The second of the camp's three activity days saw the Scouts take to the water in canoes. Wye Dean Canoeing met them at Symonds Yat East with paddles, buoyancy aids and helmets, and the day's paddle ran from there down the river to Monmouth.
Paddles up for the briefing at Symonds Yat East
It takes a little while to get used to open canoes. They sit high, they turn when you would rather they did not, and they need both paddlers working in agreement, which takes a while to master.
Ready for a briefing
Then came the rapid below Symonds Yat, the one stretch of the day with any real teeth. Slalom poles hang above the water there for the paddlers who come to practise on it. The Scouts went through one boat at a time with the rest watching from the flat water below.
Through the white water
The Scouts enjoyed the scenery as they padelled down the Wye.
The long quiet stretch down the gorge
The boats came out at Monmouth in the late afternoon, after a day on the river that most of them will remember for a long time. Burgers for dinner, and then the campfire and the tuck shop, on a night clear enough for the moon to come up over the trees.
The campfire, and the moon coming up