Scotland

08/01/06

   As they had thrown eight strangers together on a long course, R.A.F policy is to send people on team building excercises.
   This consisted of us spending a day driving up to the cairngorms in Scotland in a minibus driven by a Colin Mcrae wannabe t,o spend a week doing Adventurous training type activities.
   We started off with a day of rock climbing on the coast followed by a day of down hill mountain biking.
   Racing down the hills through trees and flying off the bike to land on rocks was great fun, but obviously you have to ride up the hill first and my body was feeling it the next day.
   The week culminated in a two day canoe trip down river all the way to the coast.
   We were in two person Canadian open canoes in which we had to navigate the frigid Scotish highland rapids.
   Everything started off well but things gradually got more interesting as the day wore on.
   The rapids got gradually heavier and it was quite good fun, although it was Scotland in january, the weather was quite nice. Unfortunatley, things were going to change.
   We were due to stop halfway down the river and camp near the bank but first, we had to get past the days final hurdle, commonly refered to as the washing machine.
   It had to happen, and it happened to me. As we tried to push through the rapids the water was throwing us from one side to the other filling the canoe with water fast. It happened suddenly, with the canoe full with so much water the balance and buoyancy were gone and it was a relativley small wave that through us over.
   I couldn't believe how cold the water was, we had opted to keep the wetsuit packed away as backup clothing as they are restrictive, so when I went in the water it was like having iron bands around my chest and I could hardly breath.
   After the initial shock we recovered the craft and made it clear of the rapids. We shortly arrived at the camping area and it was a cold wet me shivering in the dark trying to put up my tent.
   The rest of the journey carried on more or less without incident but ill never get in a canoe again.