Sutton Bingham & District Canoe Club

Photographs courtesy of Dave Sankey, Paul Evans, Nick Partridge, Darryl Stimpson and a very nice lady from the area who was walking her dog on Sunday.

A large number of club members (31) including 5 juniors took the opportunity to travel to Llandysul which has an outdoor pursuits centre and a canoe club; I have been fortunate to be connected with it for many years.

Most of the expectant paddlers arrived on the Friday night to be greeted by myself and Geoff Allen to enjoy a curry cooked by us, and were able to settle in before the adventures of the next day.

The water level was at a medium-high level that would provide every one attending with some challenges; on the Saturday morning we planned the days activities, in the morning we all decided what wanted to paddle in for the day, at 10 am every one got on the centre’s lake to warm up and prepare for the river.

Lead by Jeff Hassle, and with myself acting as bank safety, the group proceeded to the river starting near the lake, the river then has a left hand bend which forms the part of the descent down river, being bouncy and challenging before straightening out, There is then a short rapid section, not too difficult,  leading a short distance to the Town Bridge next to the bunkhouse, this provides the first safe haven for the paddlers, all of which stayed upright, apart from one young paddler who leant the wrong way when ferry gliding under the bridge. He then went for a swim down the next section...

This section is followed by "The Gully" a fairly steep section of rapids, very challenging as the water level changes the conditions. The river is running fairly quickly so the bouncy areas and rapids are difficult

and any error is punished, unfortunately a few paddlers found this out on "The Gully" and this resulted in a swim for them, it did however give me a chance to test my throwing technique with a throw rope.

Once every one is safely in their boats they proceed through the next section, which is long and flat, (still fast) to another bouncy section, every one is ok here and has continues down river which is fairly flat for a hundred metres before coming to "The Quarry", this is a short very bouncy rapid and for those that want, it is given a go.

And so to lunch

The afternoon is planned to be a trip down river to Henllan Falls, approximately five miles.

There are three groups; kayakers, canoes and two rafts. The rafts and the guides are kindly provided by the centre. Eight of our paddlers decide to take the raft opportunity.

The trips starts on the lake again to warm up and then onto the river over the mornings section of the river, no mishaps on this section and I have decided to paddle a plastic kayak for a change.

After the final section of the morning run we rounded the bend at bottom of the Quarry and here had to shoot a weir called "The Washing Machine" as the river narrows over the weir, at this level it is easier than when the river is lower, it is however very boily.

Here we have two capsizes, but with everyone safelly back in the boats we continue downstream on what is relatively flat but fast water, with all the wonderful Welsh scenery for the next few miles, with the occasional small rapi section and the usual trees and rocks to avoid. The next extreme hazard is a weir just after the river runs under a huge viaduct, this required portage and Geoff H and I went ahead as safety cover just above the weir at the get out point. Every came down individually into the eddy.The boats then had to be pulled up the hill on ropes and taken down stream and lowered back to the river.

At the entry point were more rather bouncy water, here we experienced our next casualties,(swimmers).Once these were re-united with their kayaks, we continued through the wonderful countryside into the late afternoon light on the relatively flat river till we reached just above Henllan Falls where the three groups stopped to check the falls out, we were also met by most of the centres coaches who were hoping for some fun watching the 'swimmers.'

The falls at this level, if the line is right, are a straight very fast shoot into very boily water for some thirty feet, the rafts came down first and had now problems followed by Oz Rhoden and Sarah Robson all had no trouble. After this, the kayakers led by Geoff Hassle, leading a few more paddlers, oops swimmers, one made an extremely brave attempt at  bracing and sculling but eventually succumbed to the boiling waters of the Teifi.

Then two brave crews the attempted the falls in the open canoes; Gareth the centre manager whispered that the canoes would be swamped. First the female crew (Tracy and Chrissie) had a go, unfortunately unable to hold the boat on the right line, they took the difficult route and the canoe swamped at the falls water, they managed to paddle another twenty or thirty feet before they decided to abandon ship. Then came the all Male Crew - Andy Dare and Paul Evans although they held the correct line, they too were swamped at the first fall. Unkike the ladies, they were unable to sty upright, capsizing almost immediately.

All of us and the kit were than bussed back to the centre by Gareth and his crew, for sustenance - an excellent cider and sausage casserole prepared by Geoff Oliver.

As it was November the 5th and we had sponsored the Town’s firework display organized by Gareth's mum, most of us went to watch the firework display and then on to the Glygwin Arms where we had arranged a Pool competition for every one, despite much complaining from some individuals as to the time it took to get through 24 participants and the subsequent rounds, everyone seemed to have a very social evening and a few drinks.

The competition was eventually won by Mark Hawkins - well done.

Sunday morning came and the river had dropped another 12 inches over night and slowed, with changing water features all the way down the course, not least that the river right exit at the quarry was now no longer passable. We all split into groups to either paddle the lake, the river or both around the centre. Every one had more fun on the river not too many mishaps; Mark to a spill in the eddy under the bunk house, Claire under the bridge and Jo took a swim by the power house to be rescued by an accurate throw line from Athol! However, one of our illustrious coaches fell out of a canoe and got it trapped in the middle of the river upstream from the town bridge, the paddlers got out easily but it took some time to get the canoe out, lunch was served and people started to drift off home.

All in all a very successful weekend on and off the river. Thanks to everyone for making it such fun.

Ian Robson

Llandysul Weekend, November 4th-6th 2011.