I tried to write an article for the university newspaper about said trip but they weren’t having any of it so the shorten version is up for your personal viewing.

New Year Eve Day started with a drive to Dartmoor (I know that from the Midlands the Dart isn’t on the way to the Lakes!) where there was water, and a short boat down the Upper was ace.

The evening entertainment was drinking & dancing at the party barn at Tom Law’s estate in Mendip.
My lovely gf drove us up to the Lakes on the 1st whilst I nursed a serious headache and decided I was never going to drink with David Fairweather again (a popular facebook group).

Luckily the weather from Dartmoor followed us and it was time for some serious boating starting the Kent, finishing at Force Falls. Sat in an eddie above FF, I signal to Louise on the bank “is it big?”, she shakes her head and points left – trusting her and knowing there is nothing scary on this river I head off and am faced with a 2m drop!!!! (A last second hero boof failed to save my style)

We were staying at a reallynice cottage at Birk’s Bridge next to the river Duddon. This had to be done and Wallowbarrow gorge down stream was continuous drops - fun!
Another day another river and the long drive to Langstrath Beck south of Derwent lake was well worth it! The start was a 2.5Km walk in up a pretty steep hillside - the good side being that we had to paddle down it! As with the Duddon, Angie was my trusty camera woman on hand to take photos of the whole river – running down the rivers! The major drop on this river took the life of Strongman’s boat with a large dent in the front while Iain was driving it. My last day saw me head back to the start of the Duddon and the starting rapid that I had chickened out of before but decided it was my time. The Lake District is almost as close as Wales to me so I will be trying to go again soon.