Whitewater Rafting

by Cliff Wolstenholme
Cliff
Wolstenholme.

On a Very dull, wet July morning (this is Great Britain after all) and all thanks to Carol Spencer some die hard TSAC members braved the elements to try a spot of Whitewater Rafting in Bala, North Wales. Carol, myself, Amy, Kay, Jill and John all up for the challenge with Stuart and Ruby getting wetter than all of us on the riverbank.

Upon arrival at the car park we were met by the sound of fast flowing water which at first sounded worse than it looked but on inspection was a steady bubble of water running past the on site café where a few Kayak experts were perfecting their turns.

After a speedy check in, sign your life away here please and a quick change we were all given our safety briefing and handed our weapons. Oars, helmets and lifejackets were the order of the day and we were off to the minibus for the short ride up-river.

Having carried the raft to the waterside we were given first class instruction from Rebecca who explained the finer points of Rafting and how important it was for us all to stay in the raft wherever possible. Myself and Carol were given the unenviable task of sitting at the front of the raft and being told that the lives of the others depended on our leadership and timing. No pressure then!

TSAC shooting the rapids.

Into the water went the raft followed eagerly by the crew and we settled down for the ride. Paddling hard and fast through the rapids we were thrown left, right, up and down whilst negotiating the fast flowing river with expert advice from a very loud Rebecca shouting, Hold and tuck in, paddle hard and get down which I thought we were all very good at. Half way down the first run we hit a rock and I was thrown sideways. Clinging on to the raft with one hand and oar in the other divine intervention came in the form of a hand from Carol who helped me steady myself only for Carol to fall off the other side and into the bubbling white foam. We all sprang into action to pull Carol back into the raft whilst at the same time nearly breaking her legs in our struggle to save one of the crew from what would have been a much undignified trip down river. We managed to avoid any further incidents along the run and alighted from the river all smiles, even Carol.

On our second descent the evil Rebecca said that she would ramp up the excitement with a death defying second run as she felt we were up for the challenge and seemed to revel in all the perils that river had to throw at us. We were obviously comfortable in the water which shouldn’t surprise most of you.

We set off again and were told to keep paddling no matter what through all the drops and splashes and that we would come out the other side better for it. We did and what a blast, we descended like no other six person rafting team has ever descended before, paddling hard through the turbulent water and powering through the other side. A great team effort was rewarded by a fantastic photograph of the excited team racing through the fast flowing river.

A great day was had by all and was finished off with a very welcome hot shower, Bacon bap for John and I and a lovely cup of tea. Superb.