When the weather forecast predicts substantial amounts of rain over the summer, it's hard to react to it with any amount of enthusiasm. All too often the forecasted downpour doesn't show up, or else it falls on dry ground and is instantly soaked up by the soil and plants which have been crying out for moisture for weeks. So when the long range forecast started showing some pretty colours at the start of last week it was hard to say anything more committing than "we'll see"... Nonetheless, the diarys were kept empty, the fingers crossed, and deities of all sorts of ethnic backgrounds promised personal favours in return for one of those days that you dream of every time you're standing on the bank of a river with hypothermia in the depths of winter! Going to bed on Friday night, with a distinct lack of any hint of rain hitting the roof, I don't think anyone was too optimistic that there would be water around the next day.
I woke up the next morning in the spare room of a student house in Limerick after a couple of cans the night before, to the sound of lashing rain and one of the lads roaring that the Glens was up! Quickly the phone calls went out towards Cork and Galway, a plan was hatched, and we spent the next couple of hours running around, brushing cobwebs off the creekboats and constantly hitting refresh on the Clare Glens Riverspy page, watching it rise and rise with the same feeling that you get when watching the big wheel go round on winning streak, wondering is it ever going to stop! I think the thoughts that everyone was having that morning went something like: woohoo; summer Glens runs -- wow; medium level summer Glens runs -- what the hell; high level summer Glens runs -- Oh. This is going to be interesting...
We arrived at the Glens to find levels higher than I've seen in a long long time, and a hungover, rusty and slightly apprehensive crew of paddlers dawdling in the carpark, not in any rush to get on the water and find out what effect the months of no creek boating had done to the paddling skills! We eventually got our act together, hopped on the river and had one of those days... Warm water, warm weather, sunshine, and epic water levels! And everyone's paddling was pretty much in one piece, with only minor moments of entertainment on the way down. Generally the lines were clean, and everyone agreed on the water that this was one of the days that you spend the rest of your time dreaming of. We caught the river at it's peak; between runs one and three it dropped between a foot and a half and two feet and was still at the high side of medium when we were getting off! Dave Glasswell put together a nice little video of runs two and three, check it out!
In other news, the blogging hiatus is very nearly over. I have neglected the blog for the last year since I decided constant updates about surfing, sailing and spearfishing would get way too repetitive to be worth sharing with the world but all is about to change. Notice has been handed in with the office job and plans for the winter are in the works. Watch this space!
