By Del Read
Photos:
Tom Clare
Jack Grace
Del Read
https://delkayaks.co.uk
@del_likes_kayaking
Tom Clare
www.facebook.com/tomclaremedia
@tomclaremedia
I have debated about writing this article for a while. With each of these swims came feelings of shame and anguish. But I have had a lot of time to reflect on them all, and through these reflections, I have been able to take away valuable lessons. I am not encouraging recklessness but simply highlighting what I have learned as I gain more experience. I have written the swims in chronological order of when they happened.
1. SWALE – SCOUT, SCOUT & SCOUT!
2. ETIVE – IF THERE IS A HOLE, MAKE SURE TO BOOF!
3. TWRCH – BE HONEST WHEN YOU ARE SCARED
4. Upper Dart – communication is key
Another year later, we are enjoying a very wet day in Dartmoor. Having had a great time on the loop in the morning, we head to the get-in for the Upper. It is higher than I anticipated, and I am very hesitant about getting on.
Eventually, I reason that it is high, but my skill set should be enough to match it. I may find it pushy, but competent friends surrounded me, so it wasn’t a bad place to push myself.
the mad mile
We get on, and it is full-on from the go. I have run the Dart before but never as high as this. When we started the mad mile, I enjoyed myself but also found it intense. I go over and fail a roll. Not to worry – try again. I come up, relieved, only to fall sideways straight into a massive hole. No breath and, taken by surprise, my rolls fail. I swim and undergo one of the more unpleasant swims of my life. Afterwards, I describe it as ‘being a pinball in a pinball machine’.
My friends get me to the side, and two others chase my boat down. I get out and immediately try to follow them down the bank to help with the boat. Only it isn’t easy. The bank is steep, muddy and full of obstacles. Eventually (and a long way down the river), I catch them up, and amazingly my boat and paddles are in an eddy! I catch my breath, thank them, and we wait for the others. But they don’t come.
I walk back to find the others and let them know I am okay. To find out my boyfriend had left his boat on the other side of the river and walked down to walk out with me – as he assumed my boat would be unrecoverable! He now has no way to get back to his boat.
walking out of Dartmoor
To cut a long story short from this point. We then had a huge argument (two very stubborn people), which resulted in us both walking out of Dartmoor to the get-out, me carrying a boat on my back. We went back to retrieve his boat later on. I was exhausted and furious. It is one of the worst days of boating I have ever had. Not because of the actual boating but because of the carnage after my swim!
My lesson learned? Communicate! If I had stayed for a few minutes to communicate with the others about what to do after my swim, it might not have gone so spectacularly badly! Luckily we made up soon after, but the ‘Dartmoor break up’ remains my friend’s favourite entry in my paddling log book!
