Ironbridge to Jackfield Rapids ... and play!

Karen attended a slalom event at Telford Canoe Club’s Jackfield site and really enjoyed it. Masses of water and it increased during the event enabling faster runs ... if the competitors got it right.

Afterwards Karen thought ... “a nice Club trip?” and contacted Ade at Telford CC to see if it would be possible to arrange for parking there. Yep ... a small donation to TCC and we had the code for the day ... magic.

Mike had paddled down from Ironbridge before and the plan was hatched ... a nice shortish river run from Ironbridge to Jackfield  with playing at the rapids too ... should cater for a bigger cross section of the club. Parking at Ironbidge and Jackfield made the short shuttle a breeze.

The team ... Karen, Ann, John (I), John (B), Mack, Tom, James, Mike.

We aimed to meet at the Ironbidge short stay car park at ~10:00AM and organise from there. Mike & James caught up to Karen en-route, just before a big roundabout where Mike’s GPS told him to go right ... Karen ploughed straight on (??) ... never mind, thinking “she knows where she’s going” they followed ... about half a mile down the road Karen pulled over and asked Mike to lead ... arrghh ... never mind, his GPS re-routed and they got there via some pleasant narrow lanes and with no increase in distance ... so they might use this route again. Some inventive navigation also meant that others of the team were a little late ... no worries.

Ralph had been told by a council/Environment Agency? gent on a previous paddle that  there was a purpose built canoe/kayak get on point at the long stay car park ... so Mike and James went to look. They met up with a friendly canoe club doing warm ups in their kayaks on the grass at the end of the long stay. “Purpose built put-in?? ... oh you must have met Derek ... known local hazard ... supposed to be impartial but with a definite bias to fisherman and he tries to keep the nice sandy beach fishing only ... their advice was to “Push him in!” if encountered again ... in jest I think ... but?.

We went back to the short stay, looked at the options there, fishermen on the beach ... so we collected all the team went back to drop off the boats, kit and non-drivers at the long stay car park.

The convoy then went and parked up at Jackfield and had a bit of fun trying to work the combination lock to get in there but this was soon sorted. The drivers all jumped into John B’s car for the run back to Iron bridge and the off.

The “Purpose Built” Put-In ...

So now we’ve experienced the “purpose built” put in, it’s a pretty treacherous slippery slope, Ann & Karen advised Mack & Tom to to slide their boats down in front of them whilst holding onto the rear handles (a rope might have been even better to pay them down from the top) .. this avoided the possibility of being run over by your own boat in the event of a slip. We all made it onto the water safely and after a few exercises and practice strokes we were off.

How did I miss seeing all those cooling towers near the put in? ... they’re on the photo.

The next photo shows beach area at the short stay car park ... a far safer put in ... above it (behind the conveniences) there is a sloped put in that Mike & Ralph had used with a canoe before, sharpish stones but a more secure footing than the long stay slope ... grrr.

Ironbridge Short-stay beach.

Approaching the Iron Bridge

Looking back at Ironbridge

Ann advising John B on paddle strokes as John I goes past

It was just beyond here occurred the first and only casualty of the trip ... when Mike took his brand new Maplins (~£39) waterproof camera out to take the next pic he found the waterproof door had opened by itself and the camera was full of water. Thankfully the SD card was later dried out and found to work (hence the pics above). Later the camera was taken back to Maplins, found to be faulty and replaced ... magic service.

The fast bobbly water by the wall on the way down gave the opportunity to practice ferry gliding followed by coasting down to Jackfield Rapids. A couple of members of the England C2 team were seen practicing en-route

The Rapids.

We all got out at the broken stairs for a gander then Ann and Karen got back in for a play as we watched. 3 men in a boat (canoe) came down in a blasé fashion, no helmets, not sure about PFDs either ... they just sailed through the rapids and on.

We put back in and assembled to run the rapids, Ann and Karen downstream to pick up the flotsam. John I suggested Mike went first (as everyone else needed the space) so mike went down ... literally about 3/4s of the way down the rapids. James said it happened in slow motion with Mike spending seemingly ages half way over ... Mike thinks it happened really fast, though he was probably jumping ship before he’d gone fully over.

John B ... went next a magic run considering he’d seen Mike swim ... everyone else made it down safely too.

Karen got Mike, paddle & boat to the opposite side of the river (without the beach/car park) where Mike emptied his boat got back in and rescued an anglers stuck line on the way back to the beach too.

We played below the rapids, had food, most folks had another run at the rapids and all (including Mike) made it through this time.

Just before we packed up Mike tried a roll, with Karen & John shepherding so that if it went wrong he didn’t drift into he anglers lines below. No problem ... so Mike finished “on a roll”.

An excellent day, the rain held off, in the main, till the return journey, unlike at home ... where it was horrible all day.

Thanks to all who attended ... we must do it again ... soon.