Over a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich in the cafe at Betws-y-coed, we met the two other guys helping Matt, Daz and Dave. We discussed our options. As there was not a lot of water, we decided to head to the River Llugwy. Before we set off we were shown a video made by Matt, Daz and Dave of what North Wales has to offer, and their recent adventure in Italy.
Arrived at the car park and started to get changed, at this moment I did have second thoughts, what did I let myself into? Once changed went across the road to check out the falls, and wow. This was a little bigger than I was expecting, but I felt confident. After making our way to the river, warming up, and practising the basic strokes such as forward paddling and with help from Matt and Daz, going through the stroke of the boof, the time came to making our way to the first drop. Before the first drop there was a short, narrow S-bend rapid, this was a good warm up.
After inspecting the fall, Pont Cyfyng, I was feeling very nervous. For some reason I said that I would go next. After seeing Dave go over the lip and disappear, I just wanted to get it over and done with. The drop is a 5ft slide into a 15ft drop, with a semi auto-boof, but you did need to put some effort into it otherwise you would pencil.
Got to the lip, looked down and though s**t this is quite high.
Going off the lip was the best feeling, the feeling of being weightless for the first time in the creek boat is unexplainable.
Then came the landing. I was very eager not to pencil the boat, so I put in a very powerful boof, too powerful, I lander flat on my hull. As I hit the water you can feel the shock go all the way up your back, and it is like getting kicked in the nuts, but I still had a massive grin on my face.
Gary was next, he was like me, a too powerful boof, so landed flat, but he also landed at an angle.
After the first drop, the adrenaline was pumping, and we were raring for the next drop. The second drop was a 8ft slide into a 6ft drop, this drop was one of my favourites as it was just wide enought for a boat and you picked up a lot of speed and shot out the end.
Me
Matt
Dave
After a spot of lunch, slice of bread and squeezy marmite, the decision was to paddle Swallow Falls, we would just about get it in before it started to get dark.
Swallow Falls is a series of slides, we were only going to do the first 2. The first slide, we had to portage down to the put in, due to a blockage by some logs, we couldnt paddle to it. The portage itself was one of the most exciting part of the day.
Unfortunately we do not have any pictures of the first slide because of the poor access by the photographer (dad). But we have pictures of the second slide. It was so large that we only have pictures of people in the middle, at the top or at the bottom.
Gary
Me
Daz
The second day started in the same cafe as the day before. There we decided what rivers to run. As there had been no rain the night before, we were at the same place. This time, we would be running other, more difficult lines on the first drop.
Once navigating the little S-bend rapid, and noticing that the water had dropped we had a look at the new lines. This picture shows the lines run by myself a Daz.
The last drop, far left in the picture, was only about 3 inches deep. This required us to punt towards the edge, get ready, and just push off the end. This was quite a fun drop, different. In higher water 4 drops are available, but at these levels only 3 were available.
Next up was the second drop. I was told by Matt and Daz who had just agreed that I should go first and be safety. This was a good moment for me. I had a sense of responsibilty. Everyone came down safely, with no swims. Once getting out of our boats, we went though rescue techniques. What to do if someone swam in a gorge and other topics like that.
The weekend then ended with a refreshing swim with a 40ft cliff jump and a 35ft rope swing.
Hope you have enjoyed my report of my North Wales Adventures. I have certainly enjoyed making it.
Many thanks to Matt, Daz and Dave. Video of the whole weekend to follow, keep your eyes and ears open.
Melvin
