UK Steep Creeking

A few months back two friends and I headed south west in search of a new river, countless runs of the Dart and the Erme, left us in search of something new…

Lots of rain was due to fall throughout the evening so a plan was made to head to the East Okement in the early hours of the morning. By the time we were halfway down the M5, the river had dropped too much, it had gone from huge to scrape in the space of 6 hours. However the East Lyn was at a superb level, 1.84 on the rainchasers gauge which was classed as high.

With 1 member of the group having done the Lyn before, we jumped on the river very anxious and excited about what lie ahead. What we found was the best day of UK creek boating I had experienced yet. Numerous boofs, back loops and flairs saw us very quickly descend the river to Watersmeet. The high level meant the Horoak Water drops were running beautifully, we quickly took the opportunity before carrying onto the Sea. We bumped into a photographer who was around taking pictures of the Horoak Water, so we managed to get some great photos of us on the run.

We then entered the Lyn gorge section. This was somewhat different to the rest of the river, as the channel began to narrow and it steepened once more. The gorge was probably one of the best 500m of water I had ever run; big holes and numerous moves to make made it an extremely exciting section. 

Following the gorge we blasted down the last bit to Lynton which had turned into a great bouncy and super clean run. 

I highly recommend this run to anyone looking for steep creeking in the UK, it’s a true classic.

Checkout the East Lyn river guide on UKRGB: 

Upper Section - http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/rivers/england/south-west/river-east-lyn-brendon-to-watersmeet

Lower Section - http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/rivers/england/south-west/river-east-lyn-watersmeet-to-the-sea

Check out the great paddling accessories supplied by overboard - http://www.over-board.co.uk

It has been a busy 10 months.....

Over the past 10 months I have been super busy, hence very little blog updates. I'm going to try condense the past 10 months into one or two small updates so here it goes...

I have spent 10 months working for Accenture, we're management consultants based in central London. The nature of the job has mean I have spent time working at the BBC and a major bank. This has also meant I have been travelling around the UK a fair bit, and consequentially have earned enough air miles to fund a return flight to Geneva!

Throughout my time at Accenture I have been exposed to multiple areas of work, first of all communications, media and technology and then finally I spent 6 months in financial services. The most difficult part of this job is actually explaining to my friends what I do...This has never been successful. Hopefully the image below sheds some light:



Within my first 3 months at Accenture I had the opportunity to travel to Paris with senior clients from the BBC and the management team from Accenture. However this wasn't a important meeting or a client workshop, it was actually to support the BBC in their Children in Need activities. A team of 3 people, 1 Accenture, 1 Contractor and 1 BBC cycled from the Eiffel Tower to the Tower of London in 24hrs! Unfortunately I couldn't be part of the cycling team as their was only room for 3 bikes on the back of the support car, however I traveled along with the team and supported in navigation, nutrition and general mechanical issues. The team raised over £2000 towards Children In Need and a great trip was had by all. Enjoy the short video I produced for the trip:

https://vimeo.com/79624482

Whilst at Accenture I also had the opportunity to work out of town in Edinburgh. This was a great city and we had a very social team which meant we regularly got to explore parts of the city we wouldn't usually see in the working day. Below are a select few of my favorite photos from my time there:

A few members of the team after a great Sunset by the Forth Rail Bridge.

A panorama shot from a roof top high up in Edinburgh. What a great city.

I will sorely miss everyone I got to work with at Accenture, I will be back in a few years and hope to see everyone again,
Chyavan

NORWAY.

From July 28th - August 7th I headed off to Norway with Watermark Experiences. Many rivers were paddled and many laughs were had. We paddled the Sjoa, Rauma, Ulva, Pitor, Valdola, Buvra, and the Ostri. Check out the video's and pictures:

                                                   Photo by Matt Tidy.

Check out the video :

https://vimeo.com/72195744

A Ride to Paris.

 Last week 2 friends and I rode our bikes 282 miles to Paris in 2 1/2 days. Followed by an 80 mile ride home from Kings Cross on Friday. Cycling through 30 degree heat each day, swims were had in the Seine river and the Thames. Along with many many beers. I also took my new camera, a Canon EOS 500d with me, and wondered around Paris at night and managed to capture some great shots. Oh and I'm going to Norway on Sunday !! Enjoy:

Early Hurley.

With exams looming, I had planned to get a short Hurley session in early Sunday morning (5am). After setting the alarms for the wrong day and waking up at 7, we headed to the weir in glorious sunshine. It proved a great chance to try out my new Go Pro Hero 3. Here are the results:

(Watch in HD)

There's no water in Wales.

Left home Friday night in the direction of Wales... 
Woke up Saturday morning in England.
Spent the morning searching for rivers to run.... 
Ended up on the Tryweryn.

With current lack of water in the UK we cancelled a trip to Dartmoor and headed to Wales instead. Grabbing a couple of laps on the Tryweryn on Saturday followed by a dark Swallow Falls run which repeated the next day. Running two parts of 'the tallest continuous fall of water in Wales'. After abseiling down to the falls we ran part of the first drop followed by the second. And got some great photos of the second drop in the process.

(I plugged the helmet camera in to the computer five minutes ago to realise the every video cut out before it got exciting) 

What A Year.

My Highlights of 2012.