Pinned Canoe ... Interesting Day

We had an interesting day on the river recently!

Very early in a group trip on a local river we decided to line the canoes down a rapid as it was judged that one or two group members might succumb to a potential pinning hazard should they attempt to paddle it. The lining process started well.

However, toward the end of the lining exercise a Mad River Explorer 14 open canoe became pinned. It was stuck fast with the river right bow jammed under a rock ledge & an area around the centre of the boat being forced on to a large mid stream rock by the powerful current.

An initial attempt was made to free the boat by attaching a throw line to the "jammed" end (river right) & pulling from the opposite bank - this was simply the easiest & lowest risk option for rescue. It didn't work.

It was felt that attaching a line to the mid-stream end of the boat would likely have a greater effect. This, however, involved the increased risk of having to wade out into the current in order to attach an appropriate line.

The risk did, though, produce the hoped for reward and some brute strength on the newly attached line freed the trapped craft!

Its a testimony to modern materials & boat building that a canoe which had been so firmly pinned and subject to such huge forces emerged from its ordeal just about unmarked!

The day had a bit of everything really - interesting!

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. The season of Lent will run until the Saturday before Easter Sunday, about six weeks. It is traditionally viewed as a period of abstinence in preparation for the Easter celebrations and marks the time that Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness.

This year we don't intend to run a regular series of Lent posts on the blog and we are not planning to give up chocolate, alcohol, caffeine or anything else like that. We will, however, spend much time reflecting on those 40 days in the wilderness, what they did mean and what they could mean to us today. A theme of "Living Simply" is developing. Its our hope that some of our endeavours to "live simply" might make interesting or thought provoking reading, if so we'll post them here!

But for now every blessing for your own journey through Lent

M&M

February Already

Aside from trying to dodge storms, Gertrude & Henry didn't seem to offer much breathing space between them and Henry is howling down our chimney at the moment (more on this in a future post...) We've started the New Year with a lot of training. 

Its been great to spend several days underground updating skills and developing new ones. The picture below was taken a few days ago and reminds me of why the underground environment is so special.

Some of the cave training has been on the surface and its technical nature is a further reminder of the rich diversity of this activity.

There's been some open canoe training as well - a fantastic day of paddling with Tom Sibbald (www.canoecoaching.co.uk) on the River Lune at a decent level. What a great day!

This month will see the training in both disciplines continue alongside a nicely busy balance of work. We are very much looking to 2016 as it begins to unfold ...