Sunday, 22 October 2017

Kayaking on the Afon Ogwen

Given the level of energetic partying at yesterday’s wedding, a slow start was necessary today. The tail end of the storm had just cleared when we surfaced and took a walk along the track to get some fresh air (before going back to bed!).



Clare produced an amazing lunch of Holumi burgers and sweet potato chips, which perked us up considerably. Well, enough to get the fire lit and relax by it. Late in the afternoon, I walked down the river and noticed that the levels were good for kayaking. Perhaps a bit of cold water splashing in my face would be good for getting me out of the hazy state I was feeling? I sent a tentative text to Aled and under an hour later we were packing him and the boats into the van and heading to the get in!



We ran the section of river that flows around Bethesda. It’s totally brilliant.



Just to be sure there were no hazards such as trees, blocking the main rapids, we jumped out and had a quick scout ahead. I felt like a stone skipping over the water as we shot down them. 



After this part there is an area that I call the ‘Nepalease Section’ as it passes the back of town and sadly the banks are littered with garbage that the good people of Bethesda seem to think is ok to fly tip their junk in their own river. It’s as sad as it is unbelievable.  Last year there was an actual sofa in the middle of the river - the river that is reputed to be the best stretch of white water kayaking in Wales. Today we passed a kitchen sink! Seriously. We bobbed on through before we could get too depressed about the mentality of people that can do such things..
From getting off the river to getting home was three minutes! Hoorah for The Cottage! Got the kit hanging up to dry and got stuck into baking an apple crumble with the last of the apples I’d got from the Fort Martin Estate. Quality recovery day...



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