North Wales Weekend

It is clear to me that our club 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! On Saturday the news came through that the Tryweryn was not releasing but we had a plan B up our sleeves. It looked as though there might be some surf coming in at Barmouth. There was just enough surf to tempt us on to the water. Certain people entertained us with lots of swims - about 8 in total, mainly from Stuart. A rip coming from the estuary also kept us entertained with some big standing waves. On Sunday the news came through that the Tryweryn was not releasing again! Time for plan C. 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. 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 I led the way whilst the rest of the group waited for a signal. We set up safety which was about to come in very handy. Emma came down taking a hard right line, she flipped and before we knew what had happened she was swimming. After a quick throw line rescue from me we realised something was not right. There was a lot of blood, I dived in and helped her to the bank before running upstream to fetch a first aid kit. She looked like she had been through a few rounds with Mike Tyson! When the blood was cleared up we realised she had broken her nose…ouch! 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!Thanks to Ralph for organising a great trip.

See you on the water.

Josh