GUIDE TO THE RIVER DEE

(Horseshoe Falls to Llangollen Town Weir)

NAME OF RIVER: Dee (or Afon Dyfrdwy if you're Welsh...)

WATER LEVEL, ACCESS AND HAZARD UPDATES:Here.

WHERE IS IT?: It flows from Bala lake into a beautiful valley parallelled by the A5 for much of the way. There is a pleasant easy stretch above the one described here.

PUT-INS/ TAKE-OUTS: Put in above or below Horseshoe Falls (large horseshoe-shaped weir), after carrying/ paddling your kayak up the canal from the car-park beside the Chain Bridge Hotel. A long set of steps take you down from the car-park to the canal. Take out after Town Weir in the centre of Llangollen on river left...see below.

APPROX LENGTH: 2.5 miles.

TIME NEEDED: 15 minutes in a wild water race, otherwise at least an hour or more for playing.

ACCESS HASSLES: A joke. The local landowners/ anglers/ etc. must be laughing their socks off. As of the winter of 2003-4, there is no recreational access to the Dee. The Tour weekends have been cancelled by intrasigent fishermen, so the WCA are now advising paddlers to make their own decision about the river. What this means in practice, is that paddlers are paddling the river at their leisure, with due environmental sensitivity.

'Access to River Dee at Mile End Mill (or Factory falls, Nomads, Tombstones depending on how long you've been paddling). This short section of grade 2+ (low medium) or grade 3 (high) is accessible all year. You have to pay (was 4.00 last time I went) at the JJ Coaching centre (not the shop). There are changing rooms with (20p) showers and a cafe. Great site for taking beginners before committing them to a full river run. Three drops including a nice safe stopper and a surf wave. If going to the site, drive out of Llangollen towards Corwen on the A5. Just past the Wild Phesant hotel/pub you will see the factory on the right, with an old slalom kayak nailed to the gate post. - Adrian J Pullin, Club Coach, Peninsula Canoe Club'

WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: Can be paddled in low water levels, indeed it looks paddleable for most of the year. Looking upstream from Llangollen town bridge, view the stepped Town Falls (river right). If plenty of bedrock is showing, the river is low. If no rock is showing in the Town Falls, you have a good medium level. If no bedrock is showing from bank to bank, then the river is high and raging...pray it's a Tour weekend!

The Dee flowing rather high

GRADING: Mostly Grade 3, with some sections of Grade 4 (Serpent's Tail and Town Falls). The river can be run in low water by relative novices to WW paddling, given appropriate leadership and portaging. In high water it's an entirely different story, needing skill and experience to enjoy safely.

MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS: Some broken weirs, described below. Horseshoe Falls and the weir below the Town Bridge are very dangerous. Another hazard is claustrophobia in eddies on Tour weekends.

Richard Moore...'Sunday 7th January 2003, two (maybe more) cut off scaffold poles just under the surface (medium water level) approximately two foot out from the river left bridge support of the right hand channel, the one everyone runs and swims etc. having paddled Town Falls. Maybe someone should impale the contractors who have done some repairs to the bridge in the past year on them? Or ask them nicely to remove them properly?'

Adrian Pullin adds...'Horseshoe Falls. This is a horse shoe shaped weir (there's a surprise) built to provide head waters for the Llangollen canal. It is VERY dangerous. At very low levels, people do shoot the main drop, but at anything above this the towback is enormous and will suck you into the middle of the horse shoe, out of range of throw lines. This place kills. The route down is hard left over some broken rock steps and between some tree covered islands. Watch out for pins and strainers. Technically there is no access to run this drop at all, but loads of people do on tours. Inspect every time as fallen trees block routes every winter.'

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: Horseshoe Falls, the big weir at the put-in, is extremely dangerous to run at anything other than low water levels. You WILL get munched in the huge towback, you will NOT be able to escape and if you EVER float out, you'll look different. Thankfully, the weir can either be bypassed by paddling one of the tree-strewn channels on river left or you can just carry around the whole thing on the same side.

Downstream, waves take you under a road bridge and past the Chain Bridge Hotel towards the famous Serpent's Tail. In high water the approach to this is impressive, with 'play' stoppers and big surf waves all over the place. The Serpent's Tail itself is perfectly named, with all the water disappearing into a narrow channel on river right which will scare the bejesus out of those new to Grade 4 rapids. A few breakouts are possible, and the rapid ends by squeezing through a stopper inconveniently lurking next to an undercut...the sting in the Tail. It is at the easier end of the Grade, but still deserves a Grade 4 rating as it seems to unseat a remarkable number of paddlers! Inspection, portage and protection are all available from the ledges on river left. In high water, these begin to cover up and produce their own rapid...

Flat boily water follows directly afterwards, giving swimmers a chance to be fished out. A rocky weir follows, with opportunities to play. The railway passes overhead, and another broken weir offers a chute on river left.

The next bit to look out for is the Grade 3 Factory site, known as 'Mile End Mill'. The large building on river right used to be the home of Nomad kayaks, it now houses a kayak shop. See the ACCESS section above for more info. A broken weir begins these rapids, watch out for debris in it...it used to be known as the 'Tombstones' due to concrete obstacles in the weir which have been removed since. A fatality occurred near here during one of the old Mike Jones' Rallies. Below the broken weir you reach a good play stopper which you won't miss...look for the crowds of paddlers queuing or actually in it. The Factory site ends where the river splits around an island...the river right channel leads to an appalling lethal weir, take the river left channel where some nice surf waves can be found.

Now it's time to get apprehensive about the Grade 4 Town Falls. The river is easy for about half a mile. Paddlers who do not want to run the Town Falls can get out in a number of places on river right, the last opportunity appears just after the river bends left and the Town Bridge comes into sight. The Falls tend to be run heading towards the far right arch of the bridge, although many other routes are available in high water. The lead-in to the Falls involves bypassing a series of weir steps which generate fearsome stoppers in high water (a friend has healthy respect for them, after spending 15 minutes stuck in one during a WW race). The Falls proper begin with a small drop into the 'Pot', a boily stopper (I once rolled up here and noted that one paddle blade had fallen off...now get out of that!). The main Falls are a series of steps, choose your own route but the central 'slot' where the water converges is best avoided. Have fun!

Directly below the Bridge is Llangollen Town Weir, a nasty affair that should certainly be avoided at all water levels...the divers aren't placed here during Tours for nothing. You can thankfully miss it by taking the chute on river left. Below, look for a get-out on this bank which will take you to the car-park. Time to wander up onto the bridge and join the crowds laughing at those running the Falls unsuccessfully...well, you've survived, why not?

Video of Serpents Tail (from Paul Smith)

OTHER NOTES: One of the truly 'classic' rivers of the UK, let us all wish for a future when it can be paddled sensibly and quietly at the individual paddler's whim. The section above is recommended but has similar problems.

The river below Llangollen is enjoyable.

There is pleasant and access hassle-free easy paddling on the river downstream near Chester.

Andy adds...' I've personally been strained under a fallen tree at Horseshoe Falls and agree with your comments. I can't really add to them, other that to underline them in bold and use a red font for the instructions that must be adhered to. I feel lucky to still be paddling (don't tell my wife, and some 3 years later still have nasty flashbacks (come on BCU - what about PTS counselling for paddlers?). I therefore want other paddlers of this great, but benign river to understand its potential hazards. But more importantly, the Coach 3's and above in whose hands our safety often lies should understand its potential on the 'carnival' tour days.'

CONTRIBUTED BY: Mark Rainsley, Andy, Richard Moore and Adrian Pullin.