Despite the heavy rain on Friday the rivers of North Wales had dropped off considerably.
Mick Bloomer and Ade were joining us along with Colin ( goose ) Medler and my son Oliver. We were left with a few choices, the Banwy, the Vyrnwy ( which we’d run the previous week ) or take a punt on the Gam. We decided to get changed at Llanerfyl which is the get out for the Gam and the site of the EA gauge for the Banwy. The gauge was showing around 1.5 but this was an estimate as the bottom section of the gauge is missing ! At 1.5 we thought this was a little low for the Gam ( the Gam doesn’t have its own gauge ) but as we were there it was worth a look over the bridge on the Gam. We had a look and decided there was just about enough water to make it worthwhile. So, 4 new people were introduced to this river and it was a very pleasant paddle that tested our ability to find the deepest lines and avoid the boulders. We couldn’t help but notice that the “tide” mark from the previous day was indicating a level a couple of feet higher !!
Barry, John and myself then made the 4 mile trip up the road to Foel to have a look at the Afon Twrch. This looks a cracking little river with a few good grade 3 sections that will require some manoeuvring through and test our technical paddling skills. See Facebook for some of Barry’s photos. So next time the Llanerfyl gauge is above 1.7 we can expect to be back in that area. Perhaps we’ll meet the friendly local farmer again who was very helpful and maybe he’ll give us a tune on his Banjo !! Thanks to everyone for another great day.
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