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| Reviews & Photos | Llangollen, North Wales 01-04 May 2009 | |||||
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Another 'interesting' start to the trip. We were given a minibus by the Union which was so unfit for purpose that, had it got more than 500 yards, it would have probably caused our deaths. Luckily it broke by the lock up so we ditched it on a grass verge (which I don't think security were that pleased about) and arranged our own transport. On arrival at Llangollen, we had a beer, put up the nice shiny new pop up tents the club owns and then got drunk in a field until 2am. This didn't amuse the owners of the very busy family oriented Welsh campsite. Particularly when we started singing 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot'. Luckily Vicky and Andy's excellent negotiating got us off the hook as they promised we'd be very good for the rest of the weekend if we were allowed to stay. Satuday morning bought sun and a trip to the Cafe in town for breakfast, before a very detailed safety talk which meant everyone in the group knew exactly how to eat a strawberry erotically. Armed with this knowledge (and still a little bit turned on) everyone began paddling down the Dee from just below town bridge to Trevor. This 6km section had quite a bit of flat. 6km of flat to be precise. Still, it was a nice day and our group had fun chilling and bantering. As it didn't take long to do this bit, it was decided that some of the more experienced people should head up the A5 to the river Conwy. Leafy and I were skeptical to say the least, for three reasons. Reason 1- the pub was about 5 minutes away. Reason 2- the river was an hour away. Final reason- it was Lee's idea. Fortunately though we were wrong, the Conwy was interesting and full of adventures. It was low but enjoyable and made up for the flatness of the previous section with lots of technical grade 3 bits. The major hazard/ laughing stock of this section is a very lonely old man who seems to spend his weekends in a rather strange manner: Instead of enjoying the natural beauty of the land he lives in, he spends it driving up and down the A5 taking pictures of young people carrying kayaks to rivers and trying to start arguments with them. It seems the best way to deal with this curious specimen is to ignore him. Although arguing with him is also hilarious as he makes some ridiculous claims as to how much harm passing kayakers do to his cattle. In an attempt to avoid confrontation, Lee's group decided to carry on, as someone from Liverpool Uni who was also on the river advised him that there was an alternative get out a few hundred yards downstream. Unfortunately they hadn't realised that the bloke had no idea what he was talking about and, as the section has two grade 5's on it, and the people were getting tired a decision was taken to bin it and climb out up a cliff and through a forest. While this was going on, Leafy and I were driving up and down the road looking for the other team, who eventually emerged safe from the bushes. Result! The obligatory banquet burger was demolished after the river. I think I should get sponsored by the Bridge End Inn, I'm always advertising the meaty goodness available there. I was challenged to make NO mum jokes for an entire evening and, as there was beer involved as a prize I manfully held back on the mum jokes to win the bet, thus learning that I can actually go for a little while at least without making a mum joke. I also learned that you should never trust Rosie with your fish, as she thinks you feed them Tartare Sauce. Next morning it was time for the classic section of the Dee (Chain Bridge to Town Falls). As it is a short section, we took our time, with several runs of Serpent's Tail, all filmed on XLR's swanky new water-proof camera. By the time we arrived above Town Falls, another group (I think it was Liverpool again) were massively faffing above it and making everyone in their large group go down one by one, which was annoying as it mean't that we had to wait above, giving the more nervous members of my group too much time to think about the rapid. Luckily no-one was affected too much when we eventually ran it, all boshing down upright and all (except Leafy) with style. We were off the river at a sensible time, which meant we had plenty of time for lots of activities that evening. Infact we had far too much time so everyone decided to faff massively about whether to have a bbq or not. No visit to Llangollen is complete without a walk up to the ruined castle on top of the hill, so whilst some people had a barbecue, a group us decided to go up there. We picked a great evening to do it as, despite the wind, the view was awesome. Much to Charlie's surprise you could see a river from the top of the hill. She looked a little embarrased when it was pointed out that the river was infact the Dee. On our return, we were shocked to find team lazy in Lee's car, watching a telly. Ridiculous behaviour in a campsite. Luckily some nice Australians saved James, Clare, Charles and I from being couch potatoes and introduced us to "Kubb"- an ancient viking game which essentially involves throwing sticks at other sticks. However this doesn't do it justice, it is an epic game, the deciding round was 2 and a half hours of intense Kubb-age, ending in a win for Team Extreme (Myself, Charles and Rob the Australian bloke). Incase you were worried you missed out, I have purcahsed a Kubb set based on the fun had in this one epic match. It will be played in future. Some of the more alcoholic members of the group (i.e. Lee) were getting rather impatient with the Kubb so they left for the pub and ended up in the Ponsonby Arms, which is where we found them. More importantly though, we found Karaoke! Being great singers we decided to murder several well known songs before heading to The Sun, which has the best pub rock jukebox in history and also table football. We got absolutely cheesecaked here and didn't arrive at the campsite until very early in the morning. Waking up with sore heads we had to pack our kit away in the pouring rain before heading to the River Severn at Ironbridge. This flat section (Dale End to Jackfield) has one good rapid where people could practice eddy hopping and attempt to surf the wave there. This section will be memorable for James C and Rosie, as they had their first every moving water rolls here, hooray! Ricky and Charlie took the Duo on this bit, showing off their duo rolling and surfing skills. We also used the Duo to form the basis of a massive raft type thing which we called the mother ship. Despite being a bit flat, this is one of those epic sections which has a pub right at the take out, result! Personally, I think there should be a pub at every take out. We had a final meal together in this pub before setting off for home after another great weekend. By Duncan Stokes |