River Alwen. Saturday 28th November.

[Richard D]

A group of 7 consisting of John, Steve, Dave B, Sue, Kee, myself and introducing Dave Parocki met at Dobbies for 9am. The usual discussion and debate ensued as to what was running and where to go. The decision was made and we were off to the Llugwy ! As we were leaving the shop a car pulled up with 3 kayaks on top and out jumped Chucky and Ali from Wyre Forest club and after a few greetings and a chat we discovered they were off to the LLugwy too. A quick farewell and a “see you later” and we were on our way. The rain was now falling steadily and by the time we reached Llangollen it was pouring down. On reaching Corwen we were wondering whether the Alwen would be rising quickly enough to bring it into play, so at the Rhug estate we pulled off the A5 to peer over the bridge to take a peek at the last drop. It looked runnable and would only be going up. After a short debate we chose to run the Alwen and save another 35 miles driving to just short of Capel Curig, which I think pleased the 2 drivers, Dave Bennett and myself.
We drove up to the put in at Betws Gwerfil Goch and got changed just as an irate woman pulled up in a car and said “you can’t park here you’ll have to park by the chapel”. Fortunately the chapel has a small car park and is less than 100 metres away, so we duly obliged. When we put on, the river was probably just above .7 on the EA gauge at Druid. When we got off about 2.5 hours later the gauge was up to .84 which would have been a much better level to start at. So the first section was a bit of a scrape which was of much concern to Steve Mason who had brought his Jackson Karma out on her maiden voyage (and very shiny she looked ). Despite the ducking and diving to avoid trees and a couple of portages to avoid a fallen tree and a strand of barbed wire across the river, Dave Parocki was experiencing the hazards and pitfalls of life on a real river and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it. The rain was still falling and the river had changed colour now to a muddy brown and you could almost feel the level rising. The two leviathans in the group paddled by Dave and Sue were moving along swiftly and gracefully now with the additional water. The Welsh Rivers guidebook says “after a blocky weir and a small fence the rapids pick up to about grade 3. Once the Ceirw enters from the right, with a boost of water, the river picks up with some nice grade 3 rapids”. The second rapid after the Ceirw is the most exciting or challenging, depending on your point of view and it was here we had to chase a boat and paddle. At this point I would just like to say that air bags are of more use in the boat than in the van !! Once the river started to slow as we approached the weir we got out river right. To quote the Welsh Rivers Guidebook again, “the weir below has a horrendous and closed-in tow back. While paddleable, the consequences of going in the hole are not worth it”. When a British team paddler says “I would never contemplate doing this weir again!” we should take the advice and portage, which we did!
It is worth noting that this weir is undergoing a massive change as a hydro electric plant is being constructed here. We can only hope they will put a canoe chute here but I shouldn’t hold your breath ! If they do let’s hope they make a better job of it than the one that was built on the fourth weir on the Teme at Ludlow! Nevertheless the builders were very obliging and removed a panel of their fencing to let us pass through their site and back onto the river. A short paddle down to the last drop under the bridge and all through safely. Well done Dave P and hopefully we’ll see you out again soon.
The final bit of advice from the Welsh Rivers Guidebook says “Take-out at the pair of A5 bridges and grab a bison burger”.
John didn’t need a bison burger as he’d bought along a cheese baguette. Unfortunately a search of the back of the van and kit bags revealed nothing, no cheese baguette could be found ! We jumped into the van to drive round to the Rhug estate and John picked a empty bag up off the floor. ” My baguette was in a bag like this” he exclaimed. Oh said Keelan, “I think I may have eaten it he said, I thought mum had packed that for me”. So Kee had eaten John’s baguette and still had a bison burger, poor old John had to settle for pork pie from the shop !!
Anyway, the general consensus was a great day out on a river that is a bit of a hidden gem, under rated and under paddled.

[admin]

Great report Rich, at last we were able to return to this interesting river. With regards to Kee’s misdemeanour, I think we shall nickname him as “Humphrey”.

[Tim]

Well done guys and girls. Great choice of river! We have now paddled the irfon, gam, conwy and alwen since scotland. Always looking for new adventures!

[Nigel]

Great report Rich, of a river which is very under rated. Glad you managed to catch it rising at a sensible rate.
The lady and the car park situation, is that the same car park we have used in the past, up the lane right off the A5 at The Goat follow for around a mile then left before crossing the stone bridge and small car park on the right opposite a small cottage ?
In the words of Arnold, when I get a few things sorted I’ll BE BACK!!!

[admin]

Correct Nigel, I think the problem was about the “Churning” up of the area before the gate into the field, there seemed to be some new “Hard” core underneath and whether this lady was concerned about the damage, I’m not sure. She was pretty adamant about us moving on and suggested the church car park prior to the turning on the right, but then said you can’t park there either. Any way all was resolved and in future we will park at the church.

[admin]

Just watched Barry’s footage of the grade 3 section, we did enter from the right, rather than then left, noticing the current surge from the left as we went around the tree. Interesting to note that the small branch below was still there. It was this section which caught Nigel on the second trip.

[Author]

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