Pre-fresher’s trip 2: The Upper Trwywr- twyryr- tyr- river near Bala

Surprisingly, the second of LUCC’s trips for returning members was the first in which this author had paddled the well-loved Tryweryn, and I was left wondering how I’d managed to get away with it after being a (fairly) active member of the club for two years. Anyway, the recent late-summer spell of good weather which, while it no doubt kept my agriculturalist father happy, was not conducive to kayaking, and so necessitated a visit to this dam-controlled river.

So, bright and early one Sunday morning a gang of LUCC members loaded up, and headed to north Wales. We decided to lap the upper section a few times as it would be more challenging, and less cluttered with slalom boaters. We began with a few laps of the short graveyard section, to remind ourselves what these eddy things were and how to get in and out of them without looking like an idiot. I then managed to clock up a swim in the section below graveyard, and my boat carried on through ski jump perfectly well without me. Having caught up with it, I completed the rest of the run without too much incident, though the same could not be said of the indomitable Josh H (six swims over the course of the day was it?).

The second lap began reasonably well, though Alex got his comeuppance for messing around in a hole. Later on, I took another swim in the monster hole below Miss Davies’ bridge; this time my boat understandably decided it was far better off completing the river without me. We then had a lunch break before starting the final lap, at which point Elliot apologised profusely to me and Josh for being left to our own devices on a river that we hadn’t done before. And so, I was guided down, and was looking forward to a dry run of the river, until the end when my body gave up and allowed the river Gods to tip me in. Never mind, it was time for club cuppas all round, and I was left wondering how I’d avoided the pleasure of what turned out to be one of the most enjoyable rivers I’ve ever done, including the standard LUCC it’ll-be-alright-on-the-night carnage.