WORDS:
DEL READ

PHOTOS:
Matt Brook,
Stefan Whatcott,
Jamie Greenhalgh &
Del Read

https://delkayaks.co.uk
@del_likes_kayaking

Kayaking adventures in Snowdonia: A white water Christmas

I saw a post on the Paddle365 social media page a couple of months ago advertising their ‘Snowdonia Advanced Week’ as a pre-Christmas week and thought, what a perfect way to start my Christmas holidays! So I booked myself on and ended up having a really lovely week – a perfect Christmas gift to myself! If you want to hear about my whitewater pre-Christmas adventures, then read on!

Day one 
We met as a group in the morning for coffee and chat. If you’ve never been on a coaching course before, this is pretty standard to give everyone an opportunity to meet each other and get an idea of what people’s goals are for the week. The first paddler who walked in after me was a nice man called Graham, whom I had met a year previously on a whitewater coach training course. Kayaking is a small world! The other participants, Ben and Phil, also arrived.

Coaches Jamie Greenhalgh and Matt Brook
The coaches then arrived too: Jamie Greenhalgh and Matt Brook. Nic Pearce had also joined as a shadow coach for a couple of days. I have been on a course with Jamie before, and by coincidence, Matt just happens to be a very good friend of mine! I was thrilled when he messaged me the week before to say he would be working with Jamie for the week. I have spent many days on the river with Matt and know first-hand what an incredible coach he is. You can read a previous guest blog at: https://delkayaks.co.uk/ 2021/03/05/approaching-coaching-an-interview-with-matt-brook/. We all caught up as a group and then headed to the river.

Due to little rain, we ended up at the Dee for the day. Although I have paddled the Dee many times before, it is a river I love! I was really quite happy to start the week off on a familiar river, as the first day of a week like this is perfect for warming up and getting to know each other as a group.

We spent much time at the top just below Horseshoe Falls, working on our backwards paddling technique and working out what we did with our feet to help control our edge. Many people think coaching is being told, “Do X to make Y happen.” It’s not. Coaching is being told, “Why do you think Y happens? Why don’t you try it out and let me know the answer.” Coaching is all about leading you to find out the answers for yourselves.

Serpents Tail
We moved down to Serpents Tail, and Jamie introduced us to a fun eddy hopping game. The last person in the eddy at the bottom wins, but there are some extra rules. Only one person per eddy, and if you get passed by a paddler, then you need to leave your eddy. We did this as a group of seven and then split into two groups of three. It was good fun and made me think about being competitive rather than rapid, which weirdly seems to have a positive effect on my paddling. The thought of beating Matt in a technical challenge was very motivating… of course, I didn’t, though. He is more ninja than man, and even after I’d got the ‘final eddy’, Matt found the smallest of micro-eddies just below me! It was lots of fun to lap Serpents doing this though.

Town Falls
We moved down and did lots of surfing practice at Mile End Mill before heading down to Town Falls, which was at a nice cushioned level. It has been a lovely warm-up day, and it was just what was needed. A bit of play in a familiar environment and the chance to get to know each other a little better as a group. We sorted shuttles, and then once everyone had left, I popped back into town to meet an old friend, Steve, for a catch-up and a hot chocolate. It was a nice way to end a nice day!

Day two
I met Matt early in Betws-y-Coed, and we teamed up to car share for the day. We headed for the Vyrnwy, which was quite south, and car journeys are always more fun in good company. The 1.5-hour journey either way gave us lots of time to talk! We met the others at the get-off and did the shuttle. I’d only done the Vyrnwy once before and had vague memories of it. I remembered it was pretty, but there had been some nice white water rapids, but that was it!

We got on and, in a similar format to yesterday, started the day with more in-depth coaching on a specific move. After about an hour, we moved down to the series of little rapids. It gorges up a little before you get to the whitewater, and my memories of it being stunning are very accurate! It was gorgeous! The first drop was a nice opportunity for practising a boof. You could lap this drop, but to do so, it involved catching a slightly upstream eddy. I tried and failed to catch this eddy. Which meant I felt very determined that I WOULD get that eddy. A couple more tries later, and I got it, which meant I could lap the drop again… and again. Sometimes, being stubborn has its perks.

Working on boofing drops
We went down to the main drop of this section, a double drop that Jamie called the ‘Crux’. After running it once, we got out and had a very long lunch break/drop running session. This was by far my favourite part of the day. Working on boofing drops is something that is always on my list of goals for river running.

Although I have improved over the years, there are still things about my boof that I know need working on – mainly my top arm! Having the chance to run this drop repeatedly and have instant feedback from both my body and often from photos/videos that Jamie and Matt were taking was great. Jamie and Matt gave me specific things to work on: punching my top arm forward and twisting, which are the top tips from Jamie. I must have run the drop seven or eight times and felt like I was making some progress, but importantly, I was picking up many ‘takeaways’ that I could work on in my kayaking after this.

At the end of this little session, I was beaming and feeling very energised by it all, but the group was definitely feeling tired! We bumbled our way down to the get-off and sorted the shuttle. Matt and I had another lovely long chat on the way back, and as we were both staying around Betws-y-Coed, we also had dinner there before walking around to see all the Christmas lights. This is one of my absolute favourite times of the year, and it is always magical to end the day with a Christmas light walk and talk about kayaking!

Day three
It rained all night, and as I drove over to Betws-y-Coed early in the morning for our meeting point, it was clear we were going to have lots of kayaking options for our day ahead. I arrived early, and Matt was already there. We had decided to meet by Chip Shop Drop, and it was at the perfect level. Matt wanted to get a couple of laps in as we were early, and I offered to do some media for him.

Good friends
It’s an odd thing to be on a course with your friends. Matt and I are good friends and have often paddled together over the last decade. If we had been on a mate’s trip, I would have most likely gotten on to join him. However, we only had half an hour before we were supposed to meet, and this rapid was definitely not a good option for a whole group warm-up. It wouldn’t have been appropriate for me to get on and the other clients not to. I’m sure you could have argued it would be fine, but I did not feel it was fair to the others for me to paddle and them not to, and I know Matt would think the same. So, I was happy to stay on the bank side and do some media instead.

The smoothest paddler
Matt did three laps, and watching someone so talented in their element is always a joy. Despite being the smoothest paddler I know, he still got slightly munched by the bottom hole of this rapid on two out of three laps. It was definitely at a harder-than-it-looks level, and the others on the course agreed that we, too, would have got very munched if we’d been paddling!

At 09:00, we came together as a group to decide where to go. We opted for a warm-up lap on the Conwy and perhaps come back to the chip shop drop in the afternoon. Some group members had expressed a desire to work on their leadership ability and ability to peer paddle rivers, so it was decided to make the focus of today a day about tactics. Having done a lot of leading/spending a lot of my time helping to run grassroots events for young people or new paddlers, this wasn’t a particular goal of mine, but I know that it’s never a bad thing to have more practice with any skill!

The stunning Conwy
I have paddled the Conwy lots but hadn’t yet in 2024, so it was nice to get out before the end of the year. The Conwy is a stunning river; taking in this lap’s scenery was lovely. The Conwy is a river we often run when everything is huge and we need a warm-up. Although it was a nice upper medium level, this was probably the lowest I’ve paddled this river, so it was nice to have the breathing space to appreciate my surroundings compared to when we have usually paddled it.

Upper section of the Glaslyn
When we got off the river, the Llugwy was still rising, so we opted to head over to the Glaslyn instead. I have only ever paddled the gorge on a low, so I was excited to see what a bit more water would do. We did the upper section of the Glaslyn, which I had never done before. It’s very pretty, with many little surf waves along the section. The get-on is also on a lake, and the mountains of Snowdonia in the background were a fantastic backdrop. We paddled down until we reached the gorge, where we got out to scout.

The level was at about 1.2/1.3, which is just going into high. Walking down and scouting the rapids, I was feeling quite nervous. It was powerful, with some pretty big holes and definitely places you didn’t want to end up. I am not the most powerful of paddlers, so where other people might muscle their way out of something, I try to negate it by having enough skill to not get into that situation in the first place. The gorge is continuous, so you need to constantly think about what you are doing at the end of each feature to set yourself up ready for the next feature.

We got to Breaker, the most notorious rapid in the gorge, to find a huge and very mobile tree bobbing about in the whole rapid. The line to get past it was marginal, but as the tree moved so much within the hole, it could easily move into that marginal space. It was clear that no one would be running this section of the river today. I had already convinced myself that the gorge at this level was potentially above my skillset anyway; therefore, I wasn’t going to get on.

We worked our way up from the bottom and picked our imaginary lines. Choosing your own lines is good practice, and I’ve gotten better at it since I first started kayaking. It was good to discuss options with Matt and Nic and hear their ideas. Once we’d shuttled and changed, it was time to say goodbye to Matt as he returned home to Southampton. I was sad to see him go, but it had been a lovely three days to catch up with one another.

Day four
Lyndon Williams joined us to replace Matt as the second coach. We also had three new paddlers join the group. Michael and Adam joined us for the day, and Frank joined us for the next two days. Being only 16, Frank came with his own personal driver and photographer (his Dad Stefan), who was a welcome addition to the team. I had actually met Frank two years previously when he attended a kid’s kayaking camp where I had been helping to run, so I am sure he was thrilled to see his ‘camp mum’ again for some paddling!

After a morning discussion over coffee, we decided to head to the Ogwen. The Ogwen had been my suggestion as it is a river I have wanted to paddle for years, but it’s never worked out. We drove over, and it was decided it was low but had enough water to paddle, so we geared up and got on. We knew we were in for a low-water technical day, and that’s precisely what we got. There were sections of the Ogwen that were absolutely stunning and to me, it felt in line with many other Snowdonia classics with crystal clear water, mossy rocks and fun white water rapids.

Due to the boulder garden nature of the river, we split into two groups, and I was in ‘Lyndon’s group’. I had been a little nervous about Matt leaving us on Wednesday. Matt knows me and my paddling incredibly well, so having him there was both comforting and allowed me to relax enough to push myself in my paddling. Matt’s coaching style is all about getting people to have fun with style! Although I know Lyndon, I hadn’t paddled with him before outside of ­on a white water course, but it turns out I needn’t have worried. Jamie knows how to pick the best of the best to work with him, as Lyndon was, of course, a fantastic coach.

Just like Matt, Lyndon’s coaching approach was getting people to paddle with ‘flair!’. This meant I spent a lot of the day trying to splat as many rocks as possible with as much flair as possible. It was excellent and although I didn’t always ‘flair’ my lines, I did try! Jamie had been telling me all week I ‘had rizz in my paddling’, which had made me giggle. If you don’t know what ‘rizz’ means – find a teenager to ask them. I will certainly take great joy in telling the teenagers I work with that I have ‘kayaking rizz’ when term starts again in the New Year!

I ended the day absolutely physically shattered but happy in my soul. Kayaking is all about feeding your soul, and this day had done just that! I’d paddled a river that had been on my wish list for ages and been in good company to do so. I can’t wait to go back with a little more water, as I imagine those boulder gardens are fantastic with a bit more flow!

Day five
We met for breakfast and a last-day debrief. Jamie had sent us some questions to consider as we finished our week together, and it was interesting to hear people’s reflections about their week so far. There was still some water, but things had dropped a lot compared to the last two days. Jamie suggested we head back to the Glaslyn and get the tree out of Breaker. So we headed over and geared up just as it started to absolutely chuck it down.

We got on and had a little warm-up paddle in the top section of the gorge. Jamie had been speaking about ‘completing rituals’ to get you in the zone. I was trying to think about what rituals I did before kayaking and decided to get in my boat at my own pace and, if it was a pretty get-on, take a photo – these were my pre-kayaking rituals. I kayak for the joy it brings me; part of that joy is appreciating the beautiful places this sport takes me to. Taking a photo and a moment to take it in once I’m in my boat might not sound very much, but it’s a routine for me getting on the water, and I suppose that makes it a ritual!

Tree removing
We didn’t paddle very far before we got out to walk down the main part of the gorge to Breaker. The tree was still there (we had scouted to check already), and it was time to get down to business. We split into two groups – one to make an anchor and one to attach a rope to the tree. Ben, Phil, and I were in charge of attaching the rope (under Lyndon’s supervision), while the others went higher up to find an anchor.

Ben attached a rope to my BA, and I got my sling out, ready to attach to the tree. I made my way to the closest rock and tried to hook it under the tree. As the tree was so mobile, however, it was bobbing a lot and reaching under made it sink. It felt like there was one clear option, so with a quick check with Lyndon, I jumped onto the tree to straddle it and get the sling around it. It was pretty good fun, although I had to check my impulsiveness: I wanted to get up and walk along the tree like a plank.

We then tried pulling it out and, as a team, managed to get it more towards the bank and out of the hole. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it completely out of the rapid, no matter which anchor was set up or where we were pulling from. Jamie grabbed a saw from Ben and proceeded to cut off the highest part of it so that it wasn’t sticking out into the flow any more. And it worked – hooray! I then had the fun job of removing all the ropes and my sling from the trunk from behind the rapid. It was an excellent experience to be part of. I’ve unpinned many rocks in my time but never a tree of that size, so it was good to practice those skills. A bit of advanced white water safety and rescue CPL!

Exhausted
As I climbed back up to the path, I struggled to get myself out of the river and realised quite how exhausted I was. I had been full-on for three months and had not had a break since August. It has been a full-on autumn term of school, with activities booked every weekend. This, combined with getting Covid on my first day of the half-term break, which took me out for a couple of weeks and meant I didn’t get a break then, meant I was completely burned out. I was surprised I had made it this far into the week before crashing! I went into this week knowing I might need to take a half day at some point, and it turns out that half day off was at 14:00 on Friday!

It’s hard to explain to people sometimes what fatigue feels like, and it has taken me years, but I now know my body well enough to know when not to push it. I struggle to pace myself. For the last 4.5 days of this week, I had given everything I had into my kayaking, and it had been great. But I had crashed, and there was nothing (for example, eating lunch or having a break) that would get my energy levels high enough to kayak this section.

listening to my body
I took five minutes to consider my options whilst people were discussing lines but decided that despite the river being at a prime level and knowing full well I could paddle it, I did not think my body would make the moves I wanted it to. If I got on, I might be OK, but I felt it would be more luck at this point. I also might have a horrible time and end what had been a great week on a low. So, I chose to listen to my body and get off. Instead, I followed the others down and cheered/took photos from the bank whilst they all smashed out their lap.

Afterwards, we said our goodbyes, and I started the drive home. About 10 minutes into the drive, as the sun began to set, there was the most spectacular view, so I stopped for five minutes to take it and grab a final photo. It felt like Wales was waving me goodbye!

Goodbye, Wales – thank you for having me!
It had been a lovely week with really different river experiences each day. I have a few takeaways to work on and even got a new river in as well, which, after 10 years of regular paddling, doesn’t happen very often these days! The coaches were lovely, and I had lucked out to share the course with some lovely other clients. So thank you, everyone, for a lovely week! And if you are reading this and feeling jealous, make sure you get yourself signed up for next year! A week in Snowdonia with Paddle365 is the best Christmas gift you can give yourself!