Dart 2014
Rain, glorious rain! Paddlers are a special breed, we pray for rain on our weekend breaks instead of sunshine. Thankfully the praying paid off! On Friday night the rain did come, bringing the water levels in the rivers up enough for there to be several options to paddle come Saturday morning.
Day 1: Thirteen keen paddlers awoke ready for the 8am (ish) fried breakfast to start the day. Can you believe it? On a club trip we were in cars driving away by 8:50am! A two rivers a day becoming a possibility. We chose the Walkham River to play on first, with all having an enjoyable merry ride down the river. The 'Slot’ caused a couple of rolls but everybody stayed in their boats!
The second river of the day was the River Dart. A group of six paddled the ‘Loop’ section and a group of seven paddled on the 'Upper'. The Dart was at a great level with the water lapping above the slab. This trip was the first paddling trip of the season for many, so the two rivers a day made for some tired bodies, but with lots smiling faces! We stayed at the Prince of Wales in Princetown, which is famous for ridiculously large dinner portions served in dishes which wouldn’t even fit into our own ovens at home! They are that big! But for the hungry paddler they are a welcome sight!
Day 2: A before 9am departure again! Wohoo! With no more rain the river options were a bit limited, but we had a group on the ‘Loop’ and another on the ‘Erme’. The Erme was low, and a bit scrapey at the start, but with enough water for the drops to flow, and provide some great backdrops for some photo’s with the autumn leaves.
Trip Report- Written by Tania
