River Dee Improvers WW River Trip Sunday 11th November by Gary Thomas
Today’s improvers trip took place amidst glorious Autumn weather. There were plenty of participants, split into 4 groups. After the usual shuttle, we headed off from Ponsonby Arms for the 9 kilometer paddle to the get out at Ty Mawr Country Park.
The usual grade 1-2 start felt a bit ‘pushy’ after plenty of rainfall, but it helped increase the enjoyment and presented an achievable challenge for those quite new to kayaking rivers like this.
A lunch stop on the bank coincided with some warm sunshine, after which we made are way under Pontcysillte Aqueduct towards the get out at Ty Mawr.
Everything went reasonably incident-free until we got to Trevor Bridge, where a tricky section resulted in the loss of one of the much-treasured LCC paddles!
It was a great day for improvers and experienced paddlers alike and, hopefully, newcomers will be encouraged to get involved in more trips like this.
A big thank you needs to go out to the leaders and assistants and I would like to say ‘thanks guys’ to my group leaders, David Rider and Mark Garrod for informative and safe leadership.