A walk in the park becomes a midnight stroll through the bush.
In mid August, David C, for reasons best known to himself, supported by hearsay evidence of completely flat water, gleaned from age-old stories misheard around a long-forgotten camp-fire, took it upon himself to do a "quick paddle" in his deathtrap Swallow, from the Security Bridge to Nyamaropa, on his own!
To put this in perspective: the distance he planned to paddle in one day, unsupported, on his own, utterly unfit, with limited provisions, was over 50km, of which at least 30km is very flat. Of course, in true DC fashion, things had to go wrong, and the day turned into another epic adventure.
The sod didn't come back and tell all either - we only got to hear about it about a month later, when he asked, in a very roundabout fashion, for help to recover his pinned boat.
Here's an extract from an email dated 30 August, some 3 weeks after the event, in which he responds to my suggestion that there may be just about enough water to paddle a steep and narrow section further upstream (the narrow component concentrates the limited water, and low water is probably the only time lesser paddlers like me could run this particular section):
"Hi Jan
Water was high enough at bridge mid August. After Susurumba Meditation Retreat at Sheehans I went down from the Security Bridge near Gairezi Clinic - very flat for first 15km (Watermeyer refers to this as the K1 section of days of old) then enters another gorge with some staircase sections and occasional portage. Long story but after 20km I abandoned my kayak pinned to a boulder in a waterfall at Grid Ref 934084 on 1:50,000 Troutbeck Map 1832B2...such things happen when you don’t beach your boat properly before scouting a drop! Evening walk out in full moon over hills & valleys ending with a 40km lift on the back of a rickety Zongchen motorbike to arrive midnight at my car in Nyamaropa!"
OK - here's what this waterfall looks like from downstream:
Squash standing next to the waterfall gives some perspective - it's gnarly for sure! And DC's boat was pinned about halfway down.
So why did he do it:
"I would like to know if the illustrious Watermeyer knows this lower gorge section upstream of Nyamaropa as I went on spec after a squiz at 1:250000 map expecting it to be K1 territory all the way..."
"... after brief comments from Laurie – I have had an epiphany and am now a convert of Google Earth and 1:50000 maps before entering the inner temple of unknown territory. If there are any unemployed who have extra time after your proposals and the Annual Dinner might also be able to rig up a rope pulley to extricate boat and finish the “K1 that was not K1” section – the water level was just right for the foolish!
But wait - let's hear from "The Illustrious" himself:
"Dave,
Sorry If I gave you the impression we K1 raced all the way to Nyamaropa. Our race route used to stop well short of the “Nyamaropa” gorge. John Dabbs and I did attempt this lower stretch in a K2 once and I recall a very scary moment as we rounded a RH corner, heard terrible rumblings, could not see water down stream (a vision I am sure many of the readers will know means there is a serious drop just ahead) and just managed to jam the nose up against a boulder before us two and the craft were sucked into oblivion! I recall however that after some serious rope work to get our boat down the LH bank(cliff) we did come across what appeared to be a Raffia palm, the only one I know of in that area (except for the planted ones at Aberfoyle).
So sorry Dave if I have caused indirectly the temporary loss of your kayak.
May I suggest that a pretty effective way to get lost boats back is to circulate an appropriate reward offer, I got a folded-double kayak back 6 month’s later from the Nyagui using this method.
Anyway good to know you are still taking the bull by the horns
Cheers
Laurie"
At this point, having picked myself up from the floor, I renamed the waterfall in question from "Chidzero's Folly" to "Watermeyer's Folly".
By the way, can anyone figure out what the heck a Raffia Palm has to do with the story?
By the way, can anyone figure out what the heck a Raffia Palm has to do with the story?
To be continued.....
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