I have always been a big fan of Llandysul Paddlers and the incredible community they have created in Llandysul so when Lydia from Paddle Cymru invited me to attend the ShePaddles Summer Celebration Festival, I of course said yes!
We had a wonderful weekend of sunshine, being out on the water and the opportunity to meet and connect with other women in the paddling community. This article is here to tell you all about it!
Arrival on Friday evening
It was set to be another hot weekend and when I set off from Nottingham – it was 36°C! Luckily my car has air conditioning which meant I had some respite from the heat. It was a long 6-hour drive battling Friday evening traffic but eventually I arrived in beautiful Llandysul!
Llandysul is a gorgeous little town and the paddlers centre is right at the heart of the community there. The centre is based next to the river Teifi and there is a lake on site for paddlers to access. There is a large covered seating area and lots of grassy space for camping.
The weekend had been organised by Paddle Cymru in conjunction with Llandysul Paddlers. Llandysul Paddlers was obviously the base for the weekend and provided all of the equipment, transport and facility access. The instructors staffing the sessions were a mixture of center staff and Paddle Cymru volunteers.
Unfortunately the organiser of the weekend, Lydia from Paddle Cymru, was unable to be present in person. This meant that the Paddle Cymru team had to step in to fill her shoes for the weekend. It was lovely to see Clare, Meg and Hannah busily ‘signing’ people in and making sure everyone knew what they were doing. The whole team did a great job.
I then had a couple of lovely hours making new friends and chatting with old friends. This included the wonderful Alison Cooper. I am a big fan of Ali and also her son Oli, who lives in Nottingham but is currently out paddling in Norway. We had a nice catch up and sent Oli a selfie!
Saturday – Adventures on site
I woke early on Saturday morning and went for a little walk around the site. Breakfast was from 7am and Gareth (who runs the centre) had his staff Joey and John working hard cooking for everyone.
Meals are a wonderful way to meet and chat with people and I had a lovely talk with a lady called Zoe who it turns out is the mother of another young paddler I know called Andrew. It was clearly the weekend for connecting with everyone’s mums! We of course sent Andrew a selfie as well.
After breakfast, there was a welcome talk from Paddle Cymru and then people got into their groups for the day. There was a morning and an afternoon session running today, most of which were being run on site. The sessions being run were white water kayaking, tubing, river swimming, hotdogging, SUP yoga, SUP polo, lake kayaking and in the afternoon there was also a white water canoe trip (off site). So many wonderful options to choose from!
I joined the white water kayaking sessions for both the morning and afternoon. In the morning the group was quite large and so we split into 3 smaller groups. Tavi and myself took 4 paddlers who wanted a more beginner focused session. I have met Clare at a few events before, both Zoe and Alison I had a lovely chat with over breakfast and it was great to meet Liz too.
It was incredibly hot and by the time we got to the river, I know I wasn’t the only one who was very relieved to be on / in the water! The river level was low but it was also tree lined and had cold water so very pleasant!
We slowly made our way down the river, dropping down the rapids and practising key skills in each of the spots in between. Everyone had different things they wanted to work and challenge themselves on.
One of the rapids had an awkward rock at the end which was causing a few wobbles. One of our group unfortunately found that rock and had a capsize followed by a slightly unpleasant swim (she had struggled to reach the tag on her sprayskirt to pull it and so needed some assistance from Tavi to get out). We got her and her kayak out and took a moment to catch our breath on the side. She was keen to keep going on the river and so we went and swapped her skirt to a more loosely fitting one and got back on.
She then smashed the rest of the section and wanted to give every rapid a go, even though she was a little scared, which was awesome! On one of the rapids she had another capsize but this time immediately fell out of her kayak due to the looser sprayskirt and was much happier!
I am a big believer in that if you have a moment that scares you, the best thing you can do is to get back in your kayak and give it another go (if it is appropriate and safe to do so). Better to face that fear head on and squash it rather than to let it take root in your head and get bigger over time. I do also understand that after a scary moment, going back for round 2 is usually the last thing that people want to do!
Which is why I am SO PROUD of this woman! I have deliberately not named her (happy to change that if she would like me to) but she was a real inspiration to me on Saturday. She got scared and didn’t let that stop her which is amazing and this is an example of the kind of special moments that happen on ShePaddles events that I am so here for!
We had caught up with the other white water groups by the end of the session and ended it with a quick group shot before heading back to the top.
After a calm lunch and a chance to rehydrate and apply some more sunscreen, it was time for the afternoon sessions.
I joined the second white water kayaking group, this time with Paddle Cymru instructors Tavi and Fran. We had a small group of 4 again consisting of Hannah, Hannah, Tanwen and Charlotte. The ladies were great all afternoon and there was a real focus in this session on surfing.
There is a little wave half way down which is a great place to introduce people to surfing. We went from everyone being a little nervous and reluctant to get on to everyone smashing their surfs and us not being able to get them off the wave! It was super cool to see – especially for the couple of paddlers who had never surfed before!
We got off and headed back to get showered and changed. It was lovely to see everyone getting off the water and hearing about their days. So many wins and highlight moments!
In the evening I had dinner with a wonderful group from Welshpool Canoe Club. They were a really fantastic group of women and I want to thank them for allowing me to get very passionate about our conversations. We discussed everything from mindset, developing women in paddlesports, how to grow confidence and more.
I get very excited when talking about topics I am passionate about and the Welshpool ladies matched that energy so thank you! After dinner, there was a game of bingo and some music for dancing. I took a bit of time out to go catch up with the Llandysul centre staff which was lovely and then opted for an early night. Fair play to the ladies who partied late and were still up early the next day ready for paddling!
Sunday – Adventures off site
Sunday was a whole day activity and most groups went off site. There was sea kayaking, coasteering, white water kayaking, a flat water paddling trip and a fun day of fun at Llandysul. After a chilled breakfast and some more nice chats, it was time to gather in our groups and go paddling.
I joined the coasteering group which was being run by two of the centre staff – Joey and John. I was designated hype woman / camera woman. There were 13 women signed on this session and we were soon tucked up in the mini bus and on our way to Aberporth.
It was another hot sunny day and the most gorgeous weather to be out on the sea. As we arrived, the sea was sparkling in the sun and it felt like we were going on a seaside holiday!
We got ourselves ready, added some more sun cream and off we went for an adventure. I had never been coasteering before and I have discovered that I love it! Coasteering is essentially an activity where you move yourself along a coastline by clamouring over rocks, jumping off and swimming to the next one! It was fantastic fun.
One rock we jumped off and swam back in to join what felt like a ‘swell party’. It was narrow and as each wave came in, we were being rocked back and forth. It was weirdly soothing and I felt myself getting sleepy swirling about in the sunshine!
Each of the rocks were covered in little rock pools and some of the marine life was awesome. Joey knew a lot about it and was sharing lots of fun facts with us which was brilliant. I love learning and it was great to know more about the wonderful environment we were enjoying.
Another highlight was a visit to a cave. it was very narrow and very cool! What a treat to explore such hidden gems!
During the morning briefing Joey had said they often saw dolphins whilst coasteering but it was unlikely we would see any jellyfish. I kept my eyes peeled and saw no dolphins but many jellyfish! Luckily they were ones that didn’t sting you! I suppose it means I will just need to go back for another day to get that dolphin siting in!
When it was time to get off the water, I was absolutely exhausted from all the swimming and jumping but also really happy. It was the most perfect day to be enjoying the coast and the group of women who had joined the session were such good fun. I had really enjoyed our little adventure and our chats over the course of the day.
We headed back to the centre with an ice cream stop along the way. With the exception of me and Joey, the bus was pretty quiet through a mixture of exhaustion and happy reflections. It had been a good day but definitely needed lots of energy!
We got back and washed off our gear. After a few quick goodbyes, it was time to head home.
Thanks & Final Reflections
I was part of a conversation over the weekend where one woman said she was nervous to try surfing in her club and would sit back and let others play whilst she stayed in the eddy. Another woman said something which I absolutely adored. She said ‘you need to be comfortable taking up space’.
If this quote doesn’t summarise why events like ShePaddles are important, then I don’t know what does. I wrote an article on this to share more thoughts which you may like to read. I would like to also add that the first lady then spent the ENTIRE session surfing and being the first to give everything a go. It was incredible.
This was an event that gave women the confidence to take up that space. Huge thank you to both the team at Llandysul Paddlers Centre and all of the volunteers for Paddle Cymru. Events are only successful if the people behind them are willing to put the effort into make them so. It was sad Lydia was unable to join but her team really stepped up in her absence to ensure the weekend was successful so well done to them.
Thank you to all the incredible women who joined on the water. I met so many lovely people and really enjoyed the sessions I was involved with. Thanks for the great chats and positive attitudes – I loved it.
Thank you to all who attended and to all who read this article.
See you at the next event and as always – happy paddling!