Fundraising on a flooded River Dee

On Friday 5th September, Duncan Stokes, David Bell and Joanna Savage (Team Kendo) began the adventurous challenge of paddling the entirety of the River Dee from the source at Lake Bala in North Wales, to the tidal Dee at Chester in England. In five days of almost continuous paddling this feat was accomplished and with the help of other members of Sussex Canoe Club based in Brighton, a whopping 113km was covered in total.

Typical images conjured up of touring on the Dee include open tops gliding down a tranquil, meandering river and family picnics on the riverbank, bathing in the late afternoon sunshine. However, the torrential flooding that reaped havoc across much of Wales this September, caused the Dee to be slightly less friendly than had been expected. In fact the river was in spate and bursting its banks in many parts and considering that it is classed as one of the widest rivers in the UK, at times it felt like sections of the Amazon were being paddled.

The paddle was carried out in memory of fellow late Sussex paddler, Roger Bates, who died on the Dee below Llangollen in a tragic accident on April 19th 2008. Since joining the club in October 2007, Roger embodied a remarkable spirit of enthusiasm for the sport, shown through his attendance at most weekly pool sessions and white water weekend trips. Roger was a valued member of the club, a dear friend and has been sorely missed by everyone who knew him. The rescue attempts made by the people involved have been widely praised and it was felt important that the fundraising money collected should go towards both the Welsh Air Ambulance and providing white water safety and rescue courses for club members.

The warm-up

Despite our plan being to paddle the 113km of the River Dee, we started a little earlier and took advantage of the now free-of-charge Trweryn course. We couldn’t really claim that this was a warm-up but it would have been a shame to miss out when the levels were up!

Day 1. Almost Lake Bala to Corwen

Just to confess that due to some incredibly large sluice gates we didn’t actually start our trip from Lake Bala. To some extent this meant that our trip had failed before it had even begun, as we were clearly not going to be able to paddle the entire length of the Dee from its source to the sea. As much as this may disappoint the poetic amongst you, the real task was to commemorate our friend and so with this in mind we set off from (just below) Lake Bala.

Due to the high rainfall, this gentle touring section was booming along. There were no rapids to negate but the flow meant that there was very little need for paddling as we drifted past cows, sheep, and the odd Heron and, surprisingly, Llamas. At 27km this was to be one of the longest sections that we paddled, but it was covered in little over three hours!

That evening we indulged in ‘the Banquet Burger’ at the local pub; this crazy burger consists of a 1lb beef burger, four rashers of bacon, a mountain of cheese and more salad than Mr McGreggor’s garden! It is the perfect post paddle snack!

Day 2. Corwen – Llangollen

The second day of our paddle started just like every other day in North Wales had done for the past week: with a lot of rain! We split the journey from Corwen to Llangollen into two sections: firstly the touring section from Corwen to Horseshoe Falls and secondly the classic section, ending at the famous Town Falls rapid under Llangollen Bridge. As it turned out there was also a third (and more extreme) section along the canal running alongside the classic Dee.

The paddle from Corwen down to Horseshoe Falls was much like the previous day although we did pay a bit more attention when nearing the end, as we didn’t want to end up in the weir. On previous inspection we had seen a tree being held in the towback; a place no kayaker would ever want to be.

With the longer paddle over and done with, our attention was now on the classic section of the Dee and memories of the Dee Tour were brought up by the older members of the team who had regularly participated in the days before crank shaft paddles and plastic boats. However, it was slightly disconcerting to find out that none of them had seen the river this high and as a result a few people decided to take the ‘extreme’ canal that runs alongside, instead.

For the rest of us it was an amazing run filled with huge wave trains and scary looking holes and for a while it felt like we had taken a wrong turning and ended up in the Austrian Alps. Exhausted and exhilarated, we were reminded of where we were by the name of the local shop in Llangollen: ‘Ysiopfach-gardiauwrthybontdrosyafonddyfrdwyynllangollen.’

After the fun of the day, thoughts became more reflective as we realised that tomorrow we would be passing the rapid where Roger died. As some people were returning to Brighton that evening and would not continue with us to the Trevor Rapid, we decided to take a drive down there before they left. In memory of Roger’s ever-present kilt, (despite the fact that he wasn’t Scottish or Irish) we tied a piece of Tartan round a tree stump on the bank of the river and left with a new determination for the next three days.

Day 3. Llangollen to Overton Bridge

We awoke to our first morning of glorious sunshine to the noise of the cows being milked on the farm at Llangollen. To Dave’s great excitement the only way to get from our campsite to Overton Bridge was via the river (as we had left the minibus there the night before) and it was here that the adventure really began.

We trekked down the hill to the river, our boats fully loaded with kit and put on just below the weir at Town Falls. The river was still going like a train and we arrived 6km downstream at the Trevor Rapids, the site of the first UK canoe slalom competition in 1939, in no time at all.

Further on we had to portage two rather nasty looking weirs that appeared even nastier in the high water and seemed to loom up at us suddenly around tight right hand bends (Dave who was leading, said that he felt like a sacrificial lemming.) After an awesome day of paddling we egressed at the Cross Foxes pub at Overton and treated ourselves to a much deserved pint!

Day 4. Overton Bridge - Farndon

This was the longest day on the water. After leaving the field which had been home for the last four nights and driving back to Overton Bridge, Team Kendo set off knowing that we had a tough paddle ahead of us – the map in the guidebook showed the Dee meandering its way up a flood plain. This meant that despite the river being really high still, all the speed was taken out the flow by the large bends. Not to worry, at least we weren’t paddling white water boats. Oh, we were. Doh!

We made good time, covering the first half of the river in 90 minutes and stopping for lunch feeling smug about how well we were doing. After lunch we started on the bendy bit. We were expecting a slog but hadn’t realised how demoralising it would be to be paddling for over an hour and still be about 200 yards away from a farmhouse we had already passed going the other way! Still, banter and looking at the varied birdlife that inhabits this area got us to the ancient stone bridge in Farndon eventually. Dave’s Aunt Wendy, who gave us some welcome hot food and shelter, met us here.

Our paddle was a great success and already surpassed the fundraising target. Please visit www.sussexcanoe.com for donations towards white water safety and rescue courses, or donate directly to the air ambulance www.walesairambulance.com/ index.php?p=donations We would like to thank the following, without whom our paddle wouldn't have been possible; Simon Fisher, Chris Sloan, Gareth Lee, Wendy and Derek Bell and Sussex University Students Union. Thanks also to Black Ken, Blue Ken and Yellow Ken; the three Kendo-teers!

Day 5. Farndon – Chester

After a proper night’s sleep, in proper beds, we headed back to Farndon to finish our journey. We had mixed feelings, looking forward to finishing but worrying how difficult the paddle might be, as accumulative fatigue was taking its toll and we weren’t really up for anywhere near as many bends as the previous day! Luckily we needn’t have worried as the section flew by: first through riverside dwellings and then through the rather posh looking Eton Hall estate.

Not long after this, we entered civilisation, in the shape of Chester; where we had lots of tourist boats and rowing clubs to avoid. We reached the area above Chester Weir sometime in the afternoon and after a quick inspection shot the salmon steps and marked the end of our paddle with a group photo. We had finally finished an awesome five days of varied scenery and difficulty in paddling and so the only thing we could do was celebrate with a curry and some beer. Result!

By David Bell