Trip on the River Barle (Exmoor)
Now I’m not one to whinge (much) - but do you know how far Exmoor is? Well, it’s longer than you think, take my word for it. It could have something to do with the fact that everyone else had left two hours earlier and were already sitting in the pub trying out the 4 different tap beers; it could also have been something to do with the fact that everytime I went over 70 miles an hour, the trailer tried to imitate Concorde taking off. But I don’t believe it - it’s just a long, long way. Of course, part of it was fear and trepidation - five of us in the car (myself, Liz, Sam (wife and daughter), Paul Jeanerette and Sylvie) - all of us had paddled for a while, but none of us had really been on small river white water before. And then, of course, we were getting these stories, there was flooding, “big, big waves”, (Pete A), “there was no water at all” (Steve F) - “we would have to go mountain climbing” (in a Kayak?) - so I really needed a drink.
Saturday afternoon, boats were loaded, lifts arranged. Eventually, 17 people in total arrived at the Exmoor White House Inn in Exford for dinner and a drink or two before bed in the Youth Hostel opposite. To be honest, the weather forecast was not brilliant, strong winds and drizzle …and it was raining when we got up..but in many ways that was rather lucky…
The river Barle is about 30 metres wide, Tarr Steps is possibly the oldest bridge in Britain, and is thought to be in excess of 2000 years old. Built from large flat stones, it is known as a “clapper bridge”, and provides a foot crossing over the River Barle, deep in a wooded valley on Exmoor. The Steps are interesting because if the water level is above the top, it’s a grade three, if below; it is a two, maybe three in places. As it was, (because of the rain the previous night) it was about half way up - near perfect for the day. By the way the picture is one I borrowed from the Internet - none of us took a camera!
Once we had finished moving the cars around, the Opens set off with Steve, and the Kayaks with Marion in front and Ian at the rear. The first test is to paddle under the bridge. Paddling under the bridge seemed fun at first sight, but as you gradually move underneath, flat on your back, and the stone top gets nearer and nearer to your nose - you began to wonder what happens if you do not fit - can you get stuck in a river with you nose embedded in a rock? How do you get out? Can you roll? Can you submerge? Would the ambulance come? How do you explain it next day at work? But we all fitted through, just…
From then on we all did very good imitations of Duracell Battery Bunnies on the first couple of rapids (paddled like hell!) until Marion pulled us back and made us try to control where we were going. We then practiced various skills in the rapids and moving water until lunchtime. The major risks were the rocks (”rocks are my friend - hug them”) and the Trees (”like to be friendly but not a real friend”) (I do sometimes worry if coaches are bred or just arrive). The rocks were fun and occasionally painful - did anyone get really wet? Well its not polite to mention the girls - but a big boy in an Open, how did that go over Mark? Around 1pm we joined forces with the Opens again, and had a slightly damp lunch. Thankfully the predicted wind never turned up until late in the day.
After lunch the rapids got a bit larger and a couple of them were rather interesting. One of them had the main channel going River Left to River Right; hence you had to move in at an angle. It got rather difficult as Liz got stuck on a rock, Sam went straight in behind her and yes, I was trying to back paddle as fast as I could and consequently went down into the drop without knowing it was even there… Having 75% of my family wrecked in one river trip is not a good idea… As the end of the trip came close, we speeded up a bit, to keep warm; we kayakers portaged around Dulverton weir, and the open boaters lined it (after all why carry when you can push the boat over the edge on a rope!) and then headed to land as quickly as we could. Strangely, I have not been down this way before, but the river and the scenery are superb. We were about one of 5 groups on the river that day, but we never saw them, hence it was our river for the day.
Was it fun, of course it was absolutely brilliant! At one point as we bounced between rock to rock I could not help but laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of it all - that’s why I do it and would do it again tomorrow.
Various awards were given at the end of the day. Pete Armitage got his 4 Star Open Canoe, Mark Salisbury 3 Star Open Canoe. Our congratulations to both. My award goes to the youngest member of our Team, Harry Spicer-Short, who after I think two dunkings, kept going on. By the end he was a might cold. The whole group’s thanks go to Steve, Marion and Ian, our guides and coaches. (I’m sure they enjoyed it as well.) Off to the Dart next…further away and bigger rapids ..hmmm have to set off earlier!
Geoff Rippington
24th October 2002
