9th November 2008 – River Usk Trip

Sennybridge to Aberbran.

A group of gnarly paddlers (I like to think so anyway) set out to paddle the River Usk this weekend despite the weather conditions. We encountered torrential rain, thunderstorms, gale force winds and hail stones, which, by the way, felt like being hit my hundreds of mini golf balls. But it was all worth it, it was a fantastic day and everyone enjoyed many of the bouncy rapids along the river and those who were brave enough to take a few drops down the weirs enjoyed that too. We also took the chance to do a bit of ferry-gliding, mainly to keep warm. The gloomy weather didn’t spoil the views of the picturesque black mountains either.

Only one swimmer, Mike, but he didn’t mind too much as he got to test out some of his new gear. You’ll be pleased to know, it works!

The most difficult part of the day was trying to get changed afterwards in the rain. Everything was soaking wet - Andrew successfully managed to turn his nice blue towel into a brown mud covered one which sent us into hysterics. We took shelter at the side of a barn and I personally, was a little unnerved by the cows! Eventually, we all managed to get warmed up again with the help of copious amounts of hot drinks and some unusual exercises.

But all this shows it’ll take more than a little rain to stop the Paddle On Crew!!

Paddlers: Dave, Mike, Martin, Mike, Kyle, Andrew and Jenna.

Thanks Martin and Dave for driving and Mike for the much needed Kendal Mint Cake!