Rivers Tywe and Usk

On the Saturday we (Philip Sowden and myself) paddled the Tywe (pronounced tawee) - which I had never even heard of. It's a beautiful river with a gorge section full of wierd boiling eddies. There was plenty of water and some fairly challenging rapids. I did a spectacular support stroke at the bottom of one of them :) There was quite a lot of discusson about access in Wales - just further up the valley is the long slide which got those kayakers on the news a bit ago. Phil bashed his hand and we all felt quite sorry for him but he soldiered on.

Then on the Sunday, a shorter section (arms tired!) from Aberbran to Brecon on the Usk. We needed to stop three times to de-swamp boats - the waves were so big and boingy! I enjoyed watching the hail float about on top of the huge puddle in my boat. We practised setting into eddies and .. yes... more reverse ferry gliding. I had a throw line throwing opportunity and hit the target! Boats and paddlers all home safe but if anyone sees a black paddle somewhere down stream then let us know!

- Kate Wilkinson