Steve T
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The trolls stole my paddle .....It's a bit quiet down here in confession corner so I thought I'd liven it up.
As described elsewhere, we had a good time at Chester last night, descending the fish ladder and playing in the pourovers. The water was a bit smelly so we didn’t do too much playing, although there was plenty of water and pop-outs were fairly easy to achieve.
By the time we’d finished the second descent, the tide had dropped quite a way; the wave at the last drop had gone and was now about a two foot vertical drop with lots of water piling over it. Once the rest of the group was safely in the slack water behind the stone wall, Jason and I debated whether to have a go in this last drop. We decided not to, but then as Jason was paddling off I changed my mind and tried one last go. I ignored the fact that this exact spot was the scene of my last swim a year ago, and also capsized me two weeks previously when I rolled back up.
Once the bow of the boat was in the pourover it went straight down and back. It went deep so it shot back up a long way; I knew I was going to go over onto my face so got ready to roll. Unfortunately by the time I landed my paddle had been taken off me by one of the little trolls that live in the undercut concrete underneath each step. Upside down and paddle-less I did try a hand roll, but when that failed I knew the river got shallower as it went towards the chute so I bailed. I noticed that my paddle was still in the towback (where the trolls had left it), so swam and grabbed that before Jason got me and Graham S got the boat. By the time I was ashore (nearly) everyone had stopped laughing.
Since last night had been uneventful, someone had to take a swim for the team, so I am only too glad to oblige. I have no idea what happened to my paddle in between starting to fall forwards and landing but, taking the smelly water into account, I was literally up a certain creek without a vital piece of equipment. I’m pretty sure it was the trolls; I’ll check my paddle for teeth marks tonight.
If you haven’t seen the river trolls you need to look harder. You need to put the bow of your boat well into the drop and peer into the undercut, while leaning forwards to get as close as you can - try it at Burrs, there’s a family of them under the broken weir.
Steve
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Mel Stoddart
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It's good to know that even the best of us can still go for a swim!
.... there was more cheering than laughing if that makes you feel any better 
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Steve T
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Just in case anyone thought I made it up:
| Quote: | River Troll
Bridge trolls live in streams and rivers and have very long arms, perfect for reaching over bridges (and grabbing paddles). They'll eat almost anything that crosses their path, but they're not very smart. |
If it's out there, some nutter has a website about it. This is from some website about a kid's book, "The Spiderwick Chronicles"
Steve
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CarlS
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| Quote: | | The water was a bit smelly |
I bet it was even smellier when Steve swam! Sorry purile humour comes from spending all my working life with teenagers.
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