Arriving at Barnard castle on the Friday, we empty our personal kit into the heated scout’s hut which we stay in and head out to the local pubs and finish off at a wine bar. The following morning we get changed into our kit and head down the road to the river. Once were on river we head towards Winston, on the way there is a few small rapids, two of which are difficult enough for us to provide safety for. The first is Abbey rapids, around grade III; this is a short section of rapids in a gorge. This is followed by whorlton falls; this is a 1m drop across the river. It is fairly easy to go down, once you’re on the right line, you just have to paddle up to it at speed and keep strait. Near the end of the river is a weir, which you can surf on the wave at the bottom.

Once we get off we head back to the hut and have a few drinks, “club cooked food” and play some games i.e. Freeman, Harvey, Wallace. The loser of these games gets a forfeit, i.e. running out side in the snow in underwear, jumping off low force on the Sunday. On the Sunday we head off to low force, here there is a short stretch of rapids, the “S bends”. Once everyone has got to the bottom of this section there is a water fall, “low force”. Here we all paddle off the top of the waterfall and paddle round to get off and watch everyone else. Once everyone who wants to paddle off the waterfall has, it’s time for the forfeit to jump off, where quite a few other people will jump off with them for fun.