This was advertised as an introduction / intermediates white water trip. We had a mixture of abilities which complimented each other well. There were 6 of us with 3 guest appearances. Myself Peter Scott, Anthony Vecchio, Ben Varnals, Ian Williams and John Grout. Guest appearances were ex members, Anthony Sterling, Beth James plus their welsh friend Tom (these 3 helped and added their knowledge experience of this river).
Most of us travelled up Friday afternoon and stayed in the Goat Inn near Llangollen. The pub was cosy and confortable but alas had heating problems; there was not any hot water. Showers were refreshing and reinvigorating. For both days of paddling we had gorgeous weather likened to mild summer days, which enhanced the beautiful scenery.
Saturday morning was spent around Mile End Mill and the rafting centre in Llangollen. Actually there were loads of other clubs paddling as there wasn’t any water in other rivers. Even the River Tryweryn (normally dam released) was not running. We were on the water for 10am playing and experimenting all in a relaxed manner. For the afternoon we met up with Anthony, Beth and Tom then shuttled up to ‘Horse Shoe Falls’ and ran the river down to ‘Town Falls’.
We scouted some of the hard areas of the river, some of us portaged the difficult rapids of ‘Serpents Tail and Town Falls, though these people put on safety for others running these rapids.
We finished the Saturday by 3pm, hit the cold showers back in the Goat Inn then travelled to Bala for some food and beverage. Sunday we planned to have half a day just staying around the rafting area but we enjoyed this so much we ended up staying to 3pm again.
A great weekend – everyone got something good out of it. Thank you to Peter for running this trip.