Sorry, but picture heavy.
On with the trip!
The trip was broken into eight days of travel and seven nights camped at designated spots along the river.
Saturday, the boats gathered at Percival's Island in Lynchburg for an 11:00 start.
The punt was loaded, gear secured and ready to go......
Even though I was on the downstream side, I worried the little boat could get pinched between the big ones while landing. The current was running well and any course corrections had to be made well ahead.
The big boats were well provisioned. This one came with it's own keg of beer!
More about that later. :wink:
Saturday's leg was 7.5 miles to a spot called Galt's Mill. There is an old grist mill complex and open area for setting up tents.
A local church fixed dinner that night and also had breakfast available. Although I had plenty of grub aboard, I was happy to not have to fool with cooking.
We started with 18 of the Batteau and probably two to three dozen small craft. Only two of those were home made. Here is the other.
Just a little PT wood, some nails and oakum got this fellow on the river. He did the first two days in this boat and traded out for a kayak the rest of the week.
The mosquitoes were mildly pesky as dusk approached and I opted for the "modern" tent rather than have to lather up with bug dope. Overall though they weren't too bad, despite things having been wet the previous week.
A typical view of the riverbank at the landings.....
Sunday dawned with blue skies and puffy clouds and it was off on the next leg of 15 miles to Bent Creek landing.
Everyone said this was one of the best years for water in the river. The runs between the landings were faster than usual and not a lot of hard work to get there.
The numbers of small boats were at their highest during the weekend part of the float. There were still plenty around at days end.
Several of the big boats and most of the small boats had support or shuttle arrangements for their camp gear. I tried to find spots to moor the punt without having to completely unload or haul out. Still it was necessary at a couple of landings. Another church group had food for us at Bent Creek. Each stop is an opportunity for church or civic groups to put on a feed for the crews and have a little fund raiser.
Monday....off to Wingina 12.5 miles away.
I spent a lot of my time creeping along the right side of the river, trying to stay in the shade as much as possible. By now, I had found "my place" in the boat and was getting comfortable with the paddling. Shifting my weight to one side or the other made it easier to get a good stroke and I found myself "riding the V"
with the chine down. With the good current, paddling was not hard.....you did have to work to go back upstream.
Sometimes the extra effort was worth it..........
Many beautiful spots like this beckoned for lunch or naps!
At Wingina, a memorial was held for a long time participant who was killed a couple of years ago. Local musicians came to play old time and blue grass for us.
This was a "you fix it" spot for food. Dinner was a collaborative effort with a couple I met. Interesting chap. His claim to fame is he is a HOBO by hobby. Goes by the name of "Virginia Slim" attends HOBO conventions and has ridden the rails all over. A true King of the Road! Breakfast at riverside the next morning and it was time for the next leg to Howardsville.
Exploring side channels between some of the islands was fun.
There were numerous shoals and ledges to cross up to this point. The average progress according to the GPS was slightly over 3mph. Crossing one of the ledges, I looked down to see 6.1mph! I found a few rocks and ledges on the way down the river. The bottom of the punt is needing a bit of sanding and fresh paint. I did get hung up once when watching the biggest point of rock the rest of it grabbed the keel and held on. Only had to get out and drag once while exploring a back course.
Just some of the faster water......
Interesting for the small craft too! :mrgreen:
A good feed and one of the better nights sleep finished this leg.
From Howardsville we cast off for Scottsville; 11 miles down river. Scottsville was a crossroads for trade and was reputed to be the place the first batteau were built. The little town has a jam up festival with live music and a carnival like atmosphere. There is a well done exhibit telling about the evolution of the river trade from Canoes, Batteaus, Canal Boats to the Railroad. Dinner in town and some music was nice....wish I could say the same for later. :x
Remember that photo of the beer keg?
Well, some of the boat crews were young bucks and every night at camp, they were in serious party mode. The beer and RedBull kept them in overdrive like it was spring break at Daytona. That night things were buzzing as usual when some of the crews returned from a local tavern. Some locals came into the parking lot and cranked up their sound system into hyperdrive and a riot nearly ensued between the townies and crews. All this just a few yards from where this tired paddler was trying to sleep. Rough night. Two naps by the riverbank were needed the next day while heading for Bremo Bluff.
Thirteen more miles, a few more rapids and this paddler was feeling the days and miles on the river!
I tried to drift and take it as easy as possible.
A back passage behind one of the islands.
More locals......and they were pretty noisy themselves with all their mooing and bellowing. :lol:
Upon reaching our landing for the day, I was ready to try something different.The next day's leg was over 22 miles. My body needed to get out of the boat for awhile and I was able to sign on with the Batteau HOPE. She had just been put in the water and the planks had not really had a chance to swell enough for the boat to not leak like a colander.
A lot of bailing and pumping was part of the crew's tasks!
With the punt tied up alongside, it was nice to be able to walk around and move my muscles in different ways than paddling. We had a little adventure scouting some of the alternate passes around the islands on this leg of the trip. At an old bridge, there was a log dam that made passage impossible with anything larger than a canoe. We took on the role of "Navigation Engineers" and went to work on some tree limbs with saws and axes. We were thanked by crews that came later.
The Lady's Slipper, that had an all women crew, got lodged between two rocks that day. A lot of effort by two boat crews saved the day, but by all accounts it could have turned out badly. Further upstream, I had noticed what looked like the wreckage of a batteau on the riverbank. I was informed those were the remains of the previous Lady's Slipper that broke up three years ago!
Saturday dawned and it was an early start to the finish at Maiden's Landing, 16.5 miles away. This last section had some interesting sights like this Aqueduct that was built for the canal boats. A marvelous piece of stone work now used by the railroad.
One ledge snuck up on HOPE just after I had cast off. She got stuck on the rock and it took a lot of effort to get her off. The grinding she took did not help the leaking situation, but she continued on to be the first batteau to complete the voyage!
Celebration as each boat came in and the sight of the big boats being loaded on their trailers was a fitting end to eight days on the James.
A grand river and a grand experience!
Nockatee
