En route I got a call from him and he asked us to check levels on the Nedd Fechan and the Mellte. The Mellte was just bellow a 5 on the gauge, the minimum level he said it was worth running it on.
So we all shuttled to the top of the Mellte, Darren feeling the nerves as this was a new river to him and notorious for several must portage big falls!
We got in after the 10min walk into the river, just below the first major fall (30 feet high onto a shallow rock bed) and ran down the easy grade 2 rapids that led up to the second major fall. This is a two stepped fall, again very shallow on landing and slightly higher than the first. We all got off and walked round to have a look at the 15 foot slot drop below it.
Darren and Elan decided not to run this, Elan has hurt his elbow on it previously and deemed it not worth the risk again. Barny, Rheanna and I decided paddle it. I went down to film their run and after what seemed like an age I decided to climb the cliff to the side of me to see if I could work out what was taking so long. I saw Rheanna paddle over the lip of the fall and in my rush to set up for filming slipped and fell 15 feet onto the slab rock below... OUCH! I quickly got back up and managed to catch the last of Barny running the drop and all of Rheanna's decent. Both their runs were fine but Rheanna got flipped upon hitting the bottom and had to roll back up. My turn now, and with a very sore bottom I made my way up to the top, slid into my boat and paddled into the slot, a split second later I was shot out the shoot and landed flat at the bottom in the plunge pool.
The river then has a few grade 2/3 rapids before, yep you guessed it, the third major fall. This one is runnable but didn't look particularly appealing given the low conditions. Elan ran a slot to the side and got pushed behind the curtain of water, losing his paddles in the process! A few seconds later he emerged having hand paddled through the waterfall from behind it! The rest of us portaged the fall... one for another day!
After this their is a lot less getting out of boats and walking involved. The gorge marks the start of a barrage of grade 3 rapid and boulder gardens.
The next rapid to scout involved a small drop through a stopper into an eddy, followed by a narrow slot, closely followed by a 7 foot fall onto a very shallow shelf. I ran down the first drop, followed by Barny and Darren. Barny then ran down the slot before Elan joined me, and then Darren followed Barny before Rheanna joined me and Elan in the eddy... got all that!? Well Darren got flipped in the slot and failed three rolls and swimming due to the force of the water pulling his paddle from one hand and not allowing him to set up a roll properly. A great self recovery saw Darren back in his boat before the final drop which everyone ran fine.
A few more grade 3 rapids and we reached a 10 foot, vertical weir with again, a very shallow landing. This was a must boof as landing vertically could easily break boats and ankles! Everyone ran this fine, each landing at the bottom with a satisfying boof sound (hence the onomatopoeic name!).
After more rapids we reached the gunpowder works or looping pool as it is also known. Everyone blasted through the powerful, deep stopped at the bottom and we continued down the last few rapids to the put out ready to quickly get the shuttle done and go on to do the Tawe.
Unfortunately when we reached Elan's car, we found two of the windows had been smashed in. Luckily no valuables were in the car and they didn't find Elan's wallet which was hidden away! The police were informed and insurance companies contacted and hopefully all will be sorted in due course!
All in a great trip despite an unfortunate ending!
No comments:
Post a Comment