“So when are we going to the Dart?” 99% of the messages I get from Jonny Bennett seem to start this way.
The Upper Dart is a classic run in Devon, 7km of continuous grade 3 with several rapids of grade 4 worthy of note. At normal levels it’s the closest the UK has to an alpine style river, which ramps up to monstrous grade 5 in flood. Set in the bottom of a wooded valley on Dartmoor, the river has an isolated, serious feel to it. It’s regarded as one of the best rivers in the UK, but not one to be undertaken lightly. Two days after Christmas it was our turn to get amongst it.
According to the BBC news reports, the UK had received so much rain over Christmas that the whole of Southern England now resembled a scene out of Waterworld. The Rainchasers website was showing huge water levels for the rivers in Devon, with more rain forecast. With a round of phone calls, Jonny managed to pry me away from watching Christmas TV and organise Dale Clarke and Dave Mc-Geachie-Clarke in to action as well. After a 5 o clock start (there are apparently two 5 o clocks in each day?) we made our way south towards Dartmeet.
Something I’d never realised before is that it takes just as long to get to Wales as it does to get to the Dart, as it’s mostly motorway all the way down. Although twice the cost in petrol, we all made a mental note to paddle more on Dartmoor in the future. On arriving in Devon, we drove around to see if the levels matched what we were seeing on the online gauges. The words “massive,” “huge” and “stonking” crept in to our vocabulary… The Upper Dart had risen to an “experts only” level – continuous 4+ and so I started searching for my excuses. I’d be paddling a new boat, ate too much at Christmas and the way that Venus had aligned with the Earth spelt bad news for Libras. Whilst we faffed around making a decision, a group of locals got on, paddled the river and returned to the same car park in a little over an hour. Apparently they didn’t spot many eddies on the way down…
So it was decided that we’d go for a high level run down the Dart Loop as a safer option. The “Loop” from Newbridge to Holne Bridge is a classic beginner’s white water trip of roughly grade 2 (3). After dealing with two dead legs and ripping foam out of my boat, we got on and floated down. We were pleasantly surprised to find more grade 3 than we’d expected, with one or two rather meaty stoppers to skirt round. Luckily, the high water level had brought some of the waves up as well for us to stop and surf. To keep things interesting we made an agreement that it would be a head-dry day. Jonny broke the rule first, managing to trip over and jam his paddle between two rocks, strangling himself in a move worthy of a Darwin award. Dale got his hair wet whilst surfing and I managed it by looking over my shoulder to give a signal, whilst cruising towards a rock. It fell to Dave to preserve some of the group’s dignity by being the only one to stay upright the whole way down. After moving through a wave train rapid that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the Himalayas, we reached the take out, buzzing.
Off the river, we started drinking (tea) hard and partied late in to the night (11pm). We ate at the Plume of Feathers pub, where Dale revealed that he “didn’t believe in puddings.” Clearly delusional, we resolved to not speak to him for the remainder of the trip. A re-run of the Inbetweeners movie brought a perfect day to a close, before the next day’s adventure.
On the second day the Upper Dart had dropped to a medium level, suitable for us mortals. We floated down the first section, before taking turns to lead down through the ledge drops and in to the continuous rapids of the “mad mile.” The lines got tighter as we moved through the boulder gardens and the horizon started to drop away in front of us. Dale often found himself at the front, eddy hopping ahead to scout the rapids, impressing us all with his leading skills. At the last rapid before the lead in to “Euthanasia” I mentioned to Jonny that we should probably place a throwbag at the bottom, to stop anyone swimming through the next section. I then took what looked like the last eddy above the stopper, which washed me straight out and sent me in to the hole backwards. Typical. My short side surfing session on river left showed the boys where not to go, as they floated down the right side wondering what all the fuss was about.
We scouted “Euthanasia Falls” – a diagonal slab leading in to a narrow slot which had several obvious lines on it. Dale and Jonny both tiger-lined it on the right, dropping off the slab and through the slot. I chicken-lined it river left, a 90 degree turn down a less technical chute (as I’d washed my hair the night before and wasn’t wearing the right shoes etc…) Unfortunately, on the lead in to the rapid Dave dropped off a ledge and his boat pinned vertically on its side, in a rather unenviable position. He managed to get out and swim to the side, whilst his boat released and ran a perfect line down Euthanasia. Jonny and Dale chased it down as far as the lead in to the next grade 4 section, then let it go.
We paddled down to the top of “Pandora’s Box” where Dave’s boat had luckily pinned on a strainer island in the middle of the river. We placed safety cover downstream, then were able to wade out, clip a throwbag to it and pendulum it across to the river right bank. A short summary of a process that took much longer in real life… Unharmed and reunited with boats, we now found ourselves on the wrong side of the river to run the safe line through Pandora’s Box. Instead of scouting, walking the boats back up and ferrying left to run the rapid, Jonny suggested that we all walk round it and put in below. Needless to say, we all agreed. Interestingly, I’ve paddled the Dart 3 times and never paddled Pandora’s Box because of incidents happening above it. Cursed perhaps?
Back on the river, we moved down through one last boulder garden rapid (with a nice high boof off the river right) before playing our way down the easier water to the take out. As much as I love the river, it’s always a relief to get out at Newbridge, knowing that everything went ok. The Dart never disappoints and I think it’s true to say we were all glad we made the journey down to paddle such a classic piece of British white water. Thanks go to Jonny, Dale and Dave for a brilliant weekend of paddling.