My friends Bernice and Angelia said they were going river rafting on the Segura River and asked me if I wanted to go. I had been with my friend Mick before and decided to go again as it is great fun. We were joined by other friends, some from Los Alcazares and some from the UK. We all had a great day out.
We were picked up by a coach in Los Alcázares and stopped off en route for a comfort break. When we arrived, we were all split into our different groups and placed in a raft before being pushed off from the shore, splashed with water and set off on our way downstream.
We spent an hour or so going downstream. We went through lots of beautiful countryside, under a couple of bridges and over a small weir, before we got ready to go over a large weir. Before we went over the large weir, the organisers moved people from boat to boat a few times to ensure that each boat's weight loading was safe to go over the weir. Going over the weir was quite exciting. The anticipation and adrenalin that built up in you before you went over the top made it more exciting.
The rafting is on a beautiful stretch of the river Segura. There is a lot to look at on the way downstream, including castles, wildlife, and the bushes on the riverbank, which we spent a lot of time in. The two weirs you go over on the trip add a bit of excitement, and the swimming that you can do if you want to in the last stretch of the river is very refreshing after getting very hot on the way downstream.
The boat I had been moved to went over the weir, and as we hit the water, it almost went under the water before popping back up again so that we could all make our way across the river to the small beach where we stopped.
We stopped at the small beach for about 30 minutes to have a sandwich and a drink. Before we got back into our boats, we went for a quick swim in the deeper water below the weir, but it was hard work wading and swimming out to the base of the weir because of the current. After we got back on our rafts, we continued downstream, but I and many others dived into the river about ½ a mile before the ride finished to float and swim the rest of the way downstream. The water was quite cool, and it was great just floating along and watching the landscape pass by.
When the raft trip had finished, many people went back to where the boats were stored to change, but I just changed at the side of the river and watched other boats coming into the bank as they finished. About half an hour after we had finished the raft trip, we were all picked up by our coach alongside the river and were all taken back to wherever it was we had been picked up from, in the case of myself, Angelia, Bernice and some new friends we had made on the trip, that was Los Alcazares.
This was a great trip, and if you get the chance, I recommend you go on it.