Niamh Macken by Allan Potts
We had managed seven laps in the light and started our eighth lap in the dark . We all had head torches on us , but it was generally easier to not use them as you could see the white water more easily this way . At this point , I should point out that night paddling is wonderful but not something we encourage . We are all experienced paddlers who know the Dee exceptionally well and paddle well within our comfort zones . We also made sure we had a great safety crew around us in case anything did happen . It was a great experience but we were only happy to do it as we were extremely confident in our abilities .
That first night lap was hard . We had been paddling for about 12 hours , and I really started to notice just how tired I was on this lap . The nice thing was that Town Falls were very well lit up because of the lights on the bridge and the balcony of the riverside pub , The Corn Mill . The excellent lighting made Town Falls one of the easier and more enjoyable parts of our night laps . This was especially true on our first night lap , where we still had a large crowd of spectators on the pub balcony who loudly cheered for us .
SWAPPING KAYAKS After we ended this first night lap , I was aware of how tired I was , and I decided I was now at a point where I
needed to pull out the big guns . Firstly , I swapped boats , as did a few group members . I loved paddling the Ripper all day ( thanks for the loan , Aaron ), and it
OLYCARB