Barranquismo

This year's birthday treat was a canyoning adventure down Rio Verde. Non-stop adrenalin rush from the start. First there was the journey to the river in the jeep. The monitor loved showing off his driving skills as we descended into the valley at breakneck speed on roads that were not fit enough for goats.

Then it was a hike under the blistering sun up to the start point on the river. This took about an hour and was difficult only due to the heat. Although the rope bridge crossings were a bit daunting.

From the heat we jumped into the freezing cold water. Then it was a case of following the river bed back to where we had parked. Traversing a number of deep pools, knee trembling jumps and of course the highlight, a couple of abseils.

This was my first time. It's fairly straight forward. Just don't look down! You have a choice at the first abseiling point. Easy or hard. We went for the easy one and immediately thought we misunderstood. It was about 20 feet higher than the difficult one! What made it "easy" was the fact it was straight down the rock face with no running water to contend with. The hard route is down a waterfall with a sharp left turn.

The second abseil point is down another waterfall. It doesn't seem like much water until you are being pounded by it. I looked down more in an attempt to stop the water going in my eyes. Not a good idea!

The walk finished with a "confidence" jump. You need to take a running jump and the monitor won't let you look over the edge first. Spoils the surprise. Just as well really as I would never have done it if I had seen the size of the drop!

A great day out!