What I paddled today thread

Myself and two buddies did the Ballintrillick river in co Sligo today. The river was bone dry, and we had to get out and walk on a few sections :eek: But with a bit of lube it definatlely looks like it could be a savage river. We also got a quick blast on the Duff on our way home. Good day.

yesterday was balisodare and bonet. today was the dunniel. wonder what we will do tomorow?

kayaking alone tut tut :P

Had a few nice runs Friday and today through Castleconnell in my canadian....water was down from Friday but good trip all the same and great weather

Bray to somwhere tomorrow morning early:)

Just about to head to Clashganny for a days sport.First time out this year and really looking forward to it , just hope the weather holds up.

dunniel, Co sligo. grade 3 with grade 4ish sections. crap for safety and rescue due to the gorge.
it rained last night pretty well so we went at it first thing. water was low and dropping, but good enough to go. booftastic fun by all, and broachtastic fun by some. sure beats flatwater.

My two year old just got his brand new Fluid vaya sit on top - so we went down to the local river and messed around. My 7 year old has her level 2 in a few week so I was putting her through her paces and in between I messed around in my uber comfortable Riot Astro
Chris
www.kayakhut.com

Fantastic night - the rain finally came and made these rivers runnable. The Dargle is an awesome contininual steep & technical run. The avonmore was on the high side of medium and a great run. I tried to blast through the hole at jacksons and got swallowed up but recovered it, then there was a bit of craic jumping and seal launching off Jacksons
Chris
www.kayakhut.com

Did the Barrow from Goresbridge to Graig last sunday - what beautiful scenery!.
Plan to do Graig to St Mullins next week, hope it is as nice.

I hope you'll forgive a contribution from a non-canoeing non-kayaking person, although on the expedition in question I did actually do a lot of paddling. I'm actually a barge-driver, but with an interest in little-used or forgotten navigations. I know several people from here have visited my page about the Upper Suir between Carrick-on-Suir and Clonmel http://irishwaterwayshistory.com/abandoned-or-little-used-irish-waterways/the-upper-suir-carrick-to-clonmel/.

Anyway, with a family group, I recently went along the almost-forgotten Rockville Navigation in Co Roscommon: there were five of us and two dogs, in one dinghy, two kayaks and an inflatable kayak. At least at the very low water levels that prevailed, this would not appeal to whitewater enthusiasts, but it was a fascinating trip through canalised sections of rivers, small lakes and finally a shallow river. It took us four hours to fight through the vegetation, but kayaks alone could have done it a lot faster. We didn't cover the whole of the navigation, though. We thought it was a gorgeous stretch of water, with historic and scenic attractions as well as the feeling of exploring little-used waters (we weren't the first: I know of others who have taken small boats and kayaks around the waterway) and I'd like it to be better known. The more use a waterway gets, the more likely it is to be kept open (although I have no idea what the local landowners think about it).

If you are interested, you can read my account of the trip (with maps and lots of photos) here.

bjg