It was a great day on the River Dee today. The river was running at a ‘7’ on the gauge at the Old Mill, giving plenty of flow, but not making things too frantic. Combining that with a dry day and good company, made for a fantastic day to be out canoeing on the river. I met up with Chris and Matt, who both run their own outdoor activity businesses, for a day of personal skills practice, a social get together and a bit of fun in canoes.
It took a little while to shuttle canoes and cars, to get them all in the right places, before we took to the water at Glyndyfrdwy. As is usually the case, we spent a few minutes just getting used to being back in our respective canoes, playing around with seating positions, moving kit around and getting a feel for the water flow. Having established that none of us had any particular agenda for the trip, except for an enjoyable paddle and a bit of a play on the more interesting water, we started to make our way with the current.
This stretch of the Dee makes for a brilliant day out for those with a bit of previous experience of canoeing on moving water. With numerous sections of interesting water to break up the gentle flowing river, there’s plenty to keep everyone interested. Matt, Chris and I made the most of the white water by staying on these sections and playing around on the waves, in the stoppers and practicing various skills. However, with most of these sections, there’s no problem with identifying the hazards, picking your line, pointing your boat the right way and simply paddling straight through.
Whilst messing about, we all took a fair amount of water on board and emptying them out gave the ideal opportunity for a bit of early lunch and a more relaxed chat, before continuing towards Llangollen.
The weir at Horseshoe Falls has a viscous towback and is definitely one to avoid. You can pick a line through on the left, but you need to be sure that it’s clear enough of trees and flood debris and confident in your paddling or you could come seriously unstuck – if in doubt, miss it out. The alternative is to jump onto the Llangollen Canal, which is fed from the weir, and make a more leisurely end to the journey. As you might expect, we shot the weir on the left, drawing past a wedged tree to our right while being bounced about – short but fun!
Coming to the stone road bridge just before the Chainbridge Hotel, we took advantage of the eddies created by the bridge pillars to assess the water in front. Visual inspection confirmed a bit of local knowledge and we headed down the left one at a time, directly below the spectators at the hotel enjoying the entertainment, before moving right into calmer waters.
This section is closely followed by the Serpent’s Tail (Grade 3/4). On inspection, Chris and I both decided to give it a miss today but Matt was feeling more brave. With Chris and I both ready with throw lines, Matt approached through a huge wave train, taking on large amounts of water. With the canoe now less responsive due to it’s increased weight, Matt struggled to get lined up for Serpent’s itself. As a result, he wasn’t able to drive through the stopper at the bottom and found himself being dragged back until the boat was completely swamped and the stopper flipped him over. Matt resurfaced about 10m down river and I was able to easily swing him into an eddie while Chris sorted his boat out. Nothing like a bit of excitement! It must be said that, already soaked and with nothing to loose, Matt had another crack at it but missing out the wave train – no problem this time.
After that it almost felt that our trip was done. With a few more stoppers as we approached the Old Mill, I think we were all starting to look forward to warm dry clothes and a bite to eat. Thanks to both Chris and Matt for great day out, although I think my muscles are going to ache in the morning.
