From experiments, to americans, to the Alps 2013...
This has to be one of the most crazy plans ive had in a while. From the 11th March, until 20th April i was on an experiment at RAL and for the unititated, that means hard work, long hours and is absolutely exhausting. A week after the experiment ends, the 26th April, I leave for a 'pre-season european white water action' trip including Mr Laurents special and coveted Slovenia trip in the middle. That was the point of going out there but we decided to make a proper trip out of it, Rich, me and now, Mike. The other two (Pyro and Jarvis) bailed....booooooooo!
All sounds very sensible so far. However, my supervisor suggested that it would be a good idea to go out to the states for the Omega Laser users meeting in Rochester, NY, for a week. And then i got awarded funding to attend in any case, over $1000 support (!) - but in the already small space between between trips! I thought it would be a great idea to cram a conference in this space, leaving me literally 4 hours in the night (10pm until 5am) to unpack, repack for a weeks conference, then getting back from that on the 26th at midday, leave at 4pm to catch a ferry at 7pm for this two week mission around europe kayaking.....part of me knew i was going to be exhausted and the boating may suffer a little but then, the more awesome part of my brain said.....bring it. Live it up! So i booked the flights last minute, booked a hotel last minute - I asked another student where they were staying and just booked it with no thought put into it at all!
In the last three weeks ive doubled the number of countries that ive visited in my whole life up until now.
Saturday 20th May - Arrived at the lab at about 7am or so, to the last day to cram in those last few vital measurements to make our results watertight. Important things to do, the day flew past in a blur of physics, coffee, chocolate cake (in lieu of having no proper food) and brilliant, brilliant sunshine to make the day all the more sweet! 6pm rolls around and i drop Dean back off at his and i set off to York, and it occurs to me that i'm carrying all the things i love in my life in one go....all my kayaking, climbing and walking kit along with a whole bunch of experimental toys from the lab and i feel pretty smug driving up the A1 knowing that i've just had an amazing but exhausting time on that experiment with the dream team, and i'm nearly falling asleep at the wheel!
--> The two weeks following this were a huge blur by the time I came back! I had an incredible time! The first few days were spent in a barn in Switzerland after a days drive, I slept a LOT in this time and was woken up occasionally for things like kayaking and food, you know, nothing important :P
We met up with a few people from Canoe Schule in the town, namely Maud and she brough along a guy called Gerhard and another lady whos name escapes me but a bunch of legends! We went out on the Vorderrhein on day 1 just me mike and rich, we got a train into the put in, a bit flat with wee rapids in between but we still had a great time on our little adventure in the GLORIOUS and epic surroundings! Day 2 was the Upper Upper (apparently never goes) Vorderrhein with Maud and the crew - started out a bit bony but soon picked up, one rapid in particular, I managed to nail the line on what I think was a g4, but then at the hole at the bottom celebrated too soon and totally got sucked in a hole, above a g6 .... I was pulled out by grasping for the very end of a rope thrown by Gerhard who hauled me out....what an experience that was. I paddled as hard as I could and couldn't get out! Agh. The rest of the river went ok, and at the getout we encountered some friendly fisherman, apparently there was a festival on of some kind, who let us stand by their fire and they gave us schnapps....legends! The people that owned the barn, those that we met and the locals in the town were great. Its an expensive place but still, worth a go. Maud and Oscar who we also met but didnt paddle with also gave us a load of recommendations for rivers too which ive got on a bit of paper somewhere still! Oh yeah, and Mike totally put his vet hat on when he saw the drastically underfed cat that the landlord had at their house.....poor thing!
So, on to Austria, we had a great time here as well. I much preferred the water here - bigger and bouncier! We did the Imst first I think, and bumped into some random Germans at the get out who offered to take us down the Lower Oetz, me and mike jumped at the chance! These guys had dayglo schlegels, and motorbike helmets, and were drinking beer in baking sun with their drysuits around their waists at lunchtime....legends. They were so good, they led us down the river and we loved it. Both me and mike got out and literally gawped at death weir in the middle, and both survived the washing machine at the bottom after plenty of tail squirts from Mike in his GTX and I went in the one place I didn't wanna go sideways, rolled up, fell into the next thing....and rolled up again! I came out with the biggest smile on my face and they filmed it as well....so awesome! Finished off the day back at the Tirol with Andy who patched up my deck for me....THANKS MULRAIN!!!...and got drunk with the German guys on SOO much schnapps with them and Andys parents who showed up!! We also met over the days in Austria Esther, one of Andy's raft guides who has a husband in like Peru or something and andy took us to some club type deal above the restaurant nearby or something....such a blur...so much schnapps!
After that we moved on to Slovenia I think, to do the Soca, what a great place that is! Beautiful place. Lovely people. We went over there for Mr Laurent's pre-Alps trip. We did the various sections of the Soca for the first day, all except the bit after siphon canyon which we incidentally never got to. We sessioned the Koritnica as well, that was a beautiful river, top to bottom in like half an hour or something which was good seeing as there was a ban on paddling after 6pm and we got on at 5 to 6. tehehehe. Tonis campsite, the pink panther bar in town and a classy restaurant were sampled over the few days and even a night in the apartment with the boys on their final night .... luxury! After that, Rich went over to Venice to see missus Rich, and Mike and I trekked over to Italy to meet up with Dave and Mark and Rush and Ben for a few days before we went home. I was greeted witha heroes welcome which was amazing, bless them, the know how to treat me! That was a different class of kayaking over there! Tight rocky gorges with big consequences if you got it wrong. I largely didnt paddle there to be honest, did the Sesia, Upper and Middle I think. Mike did the Egua on the first day and hurt his shoulder on the first bit of the gorge but we still had fun tramping about paddling the sections we could and watching the guys throw themselves off of shit like the Gronda, the Sermenzina,....all funny, specially as it was with Tom Parker of Tom PArker Coaching Fame was there with them taking them to all the spots.....he got us a bottle of grappa in the pizza place in campertogno too......jeeeeesus i dont need any more of that stuff in my life! After Dave text Rush's new squeeze from Rush's phone and he smashed it in rage on the floor, and we at all the gelato ever we said goodbye to the guys, who were going off to Switzerland, and we began the journey home via Venice to pick up Rich and missus Rich. Long ass drive. We wrote all of our mishaps and stuff on a hi vis and gave it to our most illustrious swimmer.....me. Lol. Mike and I proceeded to get smashed on the ferry and I woke up the next day to drive off of it still hammered......never came so close to chundering in a car!! Ace. What a trip. And Ive got another one in a few weeks!! YEEEYY
Trip to remember.
All sounds very sensible so far. However, my supervisor suggested that it would be a good idea to go out to the states for the Omega Laser users meeting in Rochester, NY, for a week. And then i got awarded funding to attend in any case, over $1000 support (!) - but in the already small space between between trips! I thought it would be a great idea to cram a conference in this space, leaving me literally 4 hours in the night (10pm until 5am) to unpack, repack for a weeks conference, then getting back from that on the 26th at midday, leave at 4pm to catch a ferry at 7pm for this two week mission around europe kayaking.....part of me knew i was going to be exhausted and the boating may suffer a little but then, the more awesome part of my brain said.....bring it. Live it up! So i booked the flights last minute, booked a hotel last minute - I asked another student where they were staying and just booked it with no thought put into it at all!
In the last three weeks ive doubled the number of countries that ive visited in my whole life up until now.
Saturday 20th May - Arrived at the lab at about 7am or so, to the last day to cram in those last few vital measurements to make our results watertight. Important things to do, the day flew past in a blur of physics, coffee, chocolate cake (in lieu of having no proper food) and brilliant, brilliant sunshine to make the day all the more sweet! 6pm rolls around and i drop Dean back off at his and i set off to York, and it occurs to me that i'm carrying all the things i love in my life in one go....all my kayaking, climbing and walking kit along with a whole bunch of experimental toys from the lab and i feel pretty smug driving up the A1 knowing that i've just had an amazing but exhausting time on that experiment with the dream team, and i'm nearly falling asleep at the wheel!
--> The two weeks following this were a huge blur by the time I came back! I had an incredible time! The first few days were spent in a barn in Switzerland after a days drive, I slept a LOT in this time and was woken up occasionally for things like kayaking and food, you know, nothing important :P
We met up with a few people from Canoe Schule in the town, namely Maud and she brough along a guy called Gerhard and another lady whos name escapes me but a bunch of legends! We went out on the Vorderrhein on day 1 just me mike and rich, we got a train into the put in, a bit flat with wee rapids in between but we still had a great time on our little adventure in the GLORIOUS and epic surroundings! Day 2 was the Upper Upper (apparently never goes) Vorderrhein with Maud and the crew - started out a bit bony but soon picked up, one rapid in particular, I managed to nail the line on what I think was a g4, but then at the hole at the bottom celebrated too soon and totally got sucked in a hole, above a g6 .... I was pulled out by grasping for the very end of a rope thrown by Gerhard who hauled me out....what an experience that was. I paddled as hard as I could and couldn't get out! Agh. The rest of the river went ok, and at the getout we encountered some friendly fisherman, apparently there was a festival on of some kind, who let us stand by their fire and they gave us schnapps....legends! The people that owned the barn, those that we met and the locals in the town were great. Its an expensive place but still, worth a go. Maud and Oscar who we also met but didnt paddle with also gave us a load of recommendations for rivers too which ive got on a bit of paper somewhere still! Oh yeah, and Mike totally put his vet hat on when he saw the drastically underfed cat that the landlord had at their house.....poor thing!
So, on to Austria, we had a great time here as well. I much preferred the water here - bigger and bouncier! We did the Imst first I think, and bumped into some random Germans at the get out who offered to take us down the Lower Oetz, me and mike jumped at the chance! These guys had dayglo schlegels, and motorbike helmets, and were drinking beer in baking sun with their drysuits around their waists at lunchtime....legends. They were so good, they led us down the river and we loved it. Both me and mike got out and literally gawped at death weir in the middle, and both survived the washing machine at the bottom after plenty of tail squirts from Mike in his GTX and I went in the one place I didn't wanna go sideways, rolled up, fell into the next thing....and rolled up again! I came out with the biggest smile on my face and they filmed it as well....so awesome! Finished off the day back at the Tirol with Andy who patched up my deck for me....THANKS MULRAIN!!!...and got drunk with the German guys on SOO much schnapps with them and Andys parents who showed up!! We also met over the days in Austria Esther, one of Andy's raft guides who has a husband in like Peru or something and andy took us to some club type deal above the restaurant nearby or something....such a blur...so much schnapps!
After that we moved on to Slovenia I think, to do the Soca, what a great place that is! Beautiful place. Lovely people. We went over there for Mr Laurent's pre-Alps trip. We did the various sections of the Soca for the first day, all except the bit after siphon canyon which we incidentally never got to. We sessioned the Koritnica as well, that was a beautiful river, top to bottom in like half an hour or something which was good seeing as there was a ban on paddling after 6pm and we got on at 5 to 6. tehehehe. Tonis campsite, the pink panther bar in town and a classy restaurant were sampled over the few days and even a night in the apartment with the boys on their final night .... luxury! After that, Rich went over to Venice to see missus Rich, and Mike and I trekked over to Italy to meet up with Dave and Mark and Rush and Ben for a few days before we went home. I was greeted witha heroes welcome which was amazing, bless them, the know how to treat me! That was a different class of kayaking over there! Tight rocky gorges with big consequences if you got it wrong. I largely didnt paddle there to be honest, did the Sesia, Upper and Middle I think. Mike did the Egua on the first day and hurt his shoulder on the first bit of the gorge but we still had fun tramping about paddling the sections we could and watching the guys throw themselves off of shit like the Gronda, the Sermenzina,....all funny, specially as it was with Tom Parker of Tom PArker Coaching Fame was there with them taking them to all the spots.....he got us a bottle of grappa in the pizza place in campertogno too......jeeeeesus i dont need any more of that stuff in my life! After Dave text Rush's new squeeze from Rush's phone and he smashed it in rage on the floor, and we at all the gelato ever we said goodbye to the guys, who were going off to Switzerland, and we began the journey home via Venice to pick up Rich and missus Rich. Long ass drive. We wrote all of our mishaps and stuff on a hi vis and gave it to our most illustrious swimmer.....me. Lol. Mike and I proceeded to get smashed on the ferry and I woke up the next day to drive off of it still hammered......never came so close to chundering in a car!! Ace. What a trip. And Ive got another one in a few weeks!! YEEEYY
Trip to remember.
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