Ash kayaking

The one great thing about the Ash is that no matter how much is doesn't rain everywhere else the Ash will always have water. This year has been particularly bad on rain, with all the river low and dusty we decided to head off to the Ash.
the trip list was as follows: Dave, James, Chris, Laura, Dale, Willem and myself all in kayaks. Dale and Willem are new to kayaking, having only kayaked the Vaal at low water before, although Dale has done many canoe marathons.
We headed down on Saturday morning bright and early, well not bright but damn early, stopping in Parys to get a boat for Dale at Whitewater Training. All kitted up for what was to be a cold paddle, Dale and Willem having never been on the Ash before were unsure of what to expect and looked unjustifiably nervous.
The paddle from the dam down to the first drop is short and gives you little time prepare yourself for what is to come. Dave and I ran the drop first eddying out below and waited for everyone else. Chris, Laura and Dale all made it ok, they all made me laugh as the punched though the hole they all that the same "Damn this is cold, gaping for air" expression on their faces. Willem ran the drop well but got caught up in an eddy line and went over, he missed three rolls and I was almost positive he was going for a swim but on the third roll he made it, super impressive stuff especially in such cold water. The rest of the run was fairly uneventful, we ran all the rapids carefully and everyone came to terms with the numerous boils and eddy lines.
We scouted Allesgevinden and Allesverloren just to make sure everyone was okay with the lines before we ran it. Chris and Laura ran it well, Willem, Dale and James came down next. James hit a great line for Dale to follow and the both made it, Willem got a little sideways and went over. I was impressed how determined he was to roll, unfortunately he go pushed up against a rock with a hole just before it which made it almost impossible for him to roll and he swam. Not the worst swim in the world but a cold one none the less.

Dale and James down Alles

Dale hitting the line down Alles


Willem lining up the drop

I was keen on doing Bridge (or Fish pond) rapid, so I convinced the others to come help run safety. I supposed there was no backing out once I had got everyone down there. I checked my line and nervously got into my boat, although this rapid isn't that big it can hurt you if you cock it up. It hit the wave before the second drop a little to far right and landed up further right than I would have liked for the drop. As I hit the boils below my paddle was pulled out of my left hand and I went over, lucky I rolled up quickly and was able to do the rest upright. I didn't quite get the ferry right before the rock shelf and hit the hole at the bottom in the centre. I thought I was going to the pounded but managed to get through, good times!

Neil wishing he was half a metre left

Neil upside down

About to hit the rock shelf

We headed back to the car ate lunch, napped and headed up for another run. Being a little later the water seemed to be just that little bit colder and there was a slight edge in the air. Willem went over once or twice and had a few swims. This time we headed straight down Alles, Laura and Willem walked not too confident or warm after some swimming.

We headed back to town, made the most food ever and looked for a pub. After half and hour we where still looking for the pub, eventually we had walked right across town and found nice little pub where we had a few beers and watched some of the cricket.

The Sunday plan was to run a bit of the longer section, however with new paddlers and time pressure the full section was off the cards. The plan was to paddle to the second bridge, so Chris, Dale and Dave set off to do drive round. They took quite a while, so James and I entertained ourselves by watching a log get trashed in the weir at the put in. Apparently Chris hit a rock quite hard and bent his rim so they had to change a tire on the way.

The paddle went according to plan until Alles, which at the lower level made a quite sticky hole at the first drop. I went down and sat in the top eddy after which James, Chris and Laura came down. I could see that the hole was sticky by the way it almost stopped Chris in a Y. Laura came down and hit it right in the center, the stickiest bit. It surfed her back and flipped her over, she swam and made it to the bank before the second drop. Unfortunately her boat went over the second drop and got pinned. It came out by its self but damaged the hull. The Ash river often causes a bit of carnage. So Laura and James stayed at bridge and the rest paddle off to the cars. The second section has far fewer rapids that the first, with only a few wave trains, a nice drop, a weir and a nasty broken down dam wall.

I was keen on running the first drop of the last section so I paddled down while Dave, Chris, Dale and Willem walked there to run safety. I saw and eddy just above the drop which I new I could easily make, as I got closer I noticed it had a fence blocking it. Not good times! I managed to duck under it and scout the rapid, but was relieved that I didn't get washed down it without anyone watching. I ran the left line, went a little further left that I would have liked but was okay. We headed back to the cars and did drive round.

Note: The construction of a hydro electric channel is being started on this section. We left a car there with the guard. Please contact the farmer before doing so, he is reasonable but doesn't like random people walking over his land without being told about it.

We picked up Laura and James, had some lunch and headed off home. It was a great trip, thanks to everyone who came and Chevonne for helping out with the organisation even though she didn't come.

Beginners hike: Marble baths, Injisuthi

The plan was to go to Marble baths cave in the Injisuthi area, Drakensberg. We (Kemba, Will, Hoosain, Willem and I) would leave early, sail through the traffic (no traffic on a friday afternoon, never!), get there, set up camp for the night and turn in early... Lets just say that didn't exactly happen...

What I thought would be a relatively simple drive, but possibly a bit of a challenging hike turned out to be exactly the opposite: the 30 - odd Km road to the Injisuthi campsite turned out to be one big car-swallowing pothole for the rather low Camry we were in, and therefore it took us a long time to get through. We got to the entrance to the reserve at about 11pm, and, (not surprisingly) the gate was locked. So I ran all the way up some tiny hill in the hope of getting some signal, found signal and proceeded to wake up the Injisuthi reception person so they could radio the guard to come and let us in. However, when I came back from my mission, the guard had already opened for us... Good way of making new friends at the camp...

So we got there in the end. However, the rest of the weekend went by so effortlessly, that getting there almost seemed to be the most challenging part of the weekend. The route was easy to follow, and not very difficult. The weather turned out to be sunny and a little hot, but no rain. There was one part where I thought we were lost, though. There was this thick mass of vegetation on the path, and millions of baboon paths going off in all directions. Well, I took one of those paths, thinking it was the right path... Turned out it wasn't, but we found our way back to the main path eventually. We found the cave easily, and then all headed down to the baths after lunch, where the boys had lots of fun swimming in the pools. I was looking for lizards, and therefore didn't swim... I consumed a fair amount of OBS during supper, (no-one else was, so I had to make up for them...), and consequently was very happy when I got to bed.

On the walk back, a rather large puffadder decided Kemba was a threat, and so struck at her. She wasnt bitten luckily, and the snake, which must have been quite scared moved off quickly. The incident left a few shaken people, me included, as a snake bite, especially from a puffadder would not have been good times.

Anyway, we got back safely. The 'Berg was absolutely beautiful, the water tasted lovely, and all in all, it was a really good weekend.

Cheese

Blyde Fest

So it turns out that getting from Wits to the other side of Benoni, whilst not requiring a passport, does take the better part of 2 hours on Friday evenings. Inevitably we got to the Blyde Canyon Adventure Centre around midnight with only a few drunk kayakers from Benoni (strangely) around to greet us. The plan had initially been for Dexter, Crabs and I to waste away Saturday while Neil competed in the kayak race on the Upper Blyde. A haphazard last minute rearrangement saw Dexter and I tagging along in a croc with the kayak race and Crabs getting the short straw - which I still feel bad about - and staying in camp.

The 4am start was over-rated and the 2 hour drive was pretty hectic, but the view and the crystal clear water was well worth the lack of sleep - anyone who's been to that part of the country knows what I'm talking about. One of the highlights for me was drinking straight from the river with no gippo-strings attached, very refreashing after the sludge in the Vaal and most Natal rivers.

The kayak race was a timed sprint (on two occasions a head-to-head race) down three of the larger rapids on the stretch and the rest of the river was just tripped. Neil represented Explorers well, even though he brought a medium red knife (read: flirt) to a gun fight. Although it could've been worse... he could've been Luke in the large flirt. Mark and I thought we'd embarrass ourselves rather and took a few swims, Mark felt it neccessary to increase his number of swims. I particularly enjoyed the swim above the waterfall... thanks Mark. But the kayakers seemed to enjoy the relatively informal format of racing and good times seem to be had by all... although, the guy who worked in the hole below curtain falls seems to have a strange sense of good times because he went back for more.

That night descended into a boozed haze and much abuse was hurled in Explorers direction as the video of the day was watched and the full extent of the carnage revealed. Next morning we nursed our heads and bumbled down the lower blyde, which couldn't really compare with the spectacular canyon of the day before... at least this time we had Crabs with us.

Amazing weekend, hopefully have a bigger contingent at next year's event...

Snoo