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 have ended up having a really lovely week. A perfect Christmas gift to myself! If you want to hear about my white water pre-Christmas adventures, then read on!
Day 1
We met as a group in the morning for a 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 who I had a met a year previously on a white water coach training course. Kayaking is a small world! The other participants Ben and Phil also arrived.
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 absolutely thrilled when he messaged me the week before to say he was going to 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 I wrote with him here. 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 have so much love for! I was really quite happy to be starting 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 a good amount of time at the top just below Horseshoe Falls, working on our backwards paddling technique and working out just what we were doing with our feet to help control our edge. A lot of 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.
We moved down to serpents tail and Jamie introduced us to a fun eddy hopping game. Essentially 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 7 and then split into 2 groups of 3. It was good fun and made you think about being competitive rather than the 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.
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 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 2
I met Matt early in Betws-y-Coed and we teamed up to car share for the day. We were 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 a more in depth coaching of 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 white water and my memories of it being stunning were very true! 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 it’s perks.
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 proceeded to have 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 got better over the years, there are still things about my boof which I know need working on – mainly my top arm! Having the chance to run this drop repeatedly, have instant feedback from both my body and often from photos/videos that Jamie and Matt were taking was great. Jamie and Matt both gave me specific things to work on with punching my top arm forwards and twisting being the top tips from Jamie. I must have run the drop 7 or 8 times and felt like I was making some progress but importantly I was picking up lots of ‘take aways’ that I can go and work on in my own 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. Me and Matt had another lovely long chat on the way back and as we were both staying around Betws-y-Coed, had dinner there as well before going on walk around to see all the Christmas lights. This is one of my absolute favourite times of year and it is always magical to end the day with a Christmas light walk talking about kayaking!
Day 3
It rained all night and as I drove over to Betws-y-Coed early 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.
It’s an odd thing, being on a course with your friends. Me and Matt are good friends and have paddled many times together over the last decade. If we had been on a mates 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 bank side and do some media instead.
Matt did 3 laps and as always, it was a joy to watch someone so talented in their element. Despite being the smoothest paddler I know, he still got slightly munched by the bottom hole of this rapid on 2 out of 3 laps. It was definitely at a harder than it looks level and myself and the others on the course were all in agreement that we too would have got very munched if we’d been paddling!
At 9am we came together as a group to decide where to go. We opted for a warm up lap on the Conwy and then perhaps come back to chip shop drop in the afternoon. Some members of the group had expressed a desire to work on their leading / ability to peer paddle rivers and 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 grass roots 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!
I have paddled the Conwy lots but hadn’t yet in 2024 and so it was nice to get out before the end of the year. The Conwy is a stunning river and it was nice to really take in the scenery of this lap. The Conwy is a river we often run when everything is absolutely 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 normally paddle it.
When we got off the river, the Llugwy was still rising and so we opted to head over to the Glaslyn instead. I have only ever paddled the gorge and 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 lots of little surf waves along the section. The get on is on a lake as well and have the mountains of Snowdonia in the background was 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 defiantly places you didn’t want to end up. I am not the most powerful of paddlers and so where other people might muscle their way out of something, I try to negate by having enough skill to not get into that situation in the first place. The gorge is very continuous and so you need to be constantly thinking 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 (see video below). The line to get past it was marginal but as the tree was moving so much within the hole, it could easily move into that marginal space. It was clear that no one was going to be running this section of river today. I had pretty much already convinced myself that the gorge at this level was potentially above my skillset anyway and therefore I wasn’t going to get on.
We did spend a lot of time working our way up from the bottom and picking our imaginary lines. It’s good practice to pick your own lines and this is something I’ve really got better at since I first started kayaking. It was good to be about to talk through options with Matt and Nic and hear their ideas too. Once we’d shuttled and changed, it was time to say goodbye to Matt as he was back home to Southampton. I was sad to see him go but it had been a lovely 3 days to catch up with one another.
Day 4
To replace Matt as the second coach, we were joined by Lyndon Williams. We also had 3 new paddlers join the group. Michael and Adam were joining for the day and Frank was joining 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 2 years previously when he had attended a kids kayaking camp 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 exactly what we got. There were sections of the Ogwen that were absolute stunning and to me it felt in line with many other Snowdonia classics with it’s 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 with 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 really 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 approach to coaching was get people to paddle with ‘flair!’. This meant I spent a lot of the day trying to splat as many rocks as I could with as much flair as I could. 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 – go find a teenager to ask them. I will certainly take great joy in telling the teenagers I work with that I apparently have ‘kayaking rizz’ when term starts again in the new year!
I ended the day absolutely physically shattered but happy in my soul. Kayaking to be is all about feeding your soul and this day had done just that! I’d paddled a river that had been on the 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 5
We met for breakfast and a last day debrief of the week. 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 2 days. Jamie suggested we head back to the Glaslyn and have a crack at getting 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’ in order to get you in the zone. I was trying to think about what rituals I did before kayaking and decided getting in my boat at my own pace and if it was a pretty get on, taking a photo were my pre-kayaking rituals. I kayak for the joy it brings me and 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!
We didn’t paddle very far before we got out to walk down the main part of the gorge down 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 2 groups – one group to make an anchor and one group to attach a rope to the tree. Myself, Ben and Phil put in charge of attaching the rope (under Lyndon’s supervision) whilst 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 this way. It was quite good fun, although I had to really check the impulsiveness in me that 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 actually a really good experience to be part of. I’ve unpinned a lot of 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!
As I climbed back up to the path, I really struggled to get myself out of the river and realised quite how exhausted I was. I had had a very full on 3 months and not really had a break since August. It has been a full on Autumn term of school with every weekend booked with activities. 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 honestly surprised I had made it this far into the week before crashing! I went into this week knowing I might well need to take a half day at some point and it turns out that half day off was at 2pm on the 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 and 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.
I took 5 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 was capable of paddling it, I did not think my body was going to make the moves I wanted it to. If I got on, I might be fine but 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 then 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 started to set, there was the most spectacular view so I stopped for 5 minutes to take it and grab a final photo. It felt like Wales was waving me goodbye!
It had been a lovely week with really different river experiences each day. I have a few take aways to work on and had 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 all lovely and I had lucked out to share the course with some really nice other clients as well. 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!
Happy Christmas paddling everyone!
