Clywedog – Sunday 16th February 2014
A small but happy band of intrepid paddlers pitched up to
take advantage of a glorious sunny day and the promise of excellent Welsh water
levels.
The Clywedog was much
fancied and after trialling several phone numbers suggested on UK Rivers Guide
a direct line to the dam’s control room was discovered, where a very amenable
chap confirmed the river to be on ‘maximum release’ of 1000 mega litres. Much
Googling of conversion tables failed to translate this into normal kayak speak
but a dip into the Welsh Rivers Guide Book indicated ‘best levels’ at between
450 and 800 mega litres... pushy waters beckoned!!
After the obligatory coffee-stop at Maccie D’s in Newtown,
all became clear on arrival at the get-in and inspection of the Grade 4 Bryn
Tail Falls. Groups from Birmingham and Aberystwyth were also in attendance and
this initial drop duly produced an entertaining half hour which included 2
swims and a boat pin, the latter giving opportunity for Rob to test his throw
line on a live bait retrieval exercise.
Suffice to say Zaf, Rob and I were persuaded that our
discreet portage to the eddy below the falls was a good decision made, the added
advantage being a perfect view of Bill and Chucky’s endeavours on the drop.... We weren’t disappointed as the pair put on an
excellent show for our benefit, incorporating a river left rock boof (Bill) and
a masterly roll (Chucky) all beautifully captured in Zaf’s excellent video!
The rest of the river was an absolute blast with the initial
pushy Grade 3 rapid and fallen tree portage giving way to continuous Grade 2
and some nice features.
Wide smiles and dry hair at the get out testified to a
cracking day’s paddling in fabulous conditions, rounded off with beer and red
wine at the Kerry Lamb and Rob’s mathematics skills being sufficiently honed by
the alcohol to calculate that a 1000 mega litre release equates to 16.6
cumecs...
Grateful thanks to Bill for stalwart leadership on a
challenging river he’d never run before, and to Zaf, Rob and Chucky for their
brilliant company.
More soon please!!
Ali
Technical Bits
Dam control room number: 01686413207
Shuttle: 5mins
No of rolls: 2
No of swims: 0
Hazards
Portage: Tree down full width Just after the first bridge,
Sneaks: At least two more trees down blocking river but can
be sneaked past at 0.77 level
Bryntail EA Gauge: at the Start 0.69 then increased to 0.77m at 11:45