White Water Peer Paddles on the River Dee

White Water Peer Paddles on the River Dee by Jacki J

Over the past 6 weeks, a growing number of varied paddlers have been meeting up on Fridays and also some Saturdays at TNR Llangollen.

We discuss our plans over a cuppa coffee after adding our registration numbers into TNR’s system. Make sure you do this if you want to visit, as often we can forget in our river excitement. You pay for parking and river access, which is only £7 pounds, and you also have use of their loos and changing facilities. 

After getting ourselves appropriately dressed, we make our way to the riverside, check each other’s gear before hitting the water, then off we go. We are a mixed bunch with different levels of experience and are growing in confidence every time we get on the river. 

We often have half an hour’s play at the foot of the Dee near TNR where it has some great features to warm up with and shake off any white water jitters. We then drop down to the bottom wave and get off the water to the secret (not so secret) tunnel. Portage our boats to the canal and paddle up to Horseshoe Falls; we like doing this, but it’s not a choice for everyone. We go with the majority vote. 

We drop in sometimes at Horseshoe Falls; over the edge is fun at the right water levels, or down the left passage with a slight bump & grind, or we choose to come down the slide, and some of us do it backwards depending on the bravery of the person. The rest of the run we practice the usual manoeuvres, roll down “roll ally”, cross over eddy lines, catch small surfs, some people do Serpents, some don’t. Could we actually do with some extra support with this feature? Any takers? We end up back where we started and have some smiles and thrills on the bottom wave, then finish the day off with a pre- ordered TNR special fiery pizza.

We know the water level is low at the moment, but it’s great confidence-building and still loads of fun. Thanks for coming along, Olwen Ross, Dom Fahey, Nick Coughlin, Ian Bell, Terry Smith, Ella Botzenhardt.