GUIDE TO THE AFON PRYSOR
(Pont Dolydd Prysor to Trawsfynydd)
NAME OF RIVER: Prysor (Upper section).
WHERE IS IT?: North West Wales. Alongside the A4212 Trawsfynydd to Bala road.
Map.
PUT-INS/ TAKE-OUTS: Using OS Outdoor Leisure 18 Snowdonia (Harlech and
Bala Areas).
Put in next to small lay-by with a postbox in it at GR 743362 or slightly further upstream at Pont Dolydd Prysor.
Take out river left between the A470 and Trawsfynydd village bridge. There is a small track down to the river.
APPROX LENGTH: 6 km.
TIME NEEDED: 2 hours.
ACCESS HASSLES: Angry farmers.
WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: Should look brown and not scrapey at the put in. If it looks fast flowing it is probably quite high.
GRADING: Grade II with several grade III rapids.
MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS: Barb wire across the river near the start, there are trees further down, easy to portage river left.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: From the start there is fast easy water for about a kilometre.
The river then starts to narrow and the first grade III drop appears, shortly after the river bends to the right and a bridge (which is downstream of the drop) appears. It is two foot natural broken weir and has a number of possible lines.
The river then eases back to fast moving riffles and waves before a noticeable narrowing and some trees on river left indicate the arrival of the next grade III rapid.
This is a series of boulders followed by a narrow chute on river left which spits out into a mini gorge.
100m after this is the largest drop on the river. This is a small fall with a number of lines at low level. In high water many of the lines converge and the river left route would be safest.
Easy water leads on for a couple of kilometres until a few natural rock steps, the biggest about 1m are encountered. A large stone building on river left marks a double weir with potentially power stoppers at a high level. Playful at medium levels.
It is a pleasant paddle from here to the end but is essentially a ditch, if this river is up then there will be plenty of much better options near by. Winion would be a great alternative.
(This description of the river is a medium low level, at higher level, many of the drops would be stiff at the grade and the weirs could have power stoppers on them)
OTHER NOTES: If you are with a group that is comfortable on grade II/III then this river is well worth a look. Other similar rivers in the area include the Llyfni, Lower
Tryweryn and the Dwyfach.
CONTRIBUTED BY: Sam Moore (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
