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Rock launching from above ! Photo : Del
Fun on bottom wave ! Photo : Tom Clare
Rock launching from below ! Photo : Tom Clare
Not Dylan but a lovely shot from Tom Clare
MILE END MILL
We headed to Llangollen in North Wales and arrived in beautiful sunshine ! We didn ’ t arrive with enough time to join the morning Dee lap , but we did arrive with enough time for a hot drink and a catch-up with some friends , which was lovely . Banners went up , and it was time to paddle !
I met a lovely little group in the carpark , including 13- year-old Dylan and his dad , Nigel . Dylan hadn ’ t paddled in a while but was keen to get back into it today . We started with a couple of laps from the top of the mile end mill to the bottom as a warm-up before moving onto some ferry gliding practice and then some surfing ! Dylan was absolutely smashing out his surfs by the end of the session !
We bumped into lots of other happy paddlers on the water , including another Dylan and some keen slalom teenagers who ’ d also come for Park Jam – Lara , Rose and Alex were nailing their surfs on bottom wave . There was a University group that was lovely too – Surrey , I think they said ! ( If any of those University students are reading this , please add a comment to correct me if I ’ ve misremembered !) It was nice to bump into lots of friendly faces on the water of locals and those who ’ d come from further afield .
On my final walk back up to the top , I stopped and watched some impressive seal launches off the big rock . Kayakers were launching themselves off the rock into the river below in various ways , making for great entertainment .
After the river came the talks with Aaron Kendall , who was going first . Aaron works locally as a raft guide and has been one of the driving forces behind Dee Valley Clean Up , which organises river cleans on the Dee . He spoke about this and about how others can get involved in helping to clean up their rivers .
Next , Charlotte and Cam discussed how they got involved with Palm
Groms and their experiences so far . Finally , Adrian showed us his latest film , documenting the SEND trip to Gabon . This short film will be released in a couple of weeks , so I won ’ t go into details here . But I will say that when it comes out , go watch it if you can .
Poster signing and photos followed before dinner out .
Thank you to the team at Mile End Mill for a fantastic Park Jam !
MILE END MILL
Fun in the sun ! Photo : Tom Clare
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