A weekend of South Wales pleasure boating. October 16/17 2004
After the little adventure we had in the French Alps with Bristol Canoe Club back in June, I was invited to join them on a South Wales weekend to do the normal photograph showing sessions and Mickey taking etc along with the odd river. They had 2 places left in the bunkhouse, Sam and I filled them. I myself not having done much in S Wales except slaloms and Sam, well he hasn't done much of anywhere yet….. So all new territory for the both of us.
After a 3 hour drive and a rip off breakfast in Swansea we ended up in Llandovery where we eventually found the bunkhouse, which I must say as bunkhouses go was superb but 4 mile + from the pub. Sorted the kit out and off to find the others for a late river this dull late Saturday afternoon or failing that plan B or C. (B being the nearest drinking establishment and C being the pub at the get out of the Afon Ithon which I thought Bristol were doing.) Oh well! As it worked out plan A happened on the way to plan C. Stupidly we missed B altogether.
A river it is then!
Half the Bristol crowd retired to the bunkhouse as they
were knackered and they were given the chore of cooking for the rest of us and
chilling the tinnies. A good trade off at this point. The Afon Dulas (Haford
Bridge to Llanwrda) it was to be our late afternoon/evening entertainment.
A
good level it was and a strange milky brown colour (Not flood colour) and I
must say a very nice grade 3 run. A few nice gorges, ok river scenery. Sounds
very nice don't it. Reality being an epic paddle, (sorry an assault course)
over and through barbed wire and as well as portaging the nasty fences. One
fence seemed very, very new with no real point to it at all. Tree blockages at
regular intervals of which half you could limbo. Wouldn't advise rolling them
due to the amount of wire that we were coming across. The odd pipe spanning the
river near one village and a piece of string about head height with no real
function except to decapitate an unwary canoeist. Strangely the local people we
spoke to at the get out were extremely friendly.
I myself made a bad
judgement of error by dropping my boat over the new fence. As I was perched in
a delicate pose over the barbed wire, my boat slid off down the bank and in to
the river. About a ¼ mile later after a sprint through numerous brambles
I caught the boat up and it was salvaged. Boy (Sam) also had a scare as he
mange to lose his paddle in a tree while being tangled in some barbed wire. A
quick exit from his boat at that time with a ripped cag saved his blushes/ life
of what could have been a nasty incident. Not the last thou on this weekend for
him! Best say a warm up.
When we got near the end we ditched and got out
through a farmer's field due to yet another fence across the river .It was a
good run in parts but a chainsaw and wire cutters, maybe even some dynamite
would turn it into a classic 3.
Back to the bunkhouse for chilli and beer. Too much beer later and no one to drive to the pub or back, we stayed in and watched copious amounts of 'kayak porn' (White water Videos to the Liberal PC brigade) and a full beer fridge to empty. A quiet night then!
Sunday fry up and the Afon Doethie to be paddled. Another
epic. A 1hour vehicle shuttle from the get out to the start. Start was near
source and was basically a ditch. Just paddle able. A steep grade 2 with the
odd grade 3 drop, in wilderness moorland, rather similar to Dartmoor
stream/rivers on top. Very nice, could do with more water though (like Dartmoor
more often than not). The odd grade 3 and a 4 gorge, a few trees in sections
along with 2 grade 6 drops. No we didn't attempt them but we did do a good
inspection on them just in case. With full head and body armour could be doable
thou. No more than the odd rock in the wrong place for your head at any angle.
A bit of luck needed I think? And didn't fancy getting hurt at the beginning of
the season. 2 Bristolian boys however did lose their boats at the start of the
first drop but were on the bank when they drifted off into the first 6. A good
indicator. Portage them and off towards the finish some miles away.
And
along came junction pool. Nothing special, just a pool to pick up boats, gear,
paddles and of course Boy. The last thing on the Doethie is a slot drop; about
7/8 feet (grade 4) maybe slightly bigger but still a slot drop into a deep,
ever so deep pool eh Boy! I went first on some blind faith from another paddler
in our group scouting it. Got buried in the hole and shot out. Easy. Matt who
scouted for me was not so lucky as his head ploughed into a rock. Thank god
someone invented a helmet. A hand roll up, a laugh, no problem. Boy turn next!
Wrong line, wrong boat angle, wrong landing. Get the picture. To cut it short,
all wrong. Anyway, into the hole at the bottom he went, re-emerged upside down,
slammed into the cliff, couldn't get round to roll and bailed. Fun isn't it. Up
he pops slightly dazed but it wasn't over yet as we saw what he couldn't! We
shouted at him to swim but too late for his senses to come round, he got sucked
back into the hole and disappeared. Normally for a second or 2 but this was 10
+ seconds which is a long time until he re-emerged some 10ft into the pool.
After that he was straight back in his boat larking around albeit shaken up
with a strange odour and flies around him. A quick shuttle, another hour there
and another back. A curry and a pint and back home. Just missed last orders
though.
Written for your enjoyment by: Dave (Spoon)