Wednesday 12th September 2012
We met Pauline at college at 10am this morning for a brief on the expedition and to sort out gear. We then loaded up the trailers with Canoe’s and Kayak’s for the trip, there was two trips to the lake because there was too many of us for one trip.
There was a bit of a hold up with some people forgetting gear and so by the time everybody was ready to get on the water at Lough Carra, it was already 4pm.
The journey that we had planned for today was looking a little ambitious due to the late start so we just aimed to get as far along as we could before dark. It was sunny, 16*C and there was no wind on the water, so the trip was forgiving of our late departure. We ended up getting a lot further than we expected to after leaving late.
It felt so good to be back with everyone and the craic was 90! I actually didn’t realise how much I missed everybody over the summer until we were all back together again. I think I havn’t laughed like I laughed today in a good while.
Everybody was in top form and I didn’t even seem to notice the time passing as we canoed along. Liz & I were in a canoe together and it gave us a great chance to catch up. We travelled 9km to our first camp spot and decided to set up camp here before it got too dark.
The place where we camped was all limestone rocks and where the limestone platform met the water, it was really soft and slippy to stand on. All the rocks around were pitted where you could see the rain drops add eroded them a bit. Martin, Stacy, Liz and I all pitched our tents near each other and then started cooking dinner, it was so good to get some hot food on the go.
We then sat around the campfire with everybody playing games and chatting about our summers for a while.
At about 11:30pm Stacy and I decided it was time to make some tea and the day seemed to catch up with me very fast! I was in my sleeping bag by 12.
Force 8 winds expected for tomorrow, so we were not sure if we would be able to go anywhere. Pauline said that we would see what was going on when we wake up in the morning.
Force 8 winds expected for tomorrow, so we were not sure if we would be able to go anywhere. Pauline said that we would see what was going on when we wake up in the morning.
Thursday 13th September 2012
I woke at 8:30am, there was only myself, Sam and Stacy awake at this time. Stacy and I sat on the shore and had breakfast and tea. It was quite windy out but I could tell we were protected on shore because further out on the lake I could see white horses. It was sunny and warm but the breeze was quite cooling.
It was a nice way to start the day, sitting out by the lake having a bit of breakfast.
Stacy and I discussed over breakfast that we thought the weather wasn’t too bad and that we would probably be able to get on the water. Soon Pauline was up and waking everybody up, she wanted us to aim to be on the water for 10:30am. So we started to pack up camp and re-pack the canoes.
We eventually got going by 11am and the wind wasn’t a problem at all really, it was only about a force 3. However, as the morning went on we started to feel the gusts and they were getting much stronger each time. We were quite well protected as we started to head down the river to Lough Mask.
We couldn't go down the river al the way to Lough Mask because there was a big weir so we had to hop out just before the weir and carry our kayaks and canoe’s down further below it before getting back on the water again.
When we got further down the river, towards the edge of Lough Mask, the wind was getting really strong. We re-grouped at the bottom of the river, all we could see was white horses covering the lake’s surface!... It didn’t look fun!
Pauline suggested that we try get further down to the really good campsite ‘Cuslough Demesne’ where apparently the people don’t mind us staying and even left the public toilets open for the last years groups to use.
So we began to paddle against the grueling wind...it was almost impossible to get anywhere and some people were really struggling. We re-grouped again after 20mins intense paddling. My muscles in my arms were burning and I was already tired.
We worked out that it was only another 2km to get to the campsite, but Pauline said, if we decide to go ahead, then we have to raft up, 2 Canoes to 1 Sea Kayak for safety.
Nobody seemed too keen on going on against the wind, and we eventually made a group decision to go back the way we came, with the wind at our backs. We wanted to make our trip as enjoyable and safe as possible, not tiring and stressful. Also, with the huge range of paddling experience and abilities of our group we decided this was definitely the most sensible idea.
We decided that going on against the wind would be putting ourselves in a potentially dangerous situation and it was unnecessary for our trip.
The only annoying thing about this plan was that we would have to carry our canoe’s and kayak’s back above the weir again!! But we all decided that this was worth it if it meant having the wind at our backs for the rest of the day!
So we made our new camp spot Moore Hall, 10km away from where we were at that point on Lough Mask. It felt good that we had made the decision as a group and that everybody’s concern was for each other.
The stronger members of the group showed concern for the weaker members of the group and how well they would cope in the conditions. Even though the stronger members could probably have gone on against the wind, they didn’t want to make it dangerous for others. I think this showed real strength within the group.
Once we got back up the river, with the wind at our backs, we were flying it. We decided to re-group back at our original campsite and raft up the canoes. Liz and I rafted up with Stacy and Martin. We constructed a sail with out tarp and some rope we had. We tied a piece of rope to the front of our canoe’s to the tarp and then a long piece of rope coming from the two top corners so that we could let it out looser/bring it in tighter depending on the wind.
We then launched again, Stacy and I were at the front of the canoe's so we wrapped the rope around the top of our paddles to make it sturdy and easier to hold. It was so much fun and we were going so fast that we were almost up on the plane! Sometime we were going so fast that the back of our canoe’s started to take on water, so we had to loosen the sails a little bit every now and then!
We travelled 10km in about an hour and a half and had great craic on the way!
When we arrived at our destination, we brought all the canoes and kayaks in and to the little grass area by the lake and we brought all our gear, including paddles with us.
We started setting up camp in the forest at Moore Hall, Stacy, Liz and I decided to set up camp away from everybody else because we wanted to have a relaxed early night away from any noise that might be going on. Once our tents were up, we started to feel the cold, so we put on our thermals and decided to gather some fire wood to make ourselves a fire.
The new Shackelton students came over and started helping us to collected some firewood which was really nice of them. We then lit a fire and started to cook some dinner for ourselves.
It was really relaxed and we got chatting to the Aoife, Hannah & Martin, the Shackelton students. It was a great way to get to know them and we all got on really well.
When we were finishing our dinner, people started to arrive at our camp site and eventually, the whole class were there! Soon Pauline came down to our tent to sort out activities for the year with everybody and find out what people were interested in for the year.
I started getting really tired around 11:30pm and decided to try and get some sleep, (despite my tent being right next to what had turned into the party camp fire.)
This wasn't how myself, Stacy and Liz had planned the evening at all, it was very loud at our camp but eventually I got to sleep, alarm set for 8:30am.
Moral of the story is, never be the first to light your camp fire if you're looking for a quiet night!
Friday 14th September 2012
Woke up at 8:30am and had breakfast, we had to clean up our campsite after everybody the night before which was a bit rubbish. We then got packed up, put down our tents our tents and planned to be on the water for 10am. A few people came to our camp and apologised for being loud the night before, which I thought was sound of them.
Keith managed to lose his car key somewhere during the time we were staying at Moore Hall. So we all spent a few mins checking all around our campsites for it, but unfortunately with no luck.
We were on the water for 10:15am and our plan was to travel as far as we could to get collected by the bus. The wind was force 5 gusting 6 which made life difficult for us. The canoes kept catching wind on the side and turning.
We re-grouped, after paddling against the wind for 1/3 of the journey and made a plan. I was so wrecked and frustrated from paddling against the wind.
At first, we were going to go back the way we came again, but we all decided to try and get to the opposite side of the lake, that way we would have more shelter from the wind and hopefully our canoes would stop turning! To get accross to the other side, meant that we would be paddling into the wind rather than having the wind catching us at the side.
We made it over to the other side and kept going to ‘Churches’. We re-grouped there to check that everybody was ok and then decided to keep going until we made it to our start point from Wednesday, Castleburke. This is where we decided we would ask Kevin to collect us.
The rest of the journey was a struggle, we constantly had the wind against us and it just proved how lucky we were with the weather and how relaxed the journey was for the last 2 days. There was the odd break in the wind which was nice, but the majority of the time we were paddling into the wind and it wasn’t easy, especially at the end of our trip!
Eventually we could see the big tall statue in the distance at Castleburke and we just focused on getting back.
Once we were back on land, we emptied out our canoes and kayaks and made a quick lunch. We then had a debrief with Pauline where we had to talk about our own experiences on the trip and what we might do differently.
I wish I had picked up on the navigation on day 1 because I had just followed everybody else on day 1, but I was glad that I navigated on the last 2 days of the trip.
Back at college we had to jet wash all of the boats because of the Zebra Mussels. We had to do a really thorough job incase there was any lavae or anything still on them in the cracks or anything.
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| Not to mention Teddy was loving being back on college adventures! |
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