Category: Breakout

Kislingbury to NCKC. March 23rd 2019

A wonderful adventurous paddle. 9am meet at the club to collect boats and kit where needed and organise help with transporting kayaks and canoes. Convoy off to the get in at Kislingbury. A bit of twiddling of thumbs and faffing for those of us waiting with the boats while the shuttle took place.

The paddle on this section of the Nene needed some rain. The weather was good, and we were tucked down below the line of the fields for most of the journey so out of the wind. The river had a gentle flow mostly. In areas the weed beds and dead weeds had collected together and blocked off the river, so some interesting kayaking and canoeing manoeuvres took place. Pulling ourselves through the weeds on a throw line wrapped around a tree. Kayaking and canoeing over fallen branches. Hacking, literally at one point with a saw through branches all while sheep, lambs and farmers were unaware in the fields just above.

We had 3 weirs to negotiate on the journey. Alan and Steve‘s knowledge and experience was informative and kept us safe. Our first weir was a gentle paddle towards a slope and a small drop off the end.
The second weir was more of a challenge. A drop which on closer inspection, to me, looked like Niagara Falls. With Steve‘s guidance who dropped down Niagara effortlessly, backwards. An increased heartbeat and some deliberation while I found some courage, I eventually went for it, it was so much fun.

The third weir was hilarious. So, the idea being we were to go down sideways! I think I am right in saying this was because it was too shallow at the bottom to go down front ways. Again, this felt like a massive big deal but in reality it was a bit like a log flume. Brilliant! I secretly think Alan was quite enjoying pushing us beginners sideways down the weir.

Paddling through town was a pleasure. To paddle the river that I have driven over many times and experience the town‘s buildings and bridges from a different angle was fascinating and enjoyable. With each trip I learn more about how the boat reacts to the water, obstacles to look out for and things to consider, how to help each other and I gain experience as new challenges arise. Not to mention enjoying the company of fellow enthusiastic paddlers. Thank you for another enjoyable trip.
Angie

So, this bank holiday was a lovely time to get out on the water, and thankfully the club had arranged a nice paddle from Denford to Wadenhoe. A full 10km! The day got off to a rocky start, with punctures and parking and all that good stuff. Once we had everyone sorted, we set off… And 200m down river we encountered what would be our first fun challenge of the day.

As we all set off, we could instantly see the picturesque scenery, the lovely period houses lining the water and a lovely bridge we would have to skip under… Once we got nearer it though, we started to feel the water speed up. On getting to the bridge, a couple of brave souls tried to get through it, but we soon found out that when water is that fast, and that low (so you cant get your paddle in the water) its near impossible to traverse. Thankfully, a couple of the more experienced paddlers got through and set us all up with some throw lines to pull on. After a good half hour of battling, we all made it through.

At this point, I think a few of us were all ready for lunch! Either way, we all carried on down the Denford leg of the trip, chatting, taking in the scenery and generally enjoying the Easter sun. A rarity in the UK to be sure. This led to the second challenge of the day. A really high portage where our boat kept disappearing under it. This actually turned out to be a non issue, and got to the last stretch before lunch.
If any of you haven‘t been down these stretches of rivers, its really hard to tell you how pretty they are. Its one of those areas that‘s full of overhanging willow trees, rich grasslands and large oaks. All of this is speckled with interesting buildings, other paddlers, and a few longboats. We wound our way downriver to our 2nd portage of the day, and thankfully. LUNCH. We spent half hour resting and taking in the sun a bit before setting off again. I think everyone really enjoyed the chance to sit down and enjoy their time and it was great to see the club hanging out together. The next section was pretty uneventful, as these things go. Lots more scenery passed by at a leisurely pace until we reached the last of the portages. This one turned out to be a bit more of an event. We had to set a canoe in the portage and tie it down so we could get out of our boats, into that, and finally onto the portage. It was quite a tall one!

This led us to a choice of 2 get-ins. A nice, chilled easy float, or a 15ft seal launch that dumped you right below a sluice outlet. This was a great chance to have a little play, and personally. Almost take a swim. We managed to capture a few videos here and it was a nice break in the day while everyone got in.

This last section was a meandering float down the river, mainly surrounded by fields and with kites and buzzards flying overhead. The last thing we I wanted to note was on the last leg, we passed an island managed by friends of the river Nene‘ which is a lovely piece of land that can be used for wild camping for a small fee. It looks like a lovely place to take a tent or hammock, and is pretty local to the club.

Passing this, we made the final push to the get-out, which was (thankfully) a nice low, soft and close to the car park affair. It took us another half hour or so to get everything sorted, and all the cars in 1 place, but it was a much-needed break for everyone after the 10km.

Thanks to everyone that made the day such a great one and we really look forward to doing the next trip.

Chris Tooze.

A little while ago we – the Committee – acknowledged something that we had known for some time; that as a club, we were not running trips. We attract new members through the ‘Come & Try’ sessions and develop paddlers with the one and two star courses, but then people often find there’s not enough to keep interested and drift away. You can only paddle the loop so many times! So we hatched a plan to try and have one trip each month. Mostly planning to put on simple, local club paddles on rivers and canals – with some further afield – but with a priority on inclusivity.

 

One suggestion was to cover the Nene (or ‘Nene’ depending on your pronunciation – I call it the Nene, but others say Nene) for as much as possible, so that we ‘journey’ its length through a series of paddles. It’s a personal anomaly that I’ve paddled in Scotland, Wales and France but barely seen our home waters beyond the loop and Becket’s park.

 

So Angie and I set to work. Alan has added some info on the web site (http://www.nckctest.co.uk/rivers/) as a guide but we thought it best to check the get out at Earls Barton to ensure car parking, access etc. were all ok. It’s a six mile paddle and in total there were 6 portages so it was going to be a one way trip, given the amount of daylight and the need for a faf or two along the way. Also, as part of the plan was to progress along the Nene over a series of trips, so coming back didn’t feel quite right.

 

The message went out via email and FaceBook and we were pleasantly surprised to find quite a bit of interest, especially given the time of year. Nearer the time we checked that there was enough transport to get all the boats and paddlers back at the end of the day, and sent out some info on likely weather as well as confirming meeting times.

 

Meeting up at the club for 09:30, we got enough cars to the car park at Earls Barton to carry the boats home and a couple of cars took the drivers back to the club. At 10:30 we had cars, kit, keys etc all sorted and we were on the water and paddling into a steady head wind. A little light rain had threatened but then abated and the temperature wasn’t too bad for mid November. From the club to the first lock at Abington was a bit of a slog, especially for those of us in open canoes, but we stuck together and found the going much easier when the river narrowed and became more sheltered.

From Billing, the river becomes quite pretty and it was a very pleasing paddle, there were stories from the ‘old hands’ about trips long past and keen interest from the newer paddlers who were enthusiastic to get on the water all year round.

A little way after Billing Mill we had a choice: right continued with the main navigation route, left would take us to a weir that was known to be a “safe runner”. As well as being a little bit of fun, it’s nice to avoid getting out for yet another portage, so that was appealing to some. Of course a “safe runner” doesn’t mean you definitely won’t get wet – and some of the group preferred the right turn option with the extra lock. An important part of the trip is that there’s no pressure on anyone to do anything they’re not comfortable with, so one group went left, the other right and we met shortly after.

We arrived at Earls Barton pretty much on time at about 14:30 and made an (almost) clean exit at the car park for the short drive back.

My thanks to everyone who came along and made it a success, I hope we can continue with monthly trips all through the year – next will probably be a new year paddle so keep a lookout for info.

The players: Angie, Ted, Paul & Sophie, Tracy, Scott ,Chris R, John, Andy, Steve, Chris T, Megan and me.

Arnie

To cut a long story short we paddled the Nene instead, I cannot help feeling I was robbed. But apparently Holme Pierrepont was washed out, and an executive decision was taken to paddle somewhere closer to holme. With the promise of moving water all the way, a rapid or two and a veritable selection box of new weirs to tackle, we set off towards Merry Tom with a eager sense of anticipation. The turn out was good, a five car job and after a slight misunderstanding about whether all the shuffles were back we paddled on.

The Nene was high but dropping fast, we got in just above a couple of nice surf waves, which proved a fine precursor of what was to come.
The water was moving steadily along which made it easier for the play boaters to get some form of forward motion. The river was narrow, with single file was the order of the day, one couldn‘t help but notice that we looked like a line of signets following Chris Mother Duck‘ Rance.
We hadn‘t been paddling long before we came to the first weir, nothing too fancy, a hard left leading into a slope dropping about 3 feet with plenty of waves for everyone waiting at the bottom. I went down it third, I think, to cry‘s of PUSH IT‘ PUSH IT IN‘ .Being new to this game and unfamiliar with the lingo, I was left to ponder what I was meant to be pushing, where I was meant to be pushing it and could I be arrested for this if the police found out. Everyone else got through without getting their helmets wet and had plenty of opportunity to practice that all important surfing technique. After a bit of coaxing we paddled on towards the next weir not half a mile down river, which I was told promises to be good‘ when we arrived, Chris the Storm got out to give it the once over from the bank. The resulting conversation went like this.

Chris Rance •What‘s it like•
Chris the Storm •Good•
Chris Rance •Is there a stopper on it•
Chris the Storm •Oh yes•
Chris Rance •Who‘s it going to play with•
Chris the Storm •Everybody•

My heart sank, as I feared would I. Not having ever been caught in a stopper it was something I was keen to avoid. The weir itself was a two step drop, first one about four feet the second about three with about 25 foot of rollout before you hit the stopper. Now bear in mind I was paddling a 14 foot boat that only left me 11 feet in which I could turn the boat round, and the fact that I‘m not actually that good, you can probably hazard a fair guess at who was the only one to get stuck in the stopper. But we set off again in search of the next hazard on which to place ourselves in mortal danger.
The next hazard, as it turned out, was a metal strainer, which didn‘t cause two many problems, we just got out and went around. The fun came getting back in. First of all Ben the attack launched himself from the strainer as a depth probe, followed by Duncan and Chris the Storm. Then in a scene reminiscent of Death wish‘, Colin could be seen crawling out along the top of a pipe some 10 feet above the water, just a few inches wide and in the middle of a gale dragging his Whip-it behind him. After some time spent balancing and preparing himself for it, he went

I would like to be the first to congratulate Colin on entering the Guinness Book of Records for The loudest noise made by anybody‘s face when hitting the water‘ a fine effort. Once we had all stopped laughing and regained our composure we drifted down stream for more merry tom foolery .
Then it stuck me, we had been paddling for two and a half hours and I was still dry. Obviously this thought came to Duncan at about the same time. Because thirty seconds later he nudged, rammed, barged and any other words I can think of to describe his low down, dirty, underhand push Gareth in to a strainer trick. So there I sat being strained, beginning to feel the whole horror of just what it must be like to be a leaf in a tea bag. This event perturbed me so much, that not only is it not an experience I wish to repeat, but I have just founded the ultra radical tea liberation front, anyone wishing to join should contact me.
Soon after that we stopped for lunch, and set off again down river for the final push towards the club house and warmth. And disappointingly it went off without much event until we got back to Avon sluice, where the water was tanking along at a fair old pace. Every one had a play on it, with varying levels of success some paddled away, some went to play with the plankton. With enders and cartwheels aplenty from Chris the Storm and Ben the Attak and a fantastic move from Chris the Supersport which involved paddling into the jet and then turning upside down and getting out of his boat, everyone went away happy.
Thank You to Alan A for organising the trip
A great time was had by all Blahdy Blahdy Blah.

Gareth Faulkner.

So once again I find myself in North Wales with a good bunch of friends. The weather is reasonably mild at about 8 degrees, and at the moment it’s not raining. We’re standing in a layby at the get in for the Wnion.  We were discussing whether to paddle the Wnion, or weather to choose an easier river, as there were several running that day. There were some nervous looking faces in the group, in particular mine! I felt we were almost starting to talk ourselves out of paddling this river for an easier one. Then someone spoke up and said “yes let’s do it.” So the die had been cast and come what may we were going to give it a go!

I am the weakest paddler in the group, but this river was my choice. I’d asked a paddling friend at work to suggest some nice grade 3 rivers in North Wales. As he mentioned the Wnion, I thought it was a good choice. What I didn’t realise is that he had added a caveat, that being ‘level dependant’. The level was hovering around high (ish). This made it a grade 4 river. I’ve only ever done grade 3 rivers with the odd grade 4 feature. Next time I must either keep my mouth shut or actually listen to what I’m being told.

We got on just below a bridge, and set off downstream. I settled in quite quickly, and can remember thinking to myself, “well this isn’t too bad, grade 4 Rivers aren’t much harder than grade 3’s”.  Well that thought didn’t stay with me for long, neither did it entre my head again for the rest of the paddle!

We came to the first feature soon enough. It was a vertical drop of around 8 feet into a pool. We all got out to inspect it and choose a line. For me it was very intimidating, although with hind sight it may have been one of the easier obstacles we had to negotiate.

To try and convey the scene, the water is cold and dark. Rocks are breaking the surface all around. The submerged rocks are causing tell-tale waves on the surface. The drop itself has a gnarly lip with rock sticking out along its length. There was a small step on river right, which lessened the height of the drop, but I didn’t fancy that line. The pool below consisted of frothing aerated white water, and the noise alone was enough to put shivers down my spine.

Anyway, Ben went first. He paddled up to the lip, boofed it, and with a lovely flat landing continued into the eddy to pick up any flotsam and jetsam (that’s me and my boat) that may float by. “Well Ben made it look easy” I thought, I’ll go next. I climb into my boat (I’m pooping it at this point), I make my way to the lip. I have been trying to learn to boof on man-made courses with not much success, but I still gave it a go, for the first time on a proper river! You’ll never guess what happened next……………….I landed it! Not in text book style I admit, or with any style at all really, but I stayed the right way up, just, and the boat continued away from the drop. The rest of the group came over with no problems at all as I expected.

We continue on our way. I suspect one or two of the group were feeling slightly more confident at this point. Unfortunately it may be true to say that my confidence, for once, outweighed my skills. We came across what I though was a smaller drop. BOOF!!! I shouted in my head, so that is exactly what I tried to do. The trouble was that it just turned out to be a nice easy green tongue with a wave at the end. I got myself all out of kilter, ended up on the wrong edge, and as is probably obvious to you now, I was straight upside down. My roll comes and goes. I did try, but ended up with a silly swim, the first of two.

Steve kindly sorted me out, as usual and we were on our way. With my confidence now in check, things were going really well. I’m sure I can say the whole group were enjoying themselves.

The next big feature was for me, and maybe one or two others terrifying!

The river had narrowed slightly, thus speeding up the flow of water. In front of us was a Boulder Garden. If you’re not familiar with this term, imagine if you were strong enough to pick up a load of BIG Boulders in one go, and throw them into the air so as to land in the river. They would be randomly scattered on the river bed. Now add several tons of fast moving water and “hey presto” you’ve got yourself a boulder garden.

I think Ben went first, followed by Steve. I don’t know what really happened after that for what seemed like a life time. It was absolutely BONKERS! There were rocks everywhere. It was almost too much for someone of my ability to cope with. In a split second I had to decide whether to go left or right of this rock! NO a hole! Oh my another rock, which side? Splash, a big wave straight in the face! Oh no, not another rock followed by another hole L. And so it went on until we were all through. I made it to the eddy and then capsized to my embarrassment. With hind sight I think what happened was that I actually passed out with fear! (Well that’s the story I’m going to tell to my grandchildrenJ), I don’t want to  admit to another silly capsize.

Steve and Ben had another go, they seemed to have all the time in the world. I had the chance to catch my breath and off we went again. As we went the side of the river seemed to get steeper, for in front of us is a committing George run. Once you’re in, you can only paddle out. Before that though was one more obstacle to negotiate. It was a reasonably big drop, 6 feet (ish) I think into a boily pool. There was an eddy on the right, but in quick succession after this first drop, was another much narrower drop into another pool. Once again Ben went first, followed by Steve. They once again made it look easy. Ben set up safety from the rock’s on river right. Steve sat in an eddy between the two drops. I went next. I dispatched the first drop without problems. I couldn’t quite make the eddy on the right, so decided it would be better to take the next drop, and found a nice quiet eddy to wait for the other’s. Dutch went next and joined me in the eddy. Last but not least was Tom. He made the first drop, from what I could see from my slightly obscured vantage point. The next thing I could see was poor old Tom swimming. He was unable to make the eddy between the drops. He was washed down the second drop. It must have been quite frightening. He was washed past me, closely followed by Steve. I reached out with my paddle while shouting encouragement. Tom couldn’t reach the paddle due to the speed of the water. He and Steve disappeared around the corner. They were out of sight now. Steve did what he enjoys doing, and quickly had the situation under control. Unfortunately while dealing with Tom,  his boat and paddle were swept off towards the George at great speed. That was the last Tom and I saw of his boat and paddle for the best part of an hour. Tom and I had to walk out. This involved pulling my boat up a steep wooded bank to the road at the top. Tom deserves a big thank you for helping to get my boat up the bank. I was huffing and puffing all the way up. Tom managed most of the work. If you want to find out more about the missing boat and paddle, please read Steve’s write-up. To finish I want to say a big thank you to the team for keeping their eye on me. They were Steve Banttams, Ben Stone, Dutch Holland, and Tom Brooks. From the river bank, on this occasion was Sarah Davies. Sarah had all the info on the rivers and levels we could possibly want.

This time we had plenty of notice and time to organise which makes a change for a kayaking trip. Matt and Frankie were planning on spending a weekend playing on the river Dee in north wales and offered it out to other keen people. After some back and forth messages we had organised where we were staying and who was going.

Come Friday evening I’m loading the boats on the car, picking Chris Short up and the 3 of us are off towards Llangollen. First stop the chip shop in the centre of Llangollen for their homemade fishcakes. Our accommodation for the weekend was a pod, basically an empty shed with a heater. We selected our space on the floor, set up sleeping bags and found the others in their campervan. Due to a lot of heavy rain, the river Dee had risen to a high level and with more rain due and our mixed ability group, the original plan of paddling the river Dee was revised. The rest of the evening was a mix of discussions about what rivers we could paddle and the pros, cons and various features of Matt’s new campervan.

Saturday arrived, day trippers showed up, breakfast was made and the decision was to paddle the Conwy from the small village of Ysbyty Ifan. At grade 2+, this is a great intro to white water rivers. After a quick briefing we were off, avoiding trees and practising our skills. At one point we split up and people were partnered up, Matt was with James and told to follow James down the tricky rapid. Que James going upside down and through a tree, much to the worry of Matt who was meant to be following this “Proficient” paddler. With just one swim by Matt and a couple of little portages, everyone made it down with great style. This section of river finishes at the start of the middle section. Matt and Frankie decided they had gone as far as they wanted and would get out. The rest of us carried on down the classic section which is a slightly higher grade than the upper without incident. Everyone got off, loaded up and headed back to the huts. Stevie was kind enough to give us a lift into town to find some pub grub and after a well deserved feed up we were back in the campervan putting the world to rights and consuming beers.

On Sunday morning we awoke to some rain which made cooking breakfast slightly damp. As the rivers had dropped we decided the Conwy was the best option. We’d lost a few people so with a smaller group this time, we did a quick shuttle and were off. As the level had dropped it made it a completely different river. After a few hours of playing about we arrived at the get out.  Myself and Chris then decided we would carry on and see what the lower section is like as it had been many years since I had last paddled it. There were two very hard features that we portaged although one portage involved a seal-launch into the lead in of a large stopper called “The gobbler”. It lived up to its name and tipped me over, one fast roll later and I’m watching Chris nearly do the whole thing upside down.

With boats loaded, we were off home after another great weekend kayaking in North Wales. Thanks have to go out to Frankie and Matt for organising the accommodation and the weekend, we just turned up and provided kayaking support.

It wasn’t just me on this trip, In order publicise more trips and get people interested it helps to get writeups from a viewpoint other than mine.

 

Steve

After a busy week at work I was looking forward to a weekend away boating. It was Friday evening by the time plans were being finalised, they mainly involved Ben picking Tom Brooks, myself and Sarah up quite early on Saturday morning and driving to wales. Come early Saturday morning Ben and his massive van come mobile home was outside. We loaded, got on the road, checked the internet for river levels, checked again, checked again and after updating Stevie we decided the Seiont was the best option.

We arrived at the side of the river after meeting up with Stevie, waited for the rain to get as heavy as possible before we started to get changed, as being in Wales boating we are not used to getting changed in the dry. Leaving the others to sort the boats, we shuttled the cars and got on the river. The Seiont is a fun Grade 3 river but constant white water for most of its 13km of length. After a quick inspection and a few portages of the Grade 4 section we were paddling, it was a mix of heavy rain or sunshine. The river finishes with a great little paddle into the sea right under the shadow of Caernarfon castle.

We were soon changed and back into dry kit and then stood around in the rain while Ben ran Stevie back to his car. Once sorted we were loaded and off. We said our goodbyes to Stevie as he was working on the Sunday. That just left the 4 of us in Ben’s mobile bunkhouse. We made our way further into Wales towards Sunday’s location. After finding a little pub for some food we carried on to find a very remote carpark which was perfect for us to camp out in. With boats safely locked up outside, we spent the evening in our new mobile bunkhouse exchanging our most epic paddling stories along with the usual embellishments. 

After a very quiet night’s sleep in our little carpark, we were up, making breakfast, and off to find more water. Today we were meeting up with Dutch and Adrian who were driving up to meet us. We’d had a request from Adrian to do the Wnion and today both the river level and the group was perfect for such. We met at the side of the Wnion, got changed, did the shuttle and got on.

The Wnion is a great continuous Grade 4 river that starts with a little drop followed by many rapids, boulder gardens and finally a tight gorge. With nerves on edge we set off, I kind of knew the river so set the lead, stopping to check sections out and setting safety where needed. As soon as getting on we came to the first section; a small, perhaps 2m high, ledge drop. One at a time we’re through and off, rapids, followed by more rapids and a quick swim by Adrian at the end of a rapid. After a while the river picks up and we have a grade 4 boulder garden to navigate.  After a quick swim by Adrian at the end we were off to a set of big ledge type drops. Que TomTom exiting his boat and taking a swim. I start chasing the boat and paddle, only to find I’m directly above the gorge section and alone.  Deciding not to continue alone, I had to watch the boat float off into the distance.

After a quick get out to sort the group out and work out a plan, 3 of us paddled off downstream while the other 2 climbed up the bank to get out. Now its just me and Dutch on the gorge section which at this height can only be described as awakening. We get to the get out, catch up with Ben only to find there is still no boat or paddle in sight. We now need to make a plan as we have people and kit all over the place. Plan made, Ben gets out to sort cars and the others out while me and Dutch set off downstream boat hunting. Within 15 minutes or so we had located the boat stuck mid river. A quick rescue and we are towing the lost boat downstream. Within another 10 mins or so we even located the paddles, “Happy Days” we have all kit back.  We paddled on down to the get out, updated everyone with our location and managed to get everyone and all kit reunited.

This was such a great weekend involving paddling some good rivers, getting cold and wet during the day, sleeping in a cool location at night, all with a great bunch of people.

 

So, from Ogwen Valley
Day two for me
With a hearty breakfast cooked by Andrius
We set off for a strong Grade 3

The Seiont river was chosen by Steve and Sarah
Which I had not done before
But hang on a minute what’s this I’m hearing?
Some parts are a Grade 4

 

We met up with the additional paddlers
The banter you had to hear and see
For splashing some of the others
A helmet was dumped in a muddy puddle,and a kayak adorned a tree

 

Paul Dutch Hollands gave us the briefing
And the signals that we should know
He even did the “whoo whoo” train sound
With the sign for us all to go

 

This river was fast and exhilarating

And each random rock called my name
A real test of my novice ability to miss them
But now my once pristine boat, will never look the same

 

One Grade 4 rapid we all scouted
And I just had to give it a go
I messed up the second half and crashed over a boulder
But styled it out until the end, with ‘high braces’ and much bravado

 

Scott said his “heart was beating like a broken clock”
And added the odd expletive for effect
But I didn’t witness any lack of confidence
So as the young’uns might say, ‘Respect’

 

Martyn would graciously show each line to take

While Tom kept an experienced watchful eye
Unfortunately Adrian and Paul took a swim
Yet by luck, rather than judgement, I managed to stay dry

 

Well James took it all in his stride
As one of the oldest, I can’t do any fancy trick
But he has such raw talent and potential
Out of jealousy this rising star really makes me sick

We finished at Caernarfon Castle
With time to take in the beautiful scenery
How great a feeling to end this trip
Where the river meets the sea.

 

Book a trip with Steven and Sarah
After all Wales is not that far
You will soon be saying cheers to them
Or in Welsh it’s ‘iechyd da’

Saturday 4th March 2017

It was an early start as John and I decided to drive  down early Saturday morning. I arrived at John’s at 5am, loaded up and set off. The journey was good and we arrived at around 9am. Sarah messaged us to meet at the ‘get in’ to start the paddle on the river Conwy. We all said our greetings and Andrius informed us it was his wife’s birthday. He phoned her and we all sang happy birthday in Lithuanian their native tongue (well attempted to.)

Boats and kit were unloaded and the shuttle started. While waiting we took the boats down to the ‘get in’. The river was running just high enough, and it was white water straight from the word go. John, Steve, Sarah, Martyn, Tom, Andrius and myself got in our boats and we all seal launched off, and warmed up under the bridge. Then the fun began. The river Conwy is a series of( I thought) tricky sections ,which required quick powerful manoeuvring strokes especially in one section called Bryn Bras Falls. This was pretty full on, and to my surprise I cleared it.

We unfortunately had one swimmer to rescue which required a throw bag for the swimmer, and a carabiner and sling to recover the pinned boat. As the water level was 1.25 on the gauge at Penmacho Bridge although we got out 1km beforehand with the levels as they were there was plenty of rocks to watch out for and manoeuvre around. I really enjoyed the Conwy although I had a swim myself, it was too shallow and rocky to try my perfected roll from the pool sessions. If you have been doing the whitewater course at the centre, I really recommend going on a white water trip with the club, to discover how useful all the skills you learn on the course actually are when applied on a real white water river.

Throughout  the summer we have had enough rain to bring many welsh rivers into condition but have unfortunately never been in the right place at the right time. We were therfore looking forward to a trip that was set for early November. Knowing that the rivers had been up most of the summer gave us great hope they would be working again. Plans were in place, bunkhouse booked and Friday evening arrived. Myself and Sarah sat in the car on the M6 in the usual Friday evening traffic along with 3 other cars full of keen boaters. By 10pm everyone had arrived at the bunkhouse just outside Betws-y-coed. It’s a nice bunkhouse with rooms of four or six beds. With 11 of us in total it was going to be a good weekend.

Saturday morning arrived and in the usual fashion we made a massive team breakfast from the parts of a shopping list we had each been given prior to arriving. We consulted the river levels knowledge base also known to others as Sarah. Her recommendations were quite limited well non-existent in fact. The truth was there was no water in any of the rivers. We ended up splitting into two groups with one group heading to paddle the Menai Straights and the other going for a walk up into the mountains. I went for the walk option along with Phil, Andrius, Santa, and Sarah. It was a great day for a walk. We planned a circular route up a fairly local mountain which even involved some scrambling which was a plus. The wind and hail at one point did try to blow us off the ridge but we made it back to the car after a quick stop at Plas-y-Brenin training centre for a drink and some cake. Upon returning to the bunk house for a hot shower we caught up with the others who seemed to have had a great adventure dealing with unpredictable tides.

Mike had made a large chilli with all the extras that was consumed and enjoyed by all followed by a quick round of Happy Birthday and some cake for James who’s birthday it was.

Sunday morning arrived with everyone again making the team breakfast and consulting with the river knowledge base. The two options were to go and have a play at Swallow Falls (a waterfall that you can slide down) or paddle the river Dee. The decision was to paddle the Dee. Rooms emptied, cars packed and we were off. Once at the Dee it was clear it was the only river with any water in due to the fact that anyone with a kayak on their roof this weekend was now parked at the get on for the river just above Llangollen.

We changed and made our way to the get. A quick group briefing and we were off. The first rapid was just below Chainbridge, approximately 50meters from the get on. Andrius decided he wanted to check out the bottom of the river so went upside down.  Although his support stroke looked good, snapping the end off your paddle makes it near impossible to use so this resulted in a swim and a quick rescue of boat and person. He decided he had had enough so made his way back to the car which saved me from assembling the split paddles.

The next feature is Serpents Tail which is great grade 3 rapid in these levels so we spent a while running this, taking it in turns to provide safety. It also gave me much rescue practice as the other uni groups going down were not always 100% successfully making it though still in their boats.

Once this was over we carried on throgh the smaller rapids, including a quick play at Mile End Mill. James spent some time learning to control the boat in a stopper which is always good to watch.

It was then onto Town Falls. We stopped at the very top to get out and have a quick look, lines were chosen and a few went down. Last time Dutch was here he dislocated his shoulder on this rapid so was having to conquer those demons which is always tricky. Dutch’s skill level far exceeds what is needed for this rapid and over the years of paddling I expect he has paddled it 50-60 times but this time the voices in his head had something to say. Once he had told them to shut up, the spray deck was on and he made a successful line down. The entire group cheered. Everyone else had a clean line down, James put in two rolls mid rapid luckily avoiding the rocks.

Back at the riverbank we all got changed, said our goodbyes and made our way home. Even though there was no water it was still a great weekend.

If you are interested in coming on trips like this then the best thing is to keep an eye out for some of the day trips on grade 2 white water that should be coming up to get some practice.

Thanks have to go out to Mike for the awesome chilli and Dutch for organising the weekend.