Welsh Rivers Guidebook ed.2 Research

[cswalker]

So, I am helping with the Chris Sladden's edition 2 - Welsh Rivers and I am writing a section on "Modern Welsh Kayaking, A History". Anyone got any input and snippets of info to see if that marries into my take and knowledge on the subject...

I am thinking that an entire book could probably be written however obviously that is too much, so to narrow it down I am suggesting "from the plastic era" onwards?

Any thoughts on specific events?
Any particular dates or developments stick out?
Particular locations of interest?
Any particular individuals of interest (not just ww kayak please, think slalom, WWR, rafting, canoe!)?
Significant advances in teaching or equipment related to Wales?

I have already written a large part but would like to ensure my info is correct and an interesting chapter to read as there are some great characters from the likes of Blain, Rowe, Hargreaves, Storry, Collins, Nesbit etc all the way through to the "young guns" of today!

Any suggestions welcome.

[Mark R]

Stiffen the sinews.

[cswalker]

Stiffen the sinews.

Fantastic phrase from the past, i'm frantically reading to find the page... any hints??

[chris s sladden]

From the celebrated 'Once more unto the breach' speech, from Shakespeare's Henry V Part III, 1599.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood...

Hi Chris


I hate to be the one to dampen the spirits about that phrase, but much as I respect the paddling author it rather pre dates Terry's use!

Cheers


Chris.

[Pete C.]

Stiffen the sinews.

Fantastic phrase from the past, I'm frantically reading to find the page... any hints??

But before the sneaky playwright ripped it off, it originally came from Terry Storry's write-up of Chatea Queryas on the Guil in his French Alps guidebook.* I also enjoyed the bit about 'a graveyard of twisted and ruined canoes' on the banks of the Gyr, or somesuch.

P.

* - some timescales may have been altered for dramatic licence.

[Mark R]

I'm pretty sure that Storry used the phrase more than once ...??

[Poke]

I was sure that it was about a rapid on the Kettlewell to Linton section of the Wharfe.. Linton Falls maybe..
I don't have a book to hand though so am likely to be wrong.

[Randy Fandango]

I was sure that it was about a rapid on the Kettlewell to Linton section of the Wharfe.. Linton Falls maybe..
I don't have a book to hand though so am likely to be wrong.

I thought it was for the Glaslyn Gorge but my copy's at work and will have to check tomorrow.
Marvelous.
Good stuff Mr Walker!
Giles

[Tea Boy Tom]

No, for the Glaslyn Gorge he said something along the lines of 'Look up from Pont Aberglaslyn, peer tentatively over the retaining wall or gaze brazenly from the catwalk on river left and you will join the many who have looked...

And left it for another day...'

This is paraphrased, as I lost my copy of British White Water over the past few years. What a description though. Sure to get everyone nicely tensed up and negative on their way to the river!

[Rdscott]

Having nothing better to do other than a dissertation and some essays i took some time to avoid doing these, and can assure you it Isn't any of the British rivers mentioned above.

however i'm not reading the whole British white water to find out what it is sorry

[Tea Boy Tom]

Just remembered - 'Stiffen the sinews and summon up the blood' was from his French Alps guide. I'm sure he's talking about Chateau Querays Gorge on the Guil.

Nuts, just realised Cornes was well ahead of me on that one, unsuprisingly. I don't remember seeing him use it in any other river description though.

[Pete C.]

Tom - do you instinctively igore me when I write as well as when I speak? If so, I might have to give some thought to whether I'm in the right job here...

Edit: damn edits. Now we both look like a pair of monkeys...

[banzer]

I am sure I speak for many of us that would love to hear about Shaun, Fred and co on Swallow, Conwy and everything else Falls, how they decided who was going first, how busy the A+E department in Bangor was kept, etc. Predictable I know but appealing to the masses.

[Paul Smith]

Now we both look like a pair of monkeys...

Where did you find that picture of Tom?

[David Fairweather]

I watched the video of Phil Blaine and Dave Crook's tandem open boat descent of Swallow Falls again on Sunday. Surely worth mentioning?

[purelandexpeditions.com]

All you guys keep an out out over this year for a book of classic tales from Wales. Daz Clarkson-King has already got the stories from the fact and fiction. It will be a great read!

[Adrian Cooper]

You're not the editor are you?

[Mark R]

Anyone read Daz's last book?

[Tea Boy Tom]

Now we both look like a pair of monkeys...

Where did you find that picture of Tom?

After a period of being relatively shorn, I am now growing the sideburns of power back, as it turns out.

[David Fairweather]

Anyone read Daz's last book?

I did. From start to finish, and actually enjoyed it. Assuming that my tastes are beyond reproach, that makes it better than Ulysses.

[adam_harmer]

Hi Chris

Hope your looking after Dave, what about some Dave Luke stories, too many to list, or Daz's descent of Penmachno Slides last year

Or the dead body found in the pool below Cobdens, when on closer inspection is was discovered to be a rescue annie doll from a wwsr course

Will there be any mention of the Llugwy source to sea in a day thats still to be completed

[adam_harmer]

Hi Chris, if you want some notes on the Afon Cegin near Llandegai, Bangor, let me know can probably write something down for completeness factor

Adam

[Patrick Clissold]

Hi Chris, if you want some notes on the Afon Cegin near Llandegai, Bangor, let me know can probably write something down for completeness factor

Adam

Hey Adam,

If you have any notes, could you send them to me via email: pclissold@gmail.com

Thanks

[Tea Boy Tom]

If any river deserves to be in the 2nd ed, it's the Cegin.

[KieranM]

If you could take that big lie about the Marchlyn Mawr out that'd be appreciated!

[purelandexpeditions.com]

The classic stories of myth and legend book will feature the paddlers of legend. Phil,Loel, Chip et al. You will notice that Darren has not set the details in stone yet. Yes Darren is the guy at Pure Land Expeditions and wil act as a type of EDITOR and researcher.

[Pete C.]

This is paraphrased, as I lost my copy of British White Water over the past few years. What a description though. Sure to get everyone nicely tensed up and negative on their way to the river!

Hi Tom - I've found I've actually got two copies of 'British White Water' on my shelf, and one of them has your name inside the front cover. Mystery solved. I'll keep it safe here for you...

[Poke]

...as I lost my copy of British White Water over the past few years...

Hi Tom - I've found I've actually got two copies of 'British White Water' on my shelf, and one of them has your name inside the front cover. Mystery solved. I'll keep it safe here for you...

A decade later and you not only discover his book, but remember that he announced the loss of said book in a passing comment on an obscure thread about a different book on an internet forum, and then find the time to dig out the old post in question, and post a conclusion to the mystery that had us all on the edge of our seats all these years.

There are very few people in the world that would go to such lengths. Magnificent effort Mr Cornes! :-)

[Jim]

...as I lost my copy of British White Water over the past few years...

Hi Tom - I've found I've actually got two copies of 'British White Water' on my shelf, and one of them has your name inside the front cover. Mystery solved. I'll keep it safe here for you...

A decade later and you not only discover his book, but remember that he announced the loss of said book in a passing comment on an obscure thread about a different book on an internet forum, and then find the time to dig out the old post in question, and post a conclusion to the mystery that had us all on the edge of our seats all these years.

Yep, that sounds like Pete!

If anyone knows what became of my copy of the BCU canoeing handbook 2.5 decades ago, feel free to keep it to yourself, it wasn't very good at the time and I'm pretty sure everything in it will have been debunked and replaced with more useful ways of doing things by now. :D

[Pete C.]

... and post a conclusion to the mystery that had us all on the edge of our seats all these years.

Ah, but that wasn't the actual mystery that's been hanging over us for the last decade. The REAL mystery was:

I'm pretty sure that Storry used the phrase more than once ...??

I *think* Mark is wrong here. After all of Friday night's guidebook shenanigans it came back to me. Slime quoted Shakespeare/Storry's 'stiffen the sinews and summon up the blood' in HIS write-up of Chateau Queyras in the White Water South Alps book (at least in the first edition). Which I think is what everyone else is thinking of, and Storry only used it the once.

I've just ordered copies of Snowdonia Wild Water, Sea and Surf and Raging Rivers, Stormy Seas to make sure. Let's finally solve this mystery.