Being British, I am very experienced in dealing with many types of rain.
Shropshire was, on this occasion, suffering from a particularly wet variety. The sort which requires windscreen wipers on full whack, and makes you wish you hadn't put your walking boots and waterproofs in the boot of the car because that means getting soaked in the few seconds it takes to retrieve them.
The day's target was the trig point on the Long Mynd, and I'd originally planned a circular walk from Carding Mill Valley (about 8k). But given the delightful conditions I changed my mind and drove most of the way up instead, for a shorter walk. Ahh, the lazy convenience of a hill you can drive almost to the summit of..
From where I parked I soon picked up signposts for 'Pole Bank Walk', which I followed up to the trig point and toposcope. No sign of any faraway hills though, just the inside of a cloud.
I did feel rather sorry for the group of teenagers I passed carrying full camping kit, presumably DofE or similar. Not a great day for it!
The Nene, in Northampton, was the UK's first pumped artificial white water course. It's a 2 hour drive from Gloucester, which probably explains why I've never been before as that's a long way to go for a small section of grade 2 water.
But we do like a bit of paddling variation, especially in summer months where there's not much natural whitewater around. I took my ridiculously small playboat, which hasn't been on any sort of moving water for quite some time.
Because of that I put on half way down the course for my first couple of goes - below the 'big' drop, just in case I'd forgotten how differently it handles compared to my big boat.
Turns out I remembered just fine. It goes under/through things rather than bobbing over the top, and is obviously a lot more edgy. There were a few wobbly moments, but no capsizes. Better than I was expecting!
boof stroke on the biggest drop
There were two pumps running when we visited. I don't know what sort of flow rate that equates to but the course itself is fairly straightforward, not too pushy, and well suited to less experienced paddlers.
Unlike Cardiff (the only other pumped artificial course I've paddled) there isn't a conveyor belt to take you back to the start. Boo. It's only a very short walk though so can't complain too much! Always good to give the legs a stretch, especially when they're crammed into such a small space.
It confuses me a bit when May bank holiday weekend is partly in April. Anyway, this year I was feeling a bit too poor for the usual trip to Woolacombe, so instead we popped down to Chepstow to visit the castle.
They had some re-enactment people there, and every hour they were firing cabbages from a trebuchet over the castle wall into the river. Pretty impressive. I also learnt that replica metal helmets are rather heavy, and too big for my head.
The castle wasn't our only reason for visiting Chepstow - we'd also booked a go on the Swing at the National Diving centre just up the road (a christmas present). The first few swings give you a very good 'stomach dropping' feeling. Great fun!
tags: Shropshire trigpoint walking weather 
