Bob's Blog - canoes and stuff

USA - South East road-trippin

2010-05-22T05:12:00.000-07:00

In March we spent just over two weeks travelling around the South East States hitting up some classic boating along the way. We managed a different run every day and caught up with a lot of friends - old and new. Combine this with some sweet BBQ and micro-brews you don't get much better. The South East is still one of my favourite places to paddle, the variety of boating and the warm welcome you get makes it an essential destination for any travelling boater.

This trip also gave me a chance to really put the Big Dog Force OC1 through it's paces. Apart from having some gluing malfunctions, I found it did everything I wanted it to. The speed was good, it was predictable, forgiving, resurfaced nicely, and boofed well. This was all good news as there were times I needed all the help I could get!!! I look forward to this boat going into production.

There's literally thousands of pictures from our trip so I've just dumped a few of them on here. For those of you interested in lists here's the low-down of what we ran and where they were.........

Blyth Shoals / Hooker falls - Saluda (SC)
North fork French Broad (NC)
Lower Rocky Broad (NC)
Wilson's Creek (NC)
Watuaga (NC)
Play boating at the Ledges in Asheville (NC)
Green Narrows (NC)
Chattooga ( section 4) (GA)
Cheoah (NC)
Tellico ledges (TN)
Little River Canyon (AL)
Cranberry (WV)
Middle Meadow (WV)
Lower Big Sandy (WV)

Team America 2010

First drop of the trip - Hooker Falls

Jo flying off Hooker Falls

Beef starts the show-boating

Three's never a crowd.....

Pedro man-vesting Reedy Falls

Jamie really does enjoy boating......honestly

Look he's proving it.......

Tom drops into Redneck on the Lower Rocky Broad

Eli runs Walker Falls

Beef loves the Rocky Broad

I love it too......

We all do!!!!

Wilson's Creek Ten foot falls

Frankie smearing all over a Wilson's rock

Eli get's some air

Playboating at the Ledges park

Eli and Frankie going tandem

Cartwheeling the Ledges

Can you guess where it is yet?

Beef getting ready to run a Green Narrows rapid

Barney and Snowy explain another line to us

Eli at the bottom of a Green drop

Pedro sliding below Gorilla

Eli leads me through Rapid Transit.........it's so fast!!!

The Groove Tube

Taking the Groove Tube boof

The Green really is awesome

Landing it

You can take the boy out of Salford........

Low water release on the Cheoah

Snowy loves the Tellico

It's the little things that make you a pro-boater.........

Lord Lyle leads the way on Baby Falls

Beef follows

Making Frankie nervous

The gang at the bottom of Jared's Knee

The LRC - fantastic!!!

Lord Lyle shows us the beautiful LRC

Looking to the bottom of Pinball on the LRC

Tom on Wonder Falls - Big Sandy River, West Virginia

An awesome way to finish the trip

Big big thanks to Snowy, Eli and Megan, Lord Lyle, Corey and Jess, Barney, Chris, and everyone else who let us sleep in their houses, showed us where to get good food and beer, and took us to the fantastic rivers. You guys made the trip!!!!

Also big thanks to Big Dog who made the the river fun happen with their cool boats.

Big Dog Force OC1 - Day 2

2010-03-01T03:44:00.000-08:00

Well the crazy winter continues with no sign of a break and not much opportunity for boating. It's been frustrating as I've been dying to get out in the new Force OC1. Anyway a tiny bit of water arrived yesterday and I was able to get it out for another quick blast. There was a lot of flat, plenty of cold, and low low flows but it was something................

The boat boofs really nicely, can't wait to get it on a steep boulder garden

Was able to run it through some tight little channels........it felt really nimble

It flew over the little drops

Was able to test it in some sections of pretty fast turbulent water, it felt stable, which meant I could concentrate on the rapids

Another enjoyable day, hope to get it out again before I head to the USA next week!!!

First day with the new Dog

2010-02-07T12:17:00.000-08:00

Managed to get out for a quick paddle in the new creeker today. Typically there wasn't much water around so I only managed to get it on an easy class 2/3 river. I've got to say though I loved it. Fast, holds a line well, and is super forgiving. I really can't wait to get it on something steeper.
Anyway there's some pictures below (thanks Matt and Donna).

Also there's a very cold rolling movie......

Enjoy......

For those that are interested here's some quick rolling footage - thank me for this.........it was freezing!!!!

.

When I get some more pictures / video I'll stick them up

Big Dog OC1 creeker - out of the kennel

2010-02-05T09:25:00.000-08:00

Ok here's a couple of pictures of the first Big Dog out of the mold. I've fitted it out (badly!) but it should give you a better idea of the boat. For those of you who are into weights and measures here's some very very rough vital statistics (I took these by myself so they are really just ballpark figures)..........

Length - 8'2"..............249 cm

Width - 26.5"..............68 cm (this is at the widest point)

Depth - 16"................40.5 cm

Think the weight with no outfitting was about 16kg

I like it. It's looks sporty yet has plenty of volume, and length to get you down the creeks and rivers. Next stop.......somewhere with water......

Here's some pictures.........

OC1 creeker!

View of the front

Here's the hulll

View of the rear

Just to give something to compare it to

Waterfalls, Pyramids, and Tacos - Mexico 2008

2009-03-07T08:51:00.000-08:00

Hitting the mega boof of La Luminosa on the Salto

In November 2008 an intrepid team consisting of Frankie, Grandad, Katy, Tom, Pete, Donna, and I headed over the Atlantic to travel and boat around Mexico for three weeks. We spent our time in the states of San Luis Posti and Veracruz. I've got to say that it was a superb trip. Mexico has some amazing and unique rivers, (a lot of which are still unexplored), super friendly people, and excellent cuisine. Combine all this with plenty of cultural interest. I've been left wanting a lot more of what Mexico has to offer. I've got to go back.........

We flew into Mexico City (via Charlotte USA), and from there we headed north on one of the excellent executive Mexico buses to get to our first destination - CD Valles. This area is home to the famous Micos Cascade, the Salto, and the Santa Maria river along with a lot more. We stayed at the excellent Expediciones Huaxteca campsite at the bottom of the Micos waterfalls run. If you ever make it out there Expediciones Huaxteca come highly recommended. They sorted all our shuttles as well as providing somewhere to pitch a tent. They also did our food (which was absolutely top notch - some of the best we had in Mexico), at sweet prices. Their staff were excellent and couldn't do enough for us. The campsite was probably the most pleasant we'd ever been to, with great facilities and an excellent setting. This was also a twitchers paradise - with loads of cool birds like parrots flying about. The campsite was pretty central to the rivers of the area and it was really easy just to nip to the top of the Micos Cascades for a quick blast.

Our first campsite on the banks of the Micos river

Our all terrain Huaxteca shuttle bus

Tom at the spectacular Micos put in

Lining up the first fall of the Micos

Frankie heads off down the first few drops of the Micos

Heading off down the Micos whitewater playground

Frankie on a small Micos slide

A 28 foot Micos plunge

Enjoying the final set of cascades on the Micos

Tom takes another route on the final set of falls

Frankie doing some filming

Along with the Micos, this region is also famous for the Salto, a long section of drops and small slides through some pretty Mexican jungle. Have a look below......

The whole gang gathers at the spectacular falls at the take out of the Salto

El Nemo - the first big plunge on the Salto

Tom runs El Nemo

Over-rotating on a 30 foot drop on the the Salto - painful!!!

Frankie takes a much nicer line

Tom flies off the same drop

La Luminosa - one of the most fun drops I've ever done

Pete goes airbone

Grandad goes for it

Grandad runs one of the many Salto falls - El Trampolin....a sweet 20 footer

Getting some more verticality on the same fall

Pete taking a chunky rapid on the Salto

Mexican flora and fauna part 1 - a very pretty flower

Flora and fauna part 2 - Snake!

The team enjoying a delicious meal after a spectacular trip on the Tampaon section of the Santa Maria river

The San Lluis Potsoi area really is amazing. I can't recommend it enough, you need to go! Plenty more from Mexico to come soon - Veracruz State, lost jungle cities, and a good dose of boating...........

Wet West Paddle Fest

2008-10-03T15:12:00.001-07:00

In the middle of September a small gang of us headed north to Fort William to see what the Wet West Paddle Fest was all about. I'd not been to any big paddling type events for a while due to a strongly anti-social sense of avoiding crowds on rivers. I've got to say though that it was a superb event - great boating and really really nice people. I would imagine I'll be back up for this festival again. There was a great atmosphere throughout the weekend and we all had loads of fun. Thanks to Jo by the way for letting us make her house look like a squat for the weekend.

Playing on the Garry

Confidence inspiring sign at the Moriston put in

Getting ready to float down stream on the Moriston

Beef decides to melt in the guts of the first drop

Brinky also goes deep

Dave enters one of the longer Moriston rapids

Working my way through a rapid on the Moriston

G Diddy enjoying himself

Beef lines up for the last drop of the Upper Moriston

Turkey - another large portion

2008-08-04T03:16:00.000-07:00

The Alara was just over into the next valley from the Manavgat. It was a pretty stunning place, and we ended up spending a few days there. We were well looked after by a local restaurant owner and his staff. We spent our nights sleeping on the roof of his place, after eating copious amounts of food. The Alara river itself was a quick two minute walk down the hill from the restaurant which was handy as it doubled up as our washing facility. The valley was extremely beautiful and there were several sections to do on the river. We didn't managed to get them all done but the stuff we paddled was excellent, especially the middle Alara canyon also known as the Kaiser Gorge which I would dearly love to have running in the hills near my house.

Chilling out at the Alara restaurant - some of us slept on these platfroms

While the rest of us slept up here

A spring at the put in of the top Alara gorge

Deep in the first Alara canyon

Sheer rock walls don't make for fun portages

Beef drops into the Kaiser gorge

Working through the Kaiser gorge

Ali and Beef work their way down stream

Approaching a boof

Beef gets some air

Ali goes for the boof

A tight Alara drop

Heading off into the canyon

After a long day on the river it's bath time

Donna gets to grips with the washing facilities

Frankie messing about in the bathroom

The Alara was truly amazing. The river was so sweet, I wish I could paddle it regularly, we were sad to go. After spending our time at the Alara we headed back to the Dalaman via Alarahan Castle, which was spectacular in itself. Once back at the Dalaman we spent a couple more days enjoying the river there before the trip home.

Alarahan Castle

The only way to get to the castle was to climb through a series of tunnels.......

.........which were full of bats........

..........who loved to flutter round our heads

Another chilled out evening with great food

Nadir tries to relax before more Turkey Euro 2008 action

As it turned out Turkey was an awesome trip.....I think much better than any of us expected to be. The people were amazingly helpful and friendly, the food superb, the weather was awesome, it was cheap, and the boating was excellent. I can't really fault it. The rivers felt remote and were beautiful, and it's hard to believe that there are places like this so close to UK. I can't recommend South West Turkey enough, creeking in blazing sunshine for a fraction of the cost of an Alps trip - sweet.

Thanks to Alternatif Outdoor who set the trip up for us and especially to Nadir our driver who went above and beyond the call of duty to look after us. I'm sure we'll be back to Turkey soon.....

The gang

Turkey - the main course

2008-07-21T06:39:00.000-07:00

The Manavgat is quite close to Korpucay but it felt like a world away. The Korpucay area was the most touristy place we went to on our trip, and the river itself was heavily rafted. The Manavgat was just about the complete opposite. Once off the main road you were into a remote unspoiled area. Everyone in this area seemed to be getting by on small scale farming on the rugged terrain surrounding the river. As we got further in the area we realised the boating was going to be committing to say the least.

Getting down to our campsite beside the river

We were surrounded by these......

Moon rise from our campsite

After a good nights sleep and breakfast with a local family, we set off to paddle the "grand canyon" of the Manavgat. We knew that this was probably going to be a long day out......we didn't really comprehend how long. The river started off as a small stream in a steep valley. Once we were in there was clearly no way out. This first section was tough, we would paddle for a hundred metres or so only to come to a boulder choke that we would have to clamber over and around. A couple of times the river would disappear underground. This was hard tiring work. A couple of times we had no choice but jump into the water and swim across pools between the chokes. This was all pretty miserable so there aren't many photos. We had about 3 hours of this before things changed dramatically.

Floating down the top of the river before the boulder choke hell began

Boulder purgatory

The boulder chokes seemed to go on for ever and we were really suffering. Just before it all got too much though we rounded a corner and we saw the welcome sight of huge springs bursting out of the sheer sided gorge which reared up before us. The gorge walls were immense and completely awe inspiring. The spring water flowing between the walls was clean and clear, and the volume of the river increased tenfold. The whitewater really kicked in now. The rapids were long and steep with very short pools in between. Pretty much everything had a line and we started to really enjoy ourselves. The drops kept on coming and the gorge seemed like it was never going to end. Eventually after nine hours on the water we emerged from the canyon to arrive at our campsite. We were absolutely exhausted but we all agreed that we had just experienced one of the best river trips we had ever had.

The walls rise and the springs start to flow.....

With a huge spring to the side of him Frankie fires it up on the first big drop of the canyon

Heading downstream in the gorge

Grandad running the last bit of a double drop

Leaning back a bit too much on the same rapid

Getting ready to get back on the water after one of the few portages in the main canyon

Jamie approaches a nice boof

Approaching a Manavgat 10 footer

Wide view of the same drop

Landing the boof

Frankie lines up the same falls

At the bottom of a nice slide and drop

Grandad lines up on a rapid

Looking back upstream at the canyon

Matt nearing the bottom of a long rapid

The canyon went on and on luckily at the bottom we were able to relax after a long day by looking at yet more Turkish wildlife.

Frogs

Tortoise

After our long day on the Manavgat we soundly for a long long time! We then packed up and headed over to the Alara river where more adventures both on and off the river were in store. More on that soon..........

Another helping of Turkey

2008-07-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

After a couple of days at the Dalaman we headed east across the mountains to check out a couple more rivers and some more Turkish culture.

We made our way past Antalya stopping only briefly for a kebab and a much needed visit to a Haman (Turkish bath). After a fairly long drive we arrived at a rafting base on the Korpucay river............

One of the many beautiful mosques we saw on our travels

Gotta love Turkish cooking - kebab time!

Hanging out with the law, and knocking back a few cups of cay (Turkish tea)

View from our campsite at the Korpucay

The Korpucay was the easiest river we did. There were loads of nice little waves to mess around on, and it was perfect to chill out on after a couple of days creeking on the Dalaman. The Korpucay was also the first time that we encountered some of the springs that feed the rivers in the region. These springs flow straight out of the gorge walls adding loads of volume to the rivers. They were always a spectacular sight and it was the first time any of us had seen anything like it..........

Another breath-taking bridge - this time at the top of the Korpucay

Frankie messing about below one of the springs

Matt surfs the Korpucay

One of the best things about Turkey was the food which you could always be sure was fresh. This is illustrated by the meal we had after boating on the Korpucay..........

Always make sure you stay to the middle of the flock

Woolly jumpers for everyone

Took about ten minutes from running about the hills to this stage

I don't know who eventually ate these

After a feast of BBQ lamb, and a great nights sleep we headed off to the Manavgat gorges where we encountered the hardest boating of the trip, more on this soon..............

A Slice of Turkey

2008-07-01T09:10:00.001-07:00

In the middle of June 10 of us headed of to paddle in South West Turkey. It was an superb trip. The rivers were amazing, the locals were incredibly welcoming, the scenery was spectacular, and it was very very hot. All in all it was one of the best boating trips I've ever had. We started off at the Dalaman river which was pretty sweet by anyones standards. Deep gorges, crystal clear water, and of course brilliant continuous rapids. All this about an hour away from the airport. We hired our transport and driver through www.alternatifoutdoor.com. Get in touch with them if this has whetted your appetite...........

Going for the boof on the Upper Dalaman

Our Dalaman raft base campsite

Miguel going through the motions on a Lower Dalaman rapid

The finish of the Lower Dalaman - nice bridge

Nadir our driver, welcomes us off the river

Heading off down the Upper Dalaman

Frankie slides.......

.....then boofs his way down the Upper Dalaman

In the middle of a nice section on the Upper Dalaman

Frankie comes to the end of the same section

Matt cruises down the upper section

Miguel squeezes between some Upper Dalaman rocks

Frankie at the get out for the Upper Dalaman

After a long day of boating, Grandad goes into Standby

First bit of Turkish wildlife - land crab

Night time at the Dalaman

More Turkey soon, Korpucay, Manavgat and Alara rivers........

The Archives strike again

2008-03-01T07:24:00.000-08:00

I got up this morning ready to go boating only to find that our fickle climate had knocked that idea on the head. So I've been left to day dream about paddling again, which brought me back to our trip to the South East States last summer. Here's a few pictures from those two weeks................

Getting ready to drop on the Tygart

Snowy with yet more cutting edge gear

Grandad signs up for the National Rifle Association

Donna firing off

Donna being political.......

Brinky at the famous Hells Hole - Ocoee river

Brinky cools off after a surf session

In Asheville with our hosts Eli, Megan, and their entourage

Barry Kennon's beach retreat

Brinky pops up in the Slab hole

Night time Slab fun

Eli works the Slab

Woodall Shoals campsite on the Chattooga

Sliding on the Tygart

Ben lines up for a drop on the Tygart

Obligatory wildlife shot

Relief at last..........

2007-11-22T06:58:00.000-08:00

I finished work at 4am on Sunday morning, got home and went straight to bed, I was up at 945am to get ready to head out the door. At the back of my mind was the thought of the up and coming night shift I was going to have to do later in the day. It was all worth the agony though as for the first time in two months we had some water in the rivers.

Frankie picked me up and we decided to head to North Wales for a limb loosener after our two month forced exile from boating. I've got to admit that I was skeptical of the water reports as we made the journey to Wales, everything looked dry but Frankie showed faith and optimism as we drove to our destination - the Aberglaslyn Gorge. We had decided to bang out a few laps on this classic run to get us back into the swing of things. We had a great day, I just hope we don't have to wait two months again for more of the same.........

The famous Breaker - montage style

A view of the gorge from the take out bridge - a nice medium level

Getting ready to put on the river

Approaching the Breaker, not the most steep section, but probably the chunkiest....

Middle line on the Breaker - just point and shoot

Through the hole and into the eddy at the bottom of the breaker

Eddying out into a rare pool in the gorge

Working through a nice section of boulder garden

Frankie lines up a drop towards the end of the gorge

Frankie up to his armpits

Thanks to Frankie for all the photos. Already looking forward to next time

Some stuff from the archives........Portugal 2006

2007-11-11T06:52:00.000-08:00

In November 2006, Frankie, The Beast, Grandad, Miguel, Dom, and I took a bit of a fact finding / exploratory trip to Northern Portugal. We found a real hidden treasure. An incredible variety of rivers, amazing scenery, cheap food and drink, and really friendly people. An amazing trip.......

Dom surfs the get on wave - Minho river high water

I go for an ender - Minho River

Miguel hits a nice line on the Mouro

The Beca put in - note our lack of organisation

Running a drop on the Beca

Boof time!

Some Portuguese wildlife

More wildlife

Even the cows look fierce

The Beast gets lost on the way to the Tua put in

The Beast finds a nice Tua surf wave

Grandad having one of his famous front surfs on the Tua

The start of festival night in Chaves

The Beast - our protector

Miguel and I after a little too much Chaves party spirit

Frankie in the Paiva Gorge

Me, getting a boof in the Paiva Gorge

Playwave on the Lower Paiva

Beast throws some ends on the Lower Paiva

Some video of our trip can be found here - http://www.youtube.com/user/smythe82

Some stuff from the archives........USA 2006

2007-11-11T05:34:00.000-08:00

Here's a few photos from our trip to the South Eastern States in May 2006. We did 3000 miles in 3 weeks, paddled some great rivers, and hung out with some good friends.....awesome.

Donna, Grandad, Frankie, and I made the trip, and we were well looked after by Snowy, Eli, Lord Lyle, and many others on our trip......

Running Seven Foot Falls on the famous Chattooga

Hell hole back surf

Snowboy straps up for a day on the river

The circus comes to Erwin TN

The Team - Donna, Frankie, Grandad, and I looking over the New River Gorge

I take on the Sinks on the Little River.....superb day out

Missing my boof on Baby Falls - Tellico Ledges

Grandad does it with more style

Dinner is served at Lord Lyles Chateau

Chattooga - a river of legends.....

Grandad runs Seven Foot Falls Chattooga section IV

Eric, Eli, and me - unwinding

Eli gears up for another day at work

Frankie in the midst of Jawbone section IV Chattooga

I run the same rapid

Raft boofing Soc 'em Dog - Donna is in there somewhere

A diificult choice for the team after a day on the Cheoah River

A place in the sun - Playboating in Portugal

2007-09-14T03:44:00.000-07:00

After a spending a long summer seeming to do nothing but work, it was really nice to get a few days off for some playboating on the Minho river on the Portuguese / Spanish border..........

A few of us had been to Portugal last Autumn on a river running trip, and we couldn't believe the quality of the whitewater we'd found. All of us who had been reckoned that we'd discovered an untapped nirvana of European rivers. On that trip we found ourselves on the Minho river as a warm up paddle. It was running quite high and apart from a couple of big holes was pretty much washed out, the locals however assured us that during the lower water of the summer months the Minho offers up some excellent playboating. As the rivers we'd found in Portugal had been so good we thought we'd take them at their word so vowed to return for a spot of relaxed playing in the sun. (a rough trip report from the Autumn trip can be found here by the way www.thewhitebits.co.uk/Portugal%20Paddling/portugalindex.htm).

After a very small bit of organisation our team of Donna, Matt, Grandad, Mulski, Pearce, Vicky, and I headed to the Minho at the end of August. As usual we couldn't keep it simple and we all flew into different airports at different times! Donna, Pearce, Vicky and I flew into Santiago Airport in Spain, the other guys flew into Porto in Portugal. We all flew Ryanair who were pretty good really. I hadn't been to Santiago airport before and it's quite nice. It small and it seems to cater well for all kinds of people doing outdoor type sports as the terminal was full of surfers, walkers, climbers, and of course our small contigent of boaters. After a little bit of faff we all made it to our rendevous at the campsite, which was actually on the Spanish side of the Minho in a little village called Caniza.

First thing in the morning at our campsite, note nobody is out of bed

At the campsite we were also joined by Raul (an old friend from Spanish Pyrennes trips), and a good friend that we made in Portugal last year - Jorge.

Jorge is really passionate about both boating and his local Portuguese rivers. He runs a kayak business in Portugal (www.pagayak.com) and gets on the water as much as he can, which seems to be just about every day! Jorge helped us out over the first few days with which spots would be working best a different water levels. He also drank a lot of beer, which is always nice......

Jorge relaxes at the end of the day.......with a beer

During the trip we tended to spend the daylight hours on the Portuguese side of the river in a little town called Melgaco. At night we would head back up to the hill (and into Spanish Caniza). Melgaco is a really pretty place with quite a large medieval quarter. It has a small boating community based around the Minho river, is really cheap, and the people friendly. If you want you can stay in the youth hostel in the village (about 11 euros per night B & B). We stayed in the hostel last Autumn and it's more like a hotel than a hostel, it's really nice. We opted to camp on this trip as it seemed we should take advantage of the daily temperatures which were between 32 to 37 degrees celcius! It's worth noting for autumn/winter river runners that within 15 - 30 minutes of Melgaco there's some classic creeking.

Donna at one of the look out points in Melgaco

The tower in the centre of Melgaco

Swatton has a look from one the huge fortifications in the village

The Minho is dam controlled and the amount of water released depends on how much power is being generated in Spain. This usually means lower water at the weekend. The amount of water being released affects which playspots will be working. The release typically varies in the summer months from 25 to 300 cumecs, with the river going to 300 during office hours in the week and dropping to 25 in the evenings and on the weekends. Surprisingly with such a wide variation in water levels there is something which will work at pretty much every level. There's even stuff which starts to come in as the river hits big winter levels, but that's really another story. All of the spots are created by man made ledges which were built in order to catch eels as they migrate up river. Some of the traps still see a small bit of use. Each playspot is seperated by flat water, so you can either park and play or surf one place for a while, then paddle on to the next one (depending on the levels). During the time we were there we mostly played between Melgaco and Arbo, a 4km stretch which gave us several different waves and holes. It was invaluble to have Jorge there as he could point us in the right direction depending on the level.

Arbo put in/ take out - you can work out the level here, I think this shows about 125 cumecs

We started our paddling off over the weekend, which brought us a 25 cumec release. This meant that it was hole time. There are several small holes which are good for a warm up. These spots were small but deep, and were perfect for getting the limbs going. They were all within 5 minutes drive of Melgaco.

Raul throws ends in one of the warm up holes

After warming up you can head about 500 metres down stream of Arbo to a hole which has been the site of both Portuguese and Spanish freestyle championships. I cannot tell you enough how much fun this hole is. It's deep, fluffy, and goes both ways. It's a medium sized pile, and intially looks quite beefy, however it's got to be one of the most friendly holes I have ever played in. We got ourselves into all sorts of stupid postions during the week and not one beating was handed out. This spot serves up every possible hole move, cartwheels, loops, tricky whu's etc. The queue never got anymore than 5 people and only 2 of them would be locals. There's also a nice beach beside the hole where you can swim to cool off, drink beer, and have a snack. Very very nice. I've got to give credit to Swatton here, he really worked the hole well, and was pulling off some of the biggest loops I have ever seen. We really had a fun time here. I hope to post some better pictures of the hole soon which do it a bit more justice.

Bob gets all twisted up in the bottom hole

If the hole isn't enough and you want to chill out there's a small wave 100m upstream. This is where another playwave forms as the water hits 125 cumecs (more on this later).

Vicky chills out on the wave

So we settled into a routine for the week, get up, eat, chill out, swim, play, drink, and eat some more. It really was sweet. From Monday to Friday the dam released more water, and the Minho play wave started to come into play. It's at the same place of the wave I mentioned above. This works at about 125 cumecs, and it's hard to tell you how good this wave is. There's a massive eddy on river right, and one paddle stroke will put you on it. It's not the biggest wave in the world but is super smooth, you can spin and blunt to your hearts content on this feature. The wave almost seems magnetic, and even when you think you've washed off the back, it just seems to suck you right back on there - cool. Again queues are not really the done thing around here. The most people we ever shared the eddy with were 2 body boarders.

Pearce hits the front surf

Swatton goes for the blunt

Body boarder stands up for a bit

So we settled into a really nice routine, which was made even better by the food and drink. Everything was fresh, and simply cooked. It was also really cheap, a meal with simple starter, main course, desert, and wine, was usually working out at about 7 euros each. We had all kinds of meat, veg, seafood, stews, and hams. The wine of the region was excellent, Alvarinho is the name of the local white wine (Vino Verde - but not as you know it), also available was Verde Tinto (red wine version of Vino Verde, you can't get this outside of this region).

The gang sits down for an Al Freshco meal

Bob helps out a local lady with cooking up some of the best freakin octopus we've ever tasted

Mulski tucks into the best freakin octopus

Cooking up some steak

Which Swatton washes down with some Verde Tinto

All in all an awesome trip. The weather was superb, and the boating really good fun. If you're after somewhere to spend a few days playboating in a really chilled environment, I can't reccomend it enough. Remember also as the river rises the big holes and waves further upstream start to work. There's not that many places this close to the UK that will allow you such reliable sunny play. I'm now pretty convinced that Northern Portugal has to be one of Europes top paddling destinations as there's something worthwhile to do all year round.........

Below are few more pics of our little trip.

Bob enters the bottom hole

Donna drinks more local wine

Inside a Minho rock formation

Grandad with an interesting choice of meal.......

Some Minho scenery

The Summer of Love..........

2007-08-13T06:06:00.000-07:00

This summer has been one of the wettest on record here in the UK, and as boaters we're one of the few groups of people to really enjoy it. The usual supsects and I have been hitting the water alot over the last few weeks........it's been so sweet.

Bob and Frankie enter the Gun Barrel - photo by Dave Fairweather

Dave, Frankie (Chris Smith) and I kicked off with a really cool day on the Ogwen and Aberglaslyn gorge. We ran the Ogwen from the Gun Barrel through the famous Fishermans Gorge. This is a classic continuous North Wales section, especially once in the Fisherman's Gorge which is just one long steep boulder garden full of sweet boofs, and fun eddy hopping........

Bob puffs his cheeks out and hits a nice Ogwen boof - photo Dave Fairweather

Dave being dynamic - photo by Frankie

Frankie leads the way - photo by Dave Fairweather

Bob getting his face wet - photo by Dave Fairweather

After the Ogwen we hit the Aberglaslyn gorge. Even though it's a short blast to my mind is even better. We didn't stop for any pictures on this one due to the angry fishermen on the bank.........

Shortly after we ran these two classics it was time for Grandad's birthday. Ten of us met up in North Wales for and weekend of boating, and boozing. We kicked off the weekend with a quick spot of playboating on the Dee. Then we hit the booze. The drinking brought on fuzzy heads the next morning and during our moment of weakness we decided it was the day for most of us to take our first run down a British classic - the infamous Fairy Glen. It was awesome.......

Finishing the 2nd gorge of the Fairy Glen (look at those smiling faces!) - photo by Gandy

The wind down at the end of the Fairy Glen - photo by Gandy

As if all this creeking wasn't enough this summer the Dee has been at consistenty good levels for ages. The new hole at the top has been really coming into it's own. Frankie, Jo, and I have been working hard on those cartwheels, loops, and beatdowns during the long summer evenings.

Bob enjoying that evening sunshine - photo Dave Fairweather

Frankie commits - photo Dave Fairweather

Bob takes it like a man.....- photo by Dave Fairweather

Jo likes what she sees - photo by Dave Fairweather