With not much rain falling over night in the lakes over night we met up at Mommas food company. The rain radar had showed there had been rain up near Carlisle and the borders. A quick decision was made and Louis picked the Irthing. We shot up the M6 superhighway, and with great navigation from the guidebook and roadsigns we turned up at Gilsland.

The river here was a healthy brown colour, so we headed up to the firing range of RAF Spadeadam. Fortunately the red flag wasnt flying! A short wet walk from the layby Crammel Linn came in to view, it went quiet for a while as we scouted the falls. Decisions were made and back to the motors to get some gear.

4 giddy paddlers, headed over the moor to the fall. We all agreed on the same line a nice little drop on to a platform the paddle of the edge, easy! Louis fired off beautifully a big boof saw him clear the fall and paddle away with a big whoop. Steve Ed charged off and came out smiling. Kris and I were left at the top along with our nerves. Kris went off well and rolled at the bottom. I couldn't see him from the top but watching the others on the bank below you could tell there was a slight pause of hearts as his first roll didn't work.

I was left up there on my own, all the bravery evaporated, and my nerves started to kick in. My legs turned to jelly as I walked back to the boat, my stomach was a tight ball. As I  put my deck on I gave myself a good talking to and paddled in to the flow. A nice flick on to the platform, a correction stroke then WUMPF off the edge.

I rolled up and paddled away with a fantastic feeling of euphoria.

If you look carefully I'm in there somewhere!

We all really flew and were buzzing. The rest of the river to Gisland was good and continuous. Back home to tea and medals. Cheers to Bob and Jaime for taking the photos.

Cheers

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