Who Pulled the Plug?   

It is clear to me that we lurch from seriously scary flooded rivers one week to nothing but a trickle.  Our planned white water weekend in North Wales was looking distinctly dry!  Ralph was in charge and he always brings with him a huge smile and a certain ‘je ne sais quoi' so rather than cancel we decided to go and enjoy!

The group gathered at the Goat Inn on Friday evening. What a fantastic venue for a paddling trip...good accommodation and food together with a great bar!  Some of us perhaps drank a little too much over the weekend, but that is another story. 

On Saturday the news came through that the Tryweryn was not releasing but Ralph had a plan B up his sleeve.  It looked as though there might be some surf coming in at Barmouth.  We set off in a convoy of 3 cars enjoying the stunning North Wales scenery.  There was just enough surf to tempt us on to the water.  Stuart is always such good value and kept the entire group entertained with numerous swims.  As the tide changed Ralph suggested we paddle towards the mouth of the estuary.  At this point large, surging standing waves had formed.  The water here was moving quickly and taking us out to sea at an incredible rate.  At times it felt as though we were on a roller coaster ride.

On Sunday the news came through that the Tryweryn was not releasing again!  Ralph had yet another plan B up his sleeve.  Before we knew it we were standing on the banks of the River Dee near Llangollen looking at the famous Serpents Tail.  We decided to run a short section from Horseshoe Falls to the end of the Serpents Tail.  No need for a shuttle, we could paddle up the canal to the get in.

Horseshoe Falls offered a number of routes....a very narrow bouncy jet, a scrappy rocky 3 step drop or a boof over the main fall - between us we paddled all variations. The lead into Serpents Tail was easy and great for practising eddy hopping.   We gathered at the top of the Serpents Tail for the main event. 

Ralph and Josh led the way whilst the rest of the group waited for a signal.  Once safety was in place, Emma set off taking a line hard right.  As she disappeared over the lip, it did cross my mind that this was not the route we had discussed.   Stop signal was communicated.  Swimmer signal was communicated.  Next Josh was running up the bank demanding a first aid kit.  On reaching Emma she looked as though she had been through a few rounds with Mike Tyson.  Emma had a broken nose and an impressive cut. Emma seemed to be suffering from shock, but we put this down to nearly loosing her new and hugely expensive paddles.  All was well because Ralph had done the heroic thing and chased after and retrieved them. Once reunited with her paddles and boat a huge (if somewhat bloody) grin returned to Emma's face!  What a gal.

What an act to follow!  It was now time for the rest of the group to paddle down one by one.  All had a clean run apart from Stuart who once again was determined to entertain us with a mid rapid capsize and swim.  Stuart you are a superstar!  As if all of this was not enough we got back on and did this run again....and yes....Stuart did entertain us again!

Thank you to Ralph for organising such a superb, sociable and wet weekend.

Paddlers: Ralph, Mike, Stuart W, Emma, Brendan, Kevin, Dave P, Josh and Anna

Anna