A lack of rainfall, dire surf forecast and pure desperation to go boating lead Nigel, Barny and Rheanna to tackle Wiltshire's own: The Bybrook.
The trip began in Castle Combe, where the river started as it would tend to continue: flat and fairly shallow. The first obstacle was a horseshoe shaped narrow fall onto a shallow and undercut landing. After removing a large plank from the drop everyone ran it with no problems.
After this the river continued to wind through the valley before turning into what can only be described as: a nature reserve! As we paddled through we all felt a very strong feeling that we weren't welcome there. Continuing through the reserve we were greeted by a very unhappy landowner/Buddhist who basically told us to get off the river and get lost.
So we took our boats for a walk. After finding a place to get back in our boats the river started to widen out a bit, and become VERY tree blocked. The stubbornness, determination (and possible stupidity) lead us to battle through many blockages that would normally have been portaged. Eventually we gave up and took our boats for a walk again. MORE tree blockages followed as we approached another notable fall- a debris filled slot in what felt like someone’s back garden. After all running the fall fine, Nigel hit the big danger: a strainer across the river, with a reasonable flow behind it. The situation became serious quickly as he became pinned. Barny was in the best position to help and as quickly as the situation started, it was over.
More walking and tree dodging followed as we followed the river to Slaughterford, where we made the perhaps silly decision to continue. A short paddle lead us to a small technical shoot and under a very unwelcoming derelict mill. By this point we were exhausted and horrified by more tree blocks. The notable one being when Rheanna got pinned to one set of trees and after Big Nige's help to get free of these ended up spraydeck and paddle less under another set of branches. Leaving the only option to leave the boat.... on the Bybrook!
More walking lead us straight into an unhappy games-keeper, with a shot gun. He informed us that we should paddle through very quickly before the land owner saw us and went ballistic. After kindly informing us of this he went to get the land owner. On her arrival hissing and screaming we were left with no other option to end the trip here, or risk all violence that she could throw at us. She informed us that we should learn "THE LAW" before paddling there again. Definitely not a supporter of open access for kayakers in Britain.
A trip not to be repeated but definitely laughed about at a later date
Rheanna
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