PADDLER 70
“ I kayak for the joy it brings me ; part of that joy is appreciating the beautiful places this sport takes me to .”
PADDLER 70
Just like Matt , Lyndon ’ s coaching approach was getting people to paddle with ‘ flair !’. This meant I spent a lot of the day trying to splat as many rocks as possible with as much flair as possible . 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 – find a teenager to ask them . I will certainly take great joy in telling the teenagers I work with that I have ‘ kayaking rizz ’ when term starts again in the New Year !
I ended the day absolutely physically shattered but happy in my soul . Kayaking is all about feeding your soul , and this day had done just that ! I ’ d paddled a river that had been on my 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 !
Jamie gave me some boofing tips on the Vyrnwy earlier in the week . Photo : Matt Brook
“ I kayak for the joy it brings me ; part of that joy is appreciating the beautiful places this sport takes me to .”
groups – one to make an anchor and one to attach a rope to the tree . Ben , Phil , and I were in charge of attaching the rope ( under Lyndon ’ s supervision ), while 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 . It was pretty good fun , although I had to
I am attaching the rope to the tree with Lyndon as my support ! Photo : Jamie Greenhalgh
DAY FIVE
We met for breakfast and a last-day debrief . 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 two days . Jamie suggested we head back to the Glaslyn and get 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 ’ to get you in the zone . I was trying to think about what rituals I did before kayaking and decided to get in my boat at my own pace and , if it was a pretty get-on , take a photo – these were my pre-kayaking rituals . I kayak for the joy it brings me ; 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 !
TREE REMOVING
We didn ’ t paddle very far before we got out to walk down the main part of the gorge 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 two check my impulsiveness : I 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 an excellent experience to be part of . I ’ ve unpinned many 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 !
EXHAUSTED
As I climbed back up to the path , I struggled to get myself out of the river and realised quite how exhausted I was . I had been full-on for three months and had not had a break since August . It has been a full-on autumn term of school , with activities booked every weekend . This , combined with getting Covid on my first day of the half-term break , which took me out