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Friday, 25 July 2008 |
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Well this is it our final entry the weather was with us once again giving us a glorious send off. We packed pur tents up early and made a hearty breakfast of sausages and beans. Setting off from the campsite was a sad experince as we knew that it would mark start of our final decent down the Spey.
Even on these lower sections the Spey is beautiful and still contained a number of exciting rapids once more true to form we had what is now an expert example of a capsize and swim from Julie and Tom they will surely win the golden arm band awards for best front crawl with boat :). As we worked our way to the sea thesea gulls started to greet us and the smell turned from Pine forest to saltland.
We finally reached Spey Bay around 11am. The faces of the group said it all big smiles and a sense of proud satisfaction that we had paddled the mighy Spey and have some great stories to tell. For some this is the third and fourth expedition with Ghyll Headbut all agreed that it has been one of the most memorable for its weather, excitment and group camaraderie.
The journey home was a seven hour affair but the team are now safe and sound back at Ghyll Head.
During the course of the trip the team members have been filling in a daily diary that is too long to upload using our phone so once back at the Centre we will try to digitize it to give you more of a personal insight into what the team felt about theis great expedition.
Thanks for taking an interest. If this blogs has inspired you and you would like to take part in one of our expeditions in the future just conact the Cnetre to be informed of next years trips.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 25 July 2008 )
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Wednesday, 23 July 2008 |
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I know you wont believe it but once again we have spent the day paddling in t-shirts and shorts. We had a lazy start this morning after our big day yesterday.
The scenery has been very much like the alps with big valleys full of coniferous forests with the river meandering through the bottom of it and lots of fun bouncy rapids. Today we were entertained once more by Tom and Julies submariner antics and just so they didnt feel alone Tom and Ryan decided to join them in the swimming lessons with a capsize on one one of the final rapids of the day.
We have now setup camp on a gorgeous sandy beach and have the fire going cooking a curry for our final evening meal of the trip.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 25 July 2008 )
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Tuesday, 22 July 2008 |
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Today was a big day on the river both in time and size of rapids. Reluctantly we left our paradise island to set of in search of the famous blacksboat and knockando rapids.
The weather has once again looked kindly on us with glorious sunshine all day.
Last nights training session soon came in handy as the speed of the river picked up pace and carried up through some technical whitewater. Up to blacksboat everyone had managed to stay dry then we came up against the aptly named washing machine. This rapid is at a point where the normally 50m wide river is funneled over a 10m drop.The first team over was Julie and Tom they got a great line down the middle but were thwarted at in the end due to too much water in the boat like true ships officers they stayed in the boat until she was completely sunk. The next boat had a similar experience. In the end the final tally for the day was a total of 3 swims. Thankfully we kept all the kit and due to the great weather dryed off quickly.
We really are wondering if we are in Scotland not only is the weather great, the fishermen are friendly and we have not been bitten by any midges (yet).
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Last Updated ( Friday, 25 July 2008 )
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Monday, 21 July 2008 |
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Wow what a day. We awoke this morning to glorious sunshine which stayed with us all day :-).
Leah and Holly both have sunburn to prove it. We paddled 16km today but in a much faster time than yesterday.
We managed to stop at a native settlement to restock.
The island we are camping on is just amazing its such a shame we cant show u the photos. We paddled some nice whitewater today and had a great training session with unladen boats this evening in preperation for tomorrows big rapid nicknamed the washing machine !!
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Last Updated ( Friday, 25 July 2008 )
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Monday, 21 July 2008 |
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Today was a long but very rewarding day paddling a total of 19km down river.
We started at Loch Insh around 10am and played around on the flat water getting used to our laden boats.
We then set off down the Spey finishing at a great campsite just past Boat of Garten.
The weather has been a mix of sunshine and showers.
Tomorrow we have another 16km to go :-)
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Last Updated ( Friday, 25 July 2008 )
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