Page 58 - QDG 2023

56 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards
Ex KANOT EAGLE
With a brief gap in the busy Sqn FOE, B Sqn decided to decimate the grey space with AT. Ex Kanot Eagle was a 150km canoe expedition along the Harkan river system, paddling from Ulen, a remote lake system in Norway, to Lit, Sweden. The expedition was completed in 8 days by 12 soldiers of the QDG.
On arrival in Sweden any
painful memories of the
JSATFA process and pre-ex-
ercise administration were immediately lost. Landing at
around 2100hrs, and arriving
at the campsite in Lit roughly
an hour later, the team were
astonished to see the sun
very much still up, with other
groups sunbathing and
swimming in the lake. The accommodation of choice was a group of small huts immediately next to the river system managed by a charismatic hippie type named Rasmus, whose iconic laugh has ingrained itself in our memories and completely put us at ease.
The next day, we immediately began prepping for the expedition, stockpiling the usual grub (noodles, canned hotdogs, etc) and checked over the canoes provided by Rasmus. Whilst certainly not the latest model of canoe, all holes were patched and the canoes did float, and in the words of Rasmus, ‘what more could you want?.’ Thankfully, we were not reliant on the somewhat ethereal Swede for safety equipment, having brought our own.
Launching into Lake Ulen in Brecon- esque rain was a bleak start to the exped, but after 36 hours of torrential rain and fierce headwinds, the weather finally got onside. From then on it was rela- tively plain canoeing, with an average of only one capsize per section of rapids. Each night, the team would establish a campsite in some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever witnessed, light a fire and enjoy the sunset and the following orange glow that would persist until sunrise roughly 2 hours later.
After 6 days of paddling, the team started to see the first signs of civilisa- tion and were spurred on to finish the final 50km in 48 hours, leaving a 24-hour period in which the team could explore the city of Ostersund and its open-air night club, a fitting reward for 8 days hard paddling sustained primarily by Mi-goreng noodles.
The exercise was a complete success, and a great way to round off a busy first half of 2023. All of the team will have fond memories of the small town of Lit, its char- ismatic inhabitants and LCpl Dempseys attempt to take on some Grade II rapids backwards with a heavily swamped canoe.
Sunset at 0100
all holes were patched and the canoes did float
Do my arms look big in this?
Boss, how far is it?
ACW
I don’t think this flag is regulation