I like you. You’re funny. We should go paddling together sometime :)

I'm concerned because the OP made an innocent mistake and came on these forums to seek clarity from the paddling community. I believe they did so in good faith that people's responses would be reasonable and respectful. Instead, they were met with dismissive derisions and general hostility. In my v...

If there's a sign at the entrance stating explicitly what people are being charged for and how much it costs then great! Clearly there should be no confusion and I wonder why so many people are posting here about adverse experiences. At last count there's a grand total of two of you. You are ultima...

Calm down pal. I’m calm :) My impression is that the owner conducts her business in an informal, inconsistent fashion and that has led to the confusion. If the fee is part of her business model, then it should be clear and consistent. Either that, or she should expect natural variation in the respo...

Somebody needs to have a fair and frank chat with the owner and inform her that if she wants to charge a fee then she must follow due diligence, for example by publicly registering the car park and clearly stating charges upfront. She must also ensure that charges are reasonable - the OP stated tha...

Not many with water levels that reliable though!

Does anyone else know about this? Is this a one of a kind car park, with a unique charge based on your cars occupants? Or is this some kind of messed up, possibly illegal, charge to access the Dee? The last thing I want to do is mess up this amazing sport up for other people, but this just seems wr...

Mate you beat me to it! I can't make it out sounds like access charge as it's per person, and that's not cool. It’s to keep the site available for us to use. It covers car parking, toilets, changing rooms, and using private land to access the river. That’s cool. And a bargain. We have no right to u...

Have you tried Portsmouth Canoe Club? They are very active in your area.

http://www.portsmouth-canoe-club.org

jmmoxon wrote:You might get run over by diggers:
https://naturalresources.wales/about-us ... n/?lang=en

I would think it’s unlikely that they’d be doing that while the water is on

It's not immediately obvious how CT declaring the lower Tryweryn "closed" while there is water fits with CW and BC's access policy. Any thoughts?

Has anyone got a deck big enough for a Monstar that they don’t need? Doesn’t need to be new, anything usable is fine.

That didn’t last long!

Yes, it’s still the place to go. It’s run by River Active now and the charge for paddlers is just £3 which includes launching, parking and use of toilet and changing rooms if you want them. Hours are 9-5 I think. https://m.facebook.com/riveractive.llangollen/ http://www.north-wales-rafting.co.uk

Llangollen is only 90 minutes away. That counts as local in my book!

I use Tides Planner by Imray. It’s a free app but if you want more that 7 days ahead it costs £3.99 a year.

In ~25 years of kayaking I've never seen a foot entrapment. I was on a WWSR course recently and the instructor said that it was so unlikely it had been dropped from the syllabus. Clearly, from this story, it can happen, but is it a major risk or one in a million? Entrapment rescues, including foot ...

There’s always going to be an overlap but I think that the current system differentiates very clearly between personal paddling, leadership and coaching.

I like the look of the new system, although I suspect people are weary of change since they've recently changed the system too many times over too brief a period. When were the star awards last changed? It’s been a while, certainly more than five years and possibly nearer ten? Changing 4* to a lead...

Nice photo :D

cathalferris wrote:That's a "launch fee" and "paying for the use of the river"

They are two different things.

Charging a fee to use private land for launching is legitimate and well established (as at Mile End Mill for instance)

Attempting to charge to use the river and float past privately owned land isn’t.

Lee Valley for rafting, without a shadow of a doubt.

I’ve got no hesitation in recommending Typhoon. They’ll give the suit a full test and repair any minor leaks that they discover too.

Turnaround time is a week or two, so Rubberman may be better if you’re in a hurry though.

I disagree. The fundamental thing they are charging for is access to the river across their land. The other facilities come as part of the package whether you want them or not and CT does not control the dam releases. As far as I am concerned this is legitimate, and doesn’t necessarily mean that CT ...

I would try Tower Hamlets Canoe Club and see if they would take you on a trip with them as a guest. They are based in east London and often paddle up through central London.

http://towerhamletscanoeclub.co.uk/wiki/Home

Core strength is the key. Not just for the paddle stroke, but if your posture is good then body rotation will be much better too. Yoga works for me, some prefer Pilates or straightforward gym stuff. Then there's cardio so that you've got some breath left when you need to roll. I'm still working on t...

It's properly honking along at the moment with red boards up everywhere. Not to be messed with, especially around the weirs.

To charge for access to/use of private land is legitimate. To charge a block 'facility fee' to paddlers while making some of the same facility (e.g. Tryweryn Trail, map for Tryweryn Trail, WC, use of grounds for picnicking, rambling etc) free of charge to everyone else, and advertising it as such, ...