Canoe Club Summer Tour travels to 3 countries

The faffless foursome (Alby, Tom, Reece and Patrick S.) had arrived in Bovec at 2PM and had already proceeded to buy beers and paddling permits, paddle a grade 3 river, and make a start on the first and certainly not last conspicuous looking meal, just in time for the minibus to arrive later that night. The next few days in the beautiful Soca valley of Slovenia were savoured by all, as they brought a real relaxation and joy to some of the kayaking that would ensue. On day 2, a four man mission to take on a section of the river the locals regarded as deadly, gave us our first chance to see what these parts of Europe had to offer, and notably this early success had to have repercussions, as only later that day, a bandy group of wanderers went loco and walked several kilometres down a road, notably never heading towards the river. When we had finally reunited, carnage commenced, and alongside early face plants, we also managed longs swims of rapids (Helen) and not one but two losses of paddles, which inevitably meant more swims further down. Before heading off on leg two of our adventure, it has to be noted Jake Reynolds had an awful time caught on a branch underwater after he swam, and our efforts on rescuing him seemed to cause more distress, until, man of the hour, Alby Roseveare live baited himself out to perform a rescue. I myself can’t wait for the GoPro footage. We left Slovenia with warmth in our hearts, with its only setbacks the language barrier, and its odd choice in road signs. On arrival in the Isel valley in Sud Tirol in Austria, a surreal encounter with the campsite owner who was clad in lederhosen, red faced and stumbling around with alcohol on his breath lead to a great camping deal being struck. This also marked the welcome arrival of the Clissold’s. It was July the 4th, and an overly patriotic Joe Bibby seemed to be the only one in the party mood as his annual celebrations began. Not forgetting his Yeti costume. The next day can only be described as one of the most exciting of the tour for most people, since it was their first experience of the truly big and bouncy white water that this part of the world is known for. After another day of boating and adventure, the car of Alby, Ally, Rachel and Rik, came across the minibus left vulnerable to attack in the car park of a Spar, seeing that the only sensible thing to do would be to use their spare keys to manoeuvre it to another more suitable location, a marvellous joke that left half the club in tatters, others in stitches, and the local Police laughing and mocking us in their native tongue, after it had eventually been found. We moved to the Innsbruck area to paddle the well-known section of the Inn, the Imst gorge and other tributaries, but left after two short nights after finding it not very viable for club paddling. We drove to Switzerland where we came to a crossroads in our journey, with the minibus preparing for its final few days in the Alps, and Messrs, Ralph Evins and Alex Robinson coming out to meet us for the extra week of gnarl that was set to follow. Engadine, an area filled with gorgeous gorges of differing variety, was the scene for the end of the trip, and boy did it deliver. An epic adventure down the 4+/5 graded Giarsun Gorge set the mark for some of the most committing rapids the country has to offer, followed by the S-Chamf Gorge past the campsite, a stunningly scenic gorge with technical rapids, and beautiful overhead rocks, before our final section on the Schuls section of the Inn. With some short grade 4 rapids dotted throughout before a final serious grade 4 rapid ‘against the wall’ that demonstrated a real testament to club paddling, and showed how ICCC once again pushes the boundaries. A hugely successful end to the trip and 12/13, yet it opens the door for next year to go one further. Did I forget to mention Mo Farah?