Canyonning - Strubklamm
Wookey
A canyonning trip was suggested, and as I'd done it a couple of times before and thus knew where it was, and what to look out for, it was easy to blag my way on. We had this idea a bit later in the day than was ideal, because Strubklamm is miles away (most of the way back to Salzburg), but it also meant that I was able to collect Tess from the station before buggering off like a very naughty husband. I had brought my new wetsuit and was eager to find out if it made Strubklamm into a much less cold-and-miserable experience than previous attempts. I was also able to borrow a (kayaking) helmet and neoprene booties from Julia, which, combined with some sandals and spare caving gloves, was enough kit to canyon (as this one doesn't actually need a harness if you can manage an 8m jump).
We were going to take my van and Charlotte's car but Tess wanted the Van, and it's a long way to take two cars, so when PhilB appeared we pounced on him and made him drive all 5 of us there (Charlote in the boot). This was very kind as it's about 1hr40 mins each way, and he doesn't even get to do the canyon. Having a driver avoids all the shuttle-faff too, which is great, especialy as it turned out the huttle-road was closed for works, so there was quite a long drive-around which would have made us even later.
This was Isaac and Charlotte's 1st ever canyonning trip, and Marie's 2nd (after the disastrously cold 'Haute Borne' in the Ardeche), but we were a crack team of potholers with two harnesses between us so what could possibly go wrong?
In fact the descent was very smooth with everyone having fun, at least to start with. The water was quite a pleasant temperature, although every inlet was much colder so we got a chilly bit every so often as they came in. However it is longer than I remember and there is a _lot_ of swimming, with a long section in the middle starting with a canyon, and then a couple more long swims. Clearly the local canyonning school uses it a lot so there were lots of in-situ ropes for getting to good takeoffs and dealing with any slippery bits, or just abseiling if you didn't like the bigger jumps. (Marie skipped the biggest one).
Much jumping fun was had, with Charlotte of course taking to the game with gusto, although neither of us was any good at keeping the water out of our noses on impact, and I managed to bite my tongue on one jump, which was dim. Everyone avoided broken ankles or being impaled on trees, just some coughing and spluttering.
I hardly recognised any of the 2nd half as obviously my brain had shut down with the chilly misery on the previous two attempts after the 1st long swim. This time it was all rather lovely - it is a _very_ pretty canyon. Marie found herself a bit short of stoke after the 1st half, partly due to the baggy 2mm wetsuit and partly not having evtirely recovered from the great chunder trip. 1.4km of canyonning (with ~400m of swimming) over 3 hours feels like quite a long way, and it was a relief to swim round a corner and finally see a slackline being rigged and a footbridge with a beach which marks the escape.
Phil was even there to rescue us, so that all worked out nicely. Good trip, and it's a lot nicer with 5 than 10 but still takes a solid 3 hours. We got back about 7pm.