WHITE WATER
This morning (far too early for a Saturday) I and 2 friends took the bullet train South from Tokyo to Gunma Prefecture where we planned to go canyoning which basically involves abseiling, & swimming in white water through canyons (in full protective gear). However, it rained so much on Friday (it didn`t stop all day or night) that the river was too high to do it safely so instead we went white water rafting on the Tone River. It was my 1st rafting trip and I loved it.
We went with a company called Canyons (http://www.canyons.jp/index_E.html) who are run by a bunch of Kiwis who really seem to know their stuff. The boss, Mike, with ginger dreads looks like an aging hippy but with an MBA education runs a tight ship (pun intended). We were kitted out with 5mm wetsuits, helmets and given a training drill by a our guide Lincon who was clearly an adrenaline sports junkie (count the scars!).
The course was 12kms and the river was raging with angry water most of the way down and 3 or 4 sudden drops that made us all scream like girls. We shared the boat with 3 Japanese customers and quickly learned the Japanese instructions Lincon was barking from the back of the boat (along the lines of paddle! duck! puddle! duck! Rock! PADDLE!). The best rush was when you were sitting on the front of the boat going over a drop or straight into a rock (which Lincon claimed he was purposely bouncing us off).
Towards the end we did a stretch of white water swimming or rather letting the current take you rather than using the boat - I quickly learned shouting as the drop came = swallowing lots of cold water but its hard not to. The hot shower and coffee afterwards was exactly what what was required.
I plan to go back at some point to do the canyoning. The next phase of my weekend is to head to Nagano tomorrow to do 3 days of hiking. Monday is a national holiday for sports so I am trying to do my bit!
