Blackwater trip 27th Dec
This trip was organised by CANI to mark the opening of the new canoe trail on the river Blackwater and to say that it was well attended was an understatement. Someone told me that there were at least 30 open canoes there yesterday most being paddled in tandem. The most heard phrase of the day was "I didn't know there were so many canoes in Northern Ireland." It has to be said though, there were a few from south of the border as well, and very welcome they were too. It was also very well attended by SotP members, so it gave us a good opportunity to put faces to names.
We started at Benburb where there is a great device for launching the canoes down a very steep bank to the canoe steps at the river's edge.
Here I am getting the Disco ready for its slide down to the river. (all Photos courtesy of Mr Nick)
This is someone else's Charles River on it's way to the water.
Here it is again, at the bottom.
I was paddling with my friend Mary in my Disco 169, and Peterkm was paddling with Mr Nick in Pete's Venture 16.
Mary and I had elected to leave the drysuits in our cars and just paddle in waterproofs and fleeces. 1st BIG MISTAKE 
Shortly after setting out, the river branches into two, the left fork following the old canal and the right following the path of the river.
Mary and I had done this stretch before so we decided to go down the right fork again. 2nd BIG MISTAKE
There was a lot of fallen trees in this bit, and it took a fair bit of maneuvering to avoid the obstacles. First casualty was a man with two young lads who fell in just behind us. Garetine was first on hand to offer assistance, helping them to empty the canoe and get the lads back into their seats. Mary and I nabbed one of their paddles that had gone adrift and returned it to them.
Next to lose the plot was Mary and me. 
We were plucked from our canoe by an overhanging branch 
I was lucky, it wasn't too deep so I just stood up in waist high water, grabbed the swim line and hauled the canoe to the bank. Mary however was in deeper water and disappeared off downstream with Pete and Nick in hot pursuit. I think she was hauled out by someone with a throwline.
I emptied the canoe and paddled down to pick up my passenger. We both agreed that it definitely was a day for drysuits after all. However, neither of us suffered that badly, the fleece/waterproof combination worked very well at keeping us warm. It would make me quite keen to look at the "Buffalo gear" as an option for future trips.
Here we have a picture of Garetine (farthest away in the group), he was paddling solo in his fine looking boat.
This was taken at the lunch stop at Moy.
After lunch our group paddled on down to the Argory and the get out at Bond's bridge. A few others paddled on to Maghery, but I'm sure some one else can tell that story............
All in all it was a great day out, a good way of working off the Christmas turkey, perhaps it could become an annual event. Thanks to everyone that came along, I look forward to hearing your version of the day's events.
Last edited by Big Al.; 28th-December-2007 at 04:07 PM.
Reason: crediting the photographer
Big Al.
Only when the last tree has died
and the last river been poisoned
and the last fish been caught
will we realise we cannot eat money.
~Cree Indian Proverb
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Originally Posted by garetine
hehe.
