This is what Ieuan has been doing all summer in Wales. Enjoy watching these Welsh Gems.
Sunday, 6 November 2011
Monday, 17 October 2011
Wet West Paddle Fest
Well. We travelled up on Wednesday hoping to get a few rivers in before Wet West and yes we did... Some of the best classics in Scotland were ready to rip.
On Thursday morning the Team met up at Falls of Falloch, Ieuan had just ran it. We shot off to Bridge of Orchy and with our luck, it was at a nice meaty level. There were some nice read and run rapids, big waves & beastly holes, no rocks in sights! Quite rare for the UK.
The following day we checked out The Etive but that was absolutly raging so we checked out some rivers closer to Fort William. Another group joined up, some excellent boaters from Aberystwyth & Edinburgh University and so we hopped on The Kiachnish. More or less from there start it was read & run technical G4, following the leader type boating. The best bit was going off the last drop like lemmings without knowing the line. You just come up the the horizon line and watching the person infront drop off and having no idea where the went until you meet the horizon line.
Right after The Kiachnish, we had just about enough time to run The Classic Nevis. It was a nice level.
There was plenty of carnage. Boulder bash went sweet for all ten of us but then when we hit Daves hole, it all went wrong. Owain was the first to get stuck in this sticky hole and there there was a back log of three boaters. We were very quick to get the kit out before it went off down the river and back on track. Next was the infamous Schimitar Gorge. Plenty of scouting went on here but it was good to go. Once agian there was a bit of carnage, Owain stopped in the weir drop to pull some cartwheels then had a chill on the side (whilst we pulled him up the gorge). By then it was getting dark and the Venezuela boys needed to get back to do their presentation so we bailed at the next foot bridge. All in all, another swee day despite the carnage.
Now it was the start of WetWestPaddleFest. The Moriston is an awesome wide G4 drop & pool river. Plenty on it and there was plenty of carnage to go with it as there was a good percentage of the British paddling community there. Ieuan got a trashing in the hole on the upper section and then Ollie got an absolute beating on the first drop on the lower as you'll see in the video. We paddled all day long till the point where there were no shuttles.
We had the length of Britain to travel back on the Sunday so we got a head start by going South to the Etive for another try and to our luck it was a beautiful level, since we know this river well, we ran it blind all the way. It was just high enough to get through crack of dawn so no portages either!
We then paddled down to meet Allt Chaorain (sp) and we found that this little trib was on the rise. We started at a nice medium level and after 5 mins of paddling it suddenly hit the roof. We still ran it!
Zak our resident loonatic decided to head rudder down pinball. He lost a tooth. His boat went down the next slot and was just chilling in the weir. So he went down, picked it up and put his boat back in where he left off and carried on. Resident Loonatic.
On Thursday morning the Team met up at Falls of Falloch, Ieuan had just ran it. We shot off to Bridge of Orchy and with our luck, it was at a nice meaty level. There were some nice read and run rapids, big waves & beastly holes, no rocks in sights! Quite rare for the UK.
The following day we checked out The Etive but that was absolutly raging so we checked out some rivers closer to Fort William. Another group joined up, some excellent boaters from Aberystwyth & Edinburgh University and so we hopped on The Kiachnish. More or less from there start it was read & run technical G4, following the leader type boating. The best bit was going off the last drop like lemmings without knowing the line. You just come up the the horizon line and watching the person infront drop off and having no idea where the went until you meet the horizon line.
Right after The Kiachnish, we had just about enough time to run The Classic Nevis. It was a nice level.
There was plenty of carnage. Boulder bash went sweet for all ten of us but then when we hit Daves hole, it all went wrong. Owain was the first to get stuck in this sticky hole and there there was a back log of three boaters. We were very quick to get the kit out before it went off down the river and back on track. Next was the infamous Schimitar Gorge. Plenty of scouting went on here but it was good to go. Once agian there was a bit of carnage, Owain stopped in the weir drop to pull some cartwheels then had a chill on the side (whilst we pulled him up the gorge). By then it was getting dark and the Venezuela boys needed to get back to do their presentation so we bailed at the next foot bridge. All in all, another swee day despite the carnage.
Now it was the start of WetWestPaddleFest. The Moriston is an awesome wide G4 drop & pool river. Plenty on it and there was plenty of carnage to go with it as there was a good percentage of the British paddling community there. Ieuan got a trashing in the hole on the upper section and then Ollie got an absolute beating on the first drop on the lower as you'll see in the video. We paddled all day long till the point where there were no shuttles.
We then paddled down to meet Allt Chaorain (sp) and we found that this little trib was on the rise. We started at a nice medium level and after 5 mins of paddling it suddenly hit the roof. We still ran it!
Zak our resident loonatic decided to head rudder down pinball. He lost a tooth. His boat went down the next slot and was just chilling in the weir. So he went down, picked it up and put his boat back in where he left off and carried on. Resident Loonatic.
All in all, an absolute awesome trip. We will be back next year.
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Cresta Run
Can't really explain it. A big slide and a big drop. The speed is addictive so another ride might be in order.
Cresta Run on the Lower Prysor from Ieuan Belshaw on Vimeo.
Cresta Run on the Lower Prysor from Ieuan Belshaw on Vimeo.
Thursday, 8 September 2011
Lower Prysor
Caught it very much on the low side so instead of making a hardcore vid of The Lower Prysor... I went creative and made a drop by drop guide.
Note* The marker rock needs to be just about covered for a nice run. If its a foot higher or more, expect a solid G5 run.
Trees are a big hazard. If you scout it out in low water (it makes for a great gorge walk) then plase take a saw and clear out a tree or two.
Enjoy.
Note* The marker rock needs to be just about covered for a nice run. If its a foot higher or more, expect a solid G5 run.
Trees are a big hazard. If you scout it out in low water (it makes for a great gorge walk) then plase take a saw and clear out a tree or two.
Enjoy.
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
Swallow Falls in High Water (again)
I was a nervous going back here at this level after the last time, totally out of control. I went back because I wanted to get it right! Wanted to proove to myself that it could be done in a controlled way.
It was possible. I nailed it. Can't as as much for ZaK* who came with me... he took a bit of a bump and left a dent in his everest but he was chuffed with running it nevertheless.
It was possible. I nailed it. Can't as as much for ZaK* who came with me... he took a bit of a bump and left a dent in his everest but he was chuffed with running it nevertheless.
Viaduct Falls on The Cynfal
I've been eyeing up this waterfall for a while now and after some hard thinking I decided to give it a go.
It was a great adventure, we had to absail down a 40 foot cliff through trees and wild stuff to get to a rock shelf just above the falls. When I was heading down I didn't notice but I ended up falling into an undercut / siphon on the shelf, gald I was attached to the rope!
Gareth Thomas and myself (Ieuan) were sitting just above the drop looking at this huge horizon line! couldn't see the river at the bottom anywhere, a bit daunting! I chatted to Gareth and asked him what falls has he done before. He said the other week with me on the 15 footer just futher up stream....
It was a great adventure, we had to absail down a 40 foot cliff through trees and wild stuff to get to a rock shelf just above the falls. When I was heading down I didn't notice but I ended up falling into an undercut / siphon on the shelf, gald I was attached to the rope!
Gareth Thomas and myself (Ieuan) were sitting just above the drop looking at this huge horizon line! couldn't see the river at the bottom anywhere, a bit daunting! I chatted to Gareth and asked him what falls has he done before. He said the other week with me on the 15 footer just futher up stream....
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Team Day
So The Team finally got a chance to meet and go boating, unfortunately Sam Sawday couldn’t make the day and neither did any rain, but we made the most of it on the Llguwy anyway.
Great start to the Bliss Stick teams missions.
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