Wrong way up a one way street!

My tale begins a few weeks ago when I came up with the crazy idea of doing the Tryweryn the wrong way! Yes that’s right starting in Bala and journeying up the river. Its a canoe thing. I was inspired by the tails of someone having done this from the road bridge part way down, up to by Chapel Falls. Just so you know Polling is one of the traditional canoe skills dating back to the times of the fur trade and the Voyageurs, where this skill would have been used for up stream travel in order to access other areas and rivers etc. It is said to be the fastest way of progressing upstream under human power, and in shallow water is often the only way to progress either up or downstream.

The technique requires the paddler to stand up in their canoe (good balance needed) and to then propel the canoe forward with the use of a pole, some 12-13 feet long. Sounds simple, but believe or not it takes some practice. There are Poling competitions/races held abroad and there is actually a world champion. Some of these competitions also require that some drops are climbed, again using the pole.

So my idea was hatched, my aim was to ascend as far up as I could before the water went off, but without portaging as such and to try and pole as much as possible with only the odd “Glide & Slide” over rocks or the quick use of a line. I asked a good friend of mine to accompany me for morale, as a photographer and as a witness to my efforts. Unlucky for him he didn’t realise my intentions and even worse, I still ask him to accompany me now on more challenges I have planned. So thank you for that Iain.

So the day arrived and we met in Bala behind the Fire Station, where I broke the news to him of my intention. Shock is the word that springs to mind! Not only that but he also reminded me that the river was on a 10 cumec release that day. As we prepared for our venture a group arrived in the car park for a drop off and asked us of our planned day. Again the look of shock on their faces was a picture, and I don’t really think they believed us or thought it could be done. They did however wish us luck and said they would see how far we managed to get as they came down. Added very tongue in cheek were the words “Expect to see you just above the falls then in a few hours then!”

I would be lying to say it wasn’t challenging at times. Some sections took several attempts to get the line right, and I did take one swim when a branch jumped out on me from behind, lost my boat and resulted Iain having to rescue it some distance down stream and me being on the opposite bank. My pole took somewhat of a hammering and now has more bends and kinks in it than a mountain track. On one occasion I thought I would be clever and try and bend it back by placing it between two rocks and bend it the opposite way. Not too sure that was a good move.

The day moved on and Ian admitted it was a bit too much for him, and so adopted more of a support role/spectator preferring to laugh at my efforts and at times frustration. I only needed to use lines once and slid over the rocks on a couple of occasions, but most was done with the aid of a pole. A few hours into it the group we had seen at the car park came down he river astonished at how far we had made it and congratulated us along with a few sarcastic comments.

Not long after a group of kayakers came floating by offering such words of wisdom as “Aren’t you going the wrong way” or “Its much easier going down“. Thanks for that. By now the time had moved on and it was close to the water shut off time so whilst Iain rested I pushed on further up to the road bridge, more often know as Half Way Bridge passing another kayaker whom I recognized and also looked in disbelief and offered words of encouragement like “Why would you want to do that.” Just short of the bridge by only 50 or so meters I stopped and turned around conscious of the time and made my way back to Ian and his resting spot. It had taken four and half hours to get this far, but it only took 40 min to get back down to the carpark.

Tired but happy we loaded boats and chatted about the day. I feel confident next time I could complete the trip all the way from the Fire Station up to Chapel Falls, but only time will tell and I will save that for another day.

You can read Iain’s full account of the day by visiting the link here.

Thanks Iain for being my wing man and writing the article. I look forward to our next adventure together. By the way have I told you of my next plan….?

See you on the water..