CHRISTMAS PADDLE – 28TH DECEMBER 2007
River: Glenarm, Antrim

It was an early start to the morning with the moon and stars still in the sky. The dedicated shoppers were heading for the sales and we were heading to one of the best-known rivers in the north – the Glenarm.

We left Prehen boathouse at 8 am sharp, Kevin almost missing the boat! Paddlers for the day were Adrian, Johnny, Enda, Gareth, Kevin and myself, Brendy. The trip to the Glenarm took around 2 hours. With recent heavy rain and more forecast the river would have a lot of water.

On the way up Kevin and I had a look at the guidebook for the river with grade 4, 5 and 6+; it was enough to get the nerves going. The river has around 18 major drops with some tricky ones and lots of rapids.

At the first drop Adrian advised that we amateurs walk round it – it was too early for a swim. I’m glad to say that I was not the first swimmer of the day, Enda beat me to it on this first drop, his deck coming off halfway down the double drop. Thinking the worst one was over and not knowing the river I was mistaken at the next drop – a few dicey moments and a funnel of 15-20 feet but we all got nicely over.

The following 4 or 5 were extremely large drops too. I think Kevin had a few words with the great man above before attempting them. The largest drop of the day at 40 foot needed a bit of looking at – high water was creating a large stopper at the bottom; a lot of uprooted trees made the lower section hard to get down with one tree covering from side to the other – thankfully we had to walk around it!

At the next Kevin was fighting the trees again, he got pinned by one and the paddle ended up sticking in the branches. The next one gave both Kevin and I an opportunity to show off, both playboating and cartwheeling in a hole; Kevin’s boat continued this action without him! Adrian was hoping Gareth would go for a swim on this one but on the third attempt he rolled up to give that old Cheshire Cat grin again.

Thanks to Adrian, Gareth, Enda and Johnny for the excellent safety applied to every drop with the through-lines and the mapping out of paths down the drops. After 5 hours of paddling I felt like Ray on the way to Scotland “Are we there yet?” It was getting dark when we reached Glenarm Bay. A lot of knowledge on the different features of the river gained today.

This was my best river yet – few swims but great company, thanks folks!

Brendy