Erbistock to Bangor-on-Dee by John Fay

As Wednesday approached, it was clear that the River Dee water levels were rising. Allan (Blanchard), who had arranged this trip, was monitoring the gauges right up to the last minute before deciding that the trip was to go ahead.

So just three of us met at the Royal Oak pub in Bangor-on-Dee (which unfortunately has now been closed down) on a very wet morning with the river flowing very fast next to us.

A discussion was held about whether to move the location. Not because of the river level or flow, but because of the reduced time on the water. However, everyone wanted to do the planned section, so off we went to The Boat Inn at Erbistoc,k leaving one car behind for the shuttle later.

The Boat Inn takes its name from the hand-operated “chain ferry” which once crossed the river at this point and apparently still has remnants of the pull mechanism nearby.

So off we went. This trip was so different from the twisty river with numerous small rapids that we’d done previously. Now it was a large body of fast-moving water with the surface covered with whirlpools that wanted to grab the kayaks and spin them around. 

We continued on with Allan leading, me in the middle, and John Cooke taking the rear. It wasn’t long before we had to think about stopping for lunch. Usually, finding a spot was quite difficult with a muddy climb up the banks required, but this time the water was almost level with the banking, so it was much easier.

Instead of having silence for our lunch break, we had actually stopped near the local racecourse, and the speakers behind us were blurring out the race commentary. 

Anyway, lunch over, we launched for the last leg of our trip. We approached the bridge at Bangor-on-Dee, making sure we headed for the far right arch to ensure we didn’t overshoot our egress point.

Boats now loaded onto John’s car and all changed into dry clothes, we headed back to The Boat Inn to enjoy a drink and a chat before heading our separate ways. A great day.

John Fay