4 OC1 paddlers met at Stanley with a view to a play session, but found it to be a wash out. After a breif conflab it was decided to have a look at the Earn, Crief to Kinkell Bridge as it was not too far to go form where we were.

The water level was just below the vertical wall sections of the brige supports at the take out. This gave just enough water to run all the weirs without too much scrape, as long as the right line was taken. The first long weir/rapid was quite rocky and caught one of the group off guard for a quick swim following a disagreement with a boulder.

About half way was a weir which looked like a weir, rather than a man made rapid, if you see what I mean. There was a bridge directly above it, and inspection from there was not encouraging. However, back down at river level things looked better, and a narrow tongue on the extreme left was chosen and run without difficulty. The final weir had a small but definate drop, followed by a rapidy section and was the cause of a nasty rip in one of the boats, probably a steel pin?

We found one good set of play waves at what might have been a small weir, and spent some time there, chaning canoes about, which usually results in someone swimming as they struggle in a strange boat. Today was no execption, and appartently the water was cold.

Weather was great, which was just as well because the long flat sections between the action was hard work in the short boats. We had a dog with us, which just fitted in after an air bag had been deflated a little. She had the sense to run along the banks for the action bits, but still managed to get wet. For some reason she was first in the car, and asleep before the canoes had been loaded. It's a dog's life!

A nice river for touring, even if you had to portage or line down the weirs, and the next section down is similar, but without the difficult bits. Next time we will use a more appropriate canoe though.