There are many reasons why people from all over the country (and world), are drawn to living in this tiny pocket of North Wales. It's certainly not for the nightlife. Apart from the natural environment, mountains, coastline and rivers, one attraction, is the amount of like minded people that live here. It's the kind of place where out of the blue, a friend will text at short notice instigating or inviting you on a spur of the moment river trip.
I got the call late last night suggesting a trip to the Afon Treweryn. In hindsight, a day or so of extra rest might have been prudent, but it was a good opportunity to get back into a boat on some whitewater, so the guys picked me up first thing this morning.
Just outside of Bala, The National Whitewater Centre is housed on the banks of the river and operates a very convenient shuttle from the centre up to the top of the river. This meant that we were able to get two runs down through the splendidly continuous Grade III rapids, and still make it home in time to get some stuff done.
I was pretty cautious on the first run down. Having (literally) had to dust off the spiders webs and snails from my kayak a few hours earlier, it took a few ferry glides across the river to get a feel for the boat. But soon enough, the muscle memory returned and I was able to move the boat through the rapids with ease. The main section of the river looks pretty intimidating at first glance (especially from boat level), but we hopped our way down, eddie to eddie and by doing so, made it all the more relaxed and enjoyable. Having done our first run 'on-sight', we were well armed with knowledge for the second run. This time, we blasted down through most of the rapids safe in the knowledge that we knew (roughly) what was coming up around the next corner. It felt good to be back on the water and having to make fast reaction decisions and nice to be kayaking 'out of the blue'...
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