PADDLER 65
Smashing it ! Photo : Tom Clare
I had an absolutely lovely morning of kayaking and chatting with people ! It was beautifully sunny , and I started at the top of the Upper Tryweryn . I spent most of the morning lapping the upper and lower Graveyard section and , in between laps , would chat with women along the way . About four groups were working on the Graveyard section , and it was brilliant to see how much variety there was in terms of skills being worked on . Freestyle , forward paddling , surfing , rock splatting , catching eddies and more !
I occasionally had to stop my conversation as I realised their coach was ready to move on ( sorry , Nic !) but would make up for it by demonstrating how to do ( or possibly how not to do ) certain moves on the river . I ended the morning by lapping the ski jump , which is always good fun and certainly wakes you up ! Realising it was now lunchtime , and I had only got halfway down the river , I did one more run of ski jump before getting out and heading back to the marquee . A long lunch break was an excellent opportunity to chat even more with people and hear about their successes of the day so far .
After lunch , the groups swapped , and everyone started on their second session of the day . I took a similar approach to the morning and would lap different sections , taking breaks to talk to people and generally have a good laugh ! Towards the end of the afternoon , I found myself back on the lower Graveyard , and it was virtually empty ! I think I joysurfed the waves here for a good part of the next hour . I paddled down from this section with a sore core but a happy soul !
Working hard on the Upper Tryweryn ! Photo : Tom Clare
Annette ( second from the right ) chatting to participants and full of smiles ! Photo : Tom Clare
PADDLER 65