Done: Crammel Linn

A sorry state at the bottom of Crammel Linn.

It's been mentioned twice now and I've eventually ticked off the biggest drop in the area. I wouldn't say I styled it, as can be seen from the picture above. I basically ended up off line, flopped over the lip and went over the handlebars. It wouldn't have been too bad if I hadn't connected with some rock at the base, but I did float away from the drop with one big dent in the boat and one sore knee. Thank god for the bulkhead system fitted in the Rocker otherwise I imagine I'd have had two broken ankles after falling twenty feet onto solid rock.

Walking to the Gelt Pool.

Once we had finished up at the Irthing we turned tale and headed back for Carlisle with a call in on the Gelt, which flows out of Geltdale and on through Brampton before joining the Eden, to find that it was at 1.1 on the gauge: a good level would be 0.9. I've looked at this river before, when it has been too low to paddle, as the quartzite boulder, just upstream of where we put on, has some lovely bouldering problems on. It was nice to visit a familiar area, with different equipment and in different conditions to be able to take away more memories.

Boofing into the Gelt Pool.

We kitted up, jumped on the river and headed off downstream with one simple statement in our heads: "Several gibbering wrecks have emerged from the depths of this run wondering what they have just experienced" (Miller, 2003, p.41).

The slot drops near the end of the run.

To be honest we didn't emerge from the depths of the run as gibbering wrecks, but I suppose it could have been a totally different story if we had come across more than one log jam, which we were able to skirt around fairly easily. However, the rapids under Hynam Bridge were some of the best I've experienced in a long while and it was almost a shame that they had to finish so soon. Anyhow, back to work tomorrow; let's just hope my knee holds up to it.

Good lines, stay safe and see you on the wet stuff...
Iain