River Usk 16/02/2013

Hi Tim,
Yes 9 of us had a really enjoyable paddle yesterday. Me, Barry, John T, Rich P, Nigel, Gary Wood, Paul Williams, Geoff and Keelan.
We got on at Talybont-on-Usk and decided we’d get off at the Gliffaes Hotel as we weren’t too sure as to how long it would take for the full trip to Crickhowell which was 9.5 miles.
An interesting point was that on Wednesday morning I checked the Wye Usk foundation web cam gauge at Brecon which was showing 1 foot 4 inches. It rained and snowed all day Wednesday and throughout the evening so I checked the gauge again Thursday morning, no sign of the gauge !! So I looked at the E A gauge at Brecon, it had peaked at 2.2 metres ! (about 7 foot 3 inches). We had no more rain and by Thursday evening the Usk had dropped to 1.27 metres. By Friday morning the E A gauge was on 0.77 and the web cam gauge was visible again at around 2 foot 6 inches ( the level at which there is a red line, below which we are not supposed to paddle during the Salmon season ! )
I’ve only written all this for future reference and to show how quickly the Usk falls, the Severn and Wye, both of which we passed on route were both still in flood !
After the initial slow start to the paddle it slowly picked up pace with a few little surf waves etc. There was one little drop which I’d read about that had apparently been the cause of many capsizes and swims, the guy had said it was a 10cm drop, I thought this must be a typing error and he meant 100cm. My mistake, it was only 10cm and held a boat firmly and I spent a minute or so back paddling hard to get off.
Mill Falls is described as the “main event” and much thought went into which lines we were going to run, to everyones delight we all passed through unscathed.
Further on we encountered a variety of features, ledge drops, wave trains and bouncy rapids with boulders to avoid. There were 3 or 4 unlucky swims where people were caught by surprise but overall a great day out and a paddle I think we’d all do again.

The water level looks good on the video, with the rocks at mill falls nicely covered. I’ve run this section twice and both times found it difficult to believe the get out is in the grounds of a hotel. ‘This can’t be right!” I’ve both cycled and run back to the start to pick up the car. I’m tired just thinking about it. A word of caution. The river after this goes through a country estate with regular organised shoots. We need to research the access situation for the next stretch. The Usk area is one place I would consider gambling on for a club weekend trip. The Usk is a consistent river. Great to see so many paddlers on this trip. Superb.

Good video again Geoff especially the last couple of minutes with the music and “stills”. Great to see so many smiling faces in the photos although the one group photograph did look like a group of veterans with their mascot !!
You’ve obviously found your true vocation in life.
Good river reports from both you and Nigel. I’m hopeless at remembering the sequence of features, what came where etc, so I think you guys have found yourselves a job.
For your information the Web cam gauge at Brecon would have been around 1 foot 5 inches when we got on, which would probably be classed as low.
Thought the idea of meeting at Strensham services was a good idea for travelling south. Easy to get to and is en route to Usk, Symonds Yat, Cardiff via M50 or M5 to Devon and Cornwall, should we ever go to the Dart etc.