Saturdays paddle “Afon Ceiriog”

On a bright frosty morning just off the A5 Shrewsbury, at Dobbies, a group of us gathered  to decide the days paddle. It was agreed upon the expertise of Rich and Barry that the Afon Ceiriog, which was on 0.70 after falling from 0.76 on Friday, would be an ideal challenge. We headed off up the A5 then picked up the A4500 drove through Chirk and crossed into Wales, continuing along the A4500 heading towards Glyn Ceiriog, passing through the quaint little village of Pandy,  continuing along the Llanarmon Road for approximately another mile before taking a left turn to the put in.

This is a fabulous little River which is just a few miles inside the Welsh borders from Chirk, Welsh Rivers guide grade this river at a 2 to 2+ with a grade 3 at the put in, I personally challenge anyone who paddles this little gem for the first time not feel they have been challenged and had to work hard to keep out of trouble.

Rich, Dave, Gary, Kee and John, jumped straight in on the grade 3 joined by Barry,Geoff Shane and myself, who joined the river at bottom of this great little rapid.

Under the first little stone bridge and off we went, WOW, the river moves quickly and meanders through beautiful valleys and passes through lovely little villages, the speed of the river is continuous and eddies are small so you need to be committed and on your game to make them. Shane started the trip smashing any eddy in sight with great success well done, avoiding boulders and rocks gave us all some excellent paddle practice, John got tripped on one particular rock and rolled back up YIPEE.! We had to portage on three occasions due to some very dangerous trees across the river, one which we had to feed the boats individually through approx 15 metres of branches and trunks while standing knee deep in the river. Kee lost his boat, NO NOT IN A SWIM but while portaging a huge tree which was producing a nasty stopper on the downstream side which wasn’t really visible until right on the tree, he climbed out of the river and a very nice local Lady walking her dog, lead him through her garden so he could walk down stream to be reunited with his vessel, all this while the Dog decided to attack Gary’s trouser leg. Rich was on a paddle demo day, as he used three different sets of blades plus paddled part of the river with just his hands on two occasions, well done Rich. We arrived at the takeout around 15-00pm, Kee and Shane were very cold so Rich put up a storm shelter tent for them to climb in and warm up.

I must say in my opinion the Afon Ceiriog, is a must paddle for anyone who hasn’t paddled it, don’t be put off by it’s grade 2 listing, try it and I guarantee you will come off the water smiling.

Thanks to all who paddled another first for myself and I think for Geoff, Kee, Dave, Gary, Shane and John. A great day and I am still buzzing tonight Sunday. 😉 😉

Some great photo’s and footage courtesy of Barry, Geoff and Mr Lewis junior.