out on the river
too and I'm sure I will bump into the on the water again soon pushing hard
lines.
