10%

Packrafting in Wales. River Dee. Llangollen

Or a story of how, by chance, I've been in the right place at the right time

By Packrafting.cat

August 22^nd, 2024

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

Post in Spanish

Check Packrafting en Gales Rio Dee Llangollen

https://packrafting.exposure.co/packrafting-en-gales-rio-dee-llangollen

Is not Scotland but...

I'm sure it was one of the best decisions on my life! The original plan was to return to Scotland after dropping the family off at East Midlands Airport. I had been planning all year which rivers I would visit in Scotland. I had even taken some notes on my Github.

Guess what I did at the last minute? Correct! Doubt and change my plans! It was hard for me to drive more than 9 hours to return to rainy Scotland, so I Googled the keyword kayak and found a town called Llangollen in Wales that had a kayak club and a river where people do rafting. The Dee River!

Wales was not in my initial plans, but how great our lack of knowledge can be! We do not know what we do not know, you know? 😜

So in a few hours I arrived in Llangollen TNR Outdoors car park at night and surprise!

WTF is happening? Lots of kayakers are packing up their gear! Precisely on Mondays the people of the Canoe Llangollen club meet. Here I was lucky enough to meet Mark Owen. Thanks Mark for hosting me!

Facebook group of Llangollen Canoe Club

Packrafting in Wales. River Dee. Llangollen

Wales Kayak Wonderland

In this post I will talk exclusively about the circular section of the River Dee, the classic section that begins at Horseshoe Falls and ends in Llangollen. But let me give you a spoiler about other places in Wales that are perfect for Packraft. The Welsh have a great canoe tradition!:

An unique circular route in Packraft

Here you have the only circular river kayak route that I know of so far.

My Google Map

Check a Google Map about packrafting in Wales.

OK! I know! With the Packraft it is not as revealing, but the fact of having a channel that allows you to paddle back to the starting point is a bonus.

In the river

From Horseshoe Falls to Llangollen Town Weir. 3'5km aprox and hour playing in the river.

Put in above or below horseshoe falls (be careful with Packraft, avoid the falls It could be dangerous!), this is located just above Chain Bridge hotel on the true river left side. There's a free car park with toilets (that hardly ever open) where you can park and get changed. Walk down towards chain bridge and up the canal to horse shoe falls.

Take out is 200 meters after town falls (under the bridge in Llangollen town) on river left. You'll see some steps leading out of the river and to a car park. Optional: you can came back to Horseshoe falls paddling through the channel.

The River Dee (Afon Dyfrdwy in Welsh) has two notable level III-IV rapids:

Serpents tail can also produce an almighty stopper capable of handing out some spankings.
Town Falls at Langollen bridge. The tourists love seeing people go down town falls.

From GUIDE TO THE RIVER DEE:

WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: You can paddle this section of the Dee at any level (in between empty and Deebezi levels, it all goes). There's a gauge at MEM, the lowest you'll ever see it is 2 which makes a great introductory level. Anything above 8 is considered medium, and when the gauge isn't there - that's high. The gauge is based on an island in the middle of the flow, sometimes the island isn't there - that's Deebezi levels. Looking up from the bridge in Llangollen, if it looks stepped with rocks showing - that's low. If no rocks are showing in the channel then around medium. If the river is wall to wall full, then it's between high and Deebezi. The Dee takes a while to fill up, usually comes up the day after rain and stays up for a good few days afterward.

GRADING: Mostly grade 3 depending on water level 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: Three weirs - Horseshoe falls, broken weir on the right hand channel of MEM(Mile End Mill), broken weir next to the get out after Town falls.

Many people run Horseshoe falls at low levels but anything around or above medium then the tow back becomes rather dangerous... and big, you can't reach this weir with a throwline. An alternative route is the far left side but watch out for trees. The broken weir at MEM is on the right hand side of the last island and is closed off by an orange floating pipe. It's full of metal spikes. The broken weir below Town falls is also full of metal spikes but there's a channel on the left to the get out.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: For the whole run, start at Horseshoe falls which is the horseshoe shaped weir at the put in. Careful running this down the middle at anything around or above medium flows (see hazards). There's a couple left channels which by passes Horseshoe falls if it's too high to run the weir. Sometimes there are trees in these channels so keep your eyes peeled! Alternatively you can just portage on river left.

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, along with an almighty stopper at the sting of the tail.

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 is the home of Nomad kayaks. 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, go left (as right has the nasty metally spiky weir). The left channel has a super awesome play wave which you can spend hours and hours on.

Town Falls

From GUIDE TO THE RIVER DEE

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, I personally think hard right over the slab works.

Directly below the Bridge is Llangollen Town Weir, the metally spiky one (See hazards). Be careful avoid with your packraft!. Slide down the hard left shoot to the get out with the steps - easy! In high flows this can produce a biiig stopper.

You could go for another lap if you're keen by walking up the steep hill to the canal and paddle back to the top.

My favourite photo

Thanks to Allan Potts (eaglesnestphoto on Instagram) for capturing this photo of me in Town Falls! People are amazing, he contacted me in Instragram (thanks to geo tagging!) and sent me the photo 😍

Llangollen Canal

I agree that with the packraft the small current against the channel is going to make you sweat and that walking with the Packraft in your backpack would still take the same amount of time. But rowing through the canal is an experience in itself.

Horseshoe Falls

The name says it all. Be careful avoid it can be dangerous!

Bikerafting on river Dee

The secion

How to arrive to Llangollen

AIRPORT CONNECTIONS

Liverpool (John Lennon Airport) 1h.

MANCHESTER AIRPORT (MAN)

1h connection.

Water levels

Resources:

https://riverpredictor.uk/dee_horseshoe_falls_llangollen
https://riverlevels.uk/dee-corwen-community-corwen-dee

Where to sleep

You can use park4nigth of course, but I recommend you this camping, is cheap, great location, nice option!

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct

An alternative activity near Llangollen.

Photo from TNR Outdoors, you can contract a Guided Aqueduct Canoe Trip with them.

The river is a living environment, changing and subject to permanent development. The publishers of the river sketches and the creators of this website cannot be held liable in any case of inaccuracy, omission or error in the river sketches. The topos editors and website creators disclaim all liability in case of any accident that may occur on the rivers described in this guide.