Dart Loop

Open Canoe

The River Dart Loop just the sound of it excites me and gives me that urge to grab my boat, buoyancy aid and paddle and head for Devon. The Loop was my unattained goal for 2010, I missed the trip earlier this year and knowing that the Loop’s paddleable season was rapidly heading for closure I had resigned myself to “maybe in Autumn”.

 “How do you fancy doing the Dart Loop on Sunday?” asked Athol casually like he was asking would I like a glass of water. Without hesitation I replied “Count me in”. In hind sight maybe I should of listened to the trip details before I answered as he then went on to say “paddling solo in open canoes!”

 I’ve paddled open canoes before even on moving water but always with my trusty paddle partner Nicky never Solo. This was going to be my biggest challenge yet.

 Sunday came very quickly, I’d managed to sort the kids out and was loaded and heading down to Devon by nine o’clock. It was a bright sunny but very cold January morning. I pulled off the A30 and was soon able to see the River Dart gracefully flowing through the Devonshire countryside looking calm and inviting almost beckoning me to get in and try my luck. There had not been very much rain in the days leading up to Sunday so the river level was very low. It looked like there was going to be a lot of bumping and scraping along the way.

I arrived at the car park and noticed I was early so walked down to the river to check it out. Some early bird Kayakers were practicing ferry gliding and breaking out and breaking in just above the bridge. I listened to their instructor shouting “LEAN LEAN” as one guy toppled ungracefully into the moving water. It brought back many many of my memories  testing the temperature of the River Wye!

Athol, Jeff and Claire arrived and after Athol had consumed an ice cream we unloaded the boats and got changed. The temperature had risen slightly but was still only about 4 degrees so I was very grateful for my new drysuit.

We carried the boats to the river and after a safety briefing we got on the water. The small rapid just under the bridge told me that even if the water level was low it was still going to be entertaining. The first hundred yards told me what I’d already feared, I was going to have to work hard and quickly pick up some skills from the others on how to properly control one of these boats.

We slowly moved down river and with continuous instruction from Athol I got the hang and the feel for my boat and started to relax. Each time we could hear the noise of the river getting louder we stood up in our boats and inspected the rapids in front of us. We chose our lines and set ourselves up ready for the first drop. Each time the hidden rocks caught me off guard and I’d fight hard to try to keep to my line. Very often I would have to reassess and choose a different line after pushing myself off of the rocks I was jammed against.

After being so used to my kayak this was completely new but I found the challenge great fun. We caught up with the kayakers at one of the rivers main features where they were playing on wave at the bottom. Athol went first, the kayakers didn't seem that happy to move off the wave but sixteen foot of open canoe and Athol bearing down on them at a fair rate of knots soon changed their minds. The rivers main features have great names such as “The spin Dryer”, “triple Falls” and Lovers Leap”. The low water levels allowed me to run these features with out too much of a problem with all of us staying dry and having great fun. I’m sure were the river levels higher I would have spent most of the day in the water.

Getting closer to the end of the paddle we reached the first of two weirs. I have only paddled the gentle sloping type of weir and not the vertical drop kind. Being a coward I let the others go first watching their line and then seeing them drop out of sight. Athol made it first no problem then Jeff, who had a slight problem went second. Seeing Jeff further down river struggling to get out the water didn’t install much confidence in me making it without trying my drysuit out to its extreme! But I was almost on the edge and there was no going back. Claire was stood on the bank waving me more to the right so a few last minute quick draw strokes pulled me to the right and over the edge I went. I landed straight and put some hard paddle strokes in to pull myself away from the weir and the rocks at the edge. I’d made it! A little further down stream I broke out and pulled my boat onto the bank. I joined the others trying to get one of the other canoes out of the water giving me the chance to witness the power of the water. The boat was pinned against two large rocks and the force of the down stream water was just holding it there solid. With some man handling and some fancy rope work we soon had Jeff back in his boat and we were heading for the second weir.

Although higher this weir passed us uneventfully and Jeff paddled back to the base and played on the wave even managing to stand up whilst surfing.

Our get out point was just a short paddle from here and Claire was already there waiting for us. The River Dart is a beautiful river set in stunning countryside the water was crystal clear enabling me to see the colours of the rock formation that makes the river bed.

I’d had a challenging yet fantastic day. I couldn’t of asked for better weather in January, the river had been kind to me and the company had been great what more could I hope for on my first , of many I hope, trips around the Dart Loop.