Taf Fechan
It’s the end of May and I’m up early to go boating… well sort of, the plan is to take our boats for a walk down the Melte as Mark hasn’t done it before. What makes this plan even more stupid is I’m driving to the cage from North Bristol. The group is soon assembled it’s me, Matt Jones, Mark Shackleton, Steve Venton and a guy called Neville who hasn’t been on a river in 17 years, we arrange to meet Stewart Anderton in Magor. Given the group we decide that taking our boats for a walk may not be the best plan so I suggest the Taf Fechan it’s grade IV and starts with a 15 foot stepped fall so Mark can have his waterfall fix.
Once we get to the river it’s clear there isn’t as much water as we expected and to make matters worse the fall is only possible by running either a grade V gorge or a sketchy seal launch that lands you right next to a tree with serious entanglement potential, this was one seal launch you wanted to land reasonably flat from despite the height and lack of aeration. I decide to go first as I have the camera, I take some time explaining to Neville how and where I want to land. Having checked my deck is secure Neville gives me a push, but not a very hard one, as I head near vertical into the water it’s clear I’m going to be upside down, oh s*!t, I roll up in time and sneak past the tree and over the drop. Matt and Mark make it look much easier, unfortunately I set the camera on timer by mistake so didn’t get any pictures after all.
Once below the fall we re-group and head down river giving Neville plenty of time to warm up. After about 30 minutes I sense a lynch mob forming, the river appears to be no harder than III- and the group aren’t happy except for Neville who keeps asking what grade it is.
Fortunately just before I have to make a run for it the river steps up a gear and enters the first of many grade IV- mini gorges that would be a much more serious undertaking in higher water.
The fun continues with the drops getting better and better until we commit ourselves to a gorge only to find a tree blocking the exit. We take some time exploring the options. The portage on the left involves either climbing an overhang, or going 200m or so back upstream, there simply isn’t a route on the right. All of a sudden Matt and Mark disappear over the drop and manage to find the bank at the bottom, it appears the current isn’t as strong after the drop as we thought and it’s going to be possible to hop out and take a simple walk around the tree. The only snag is the drop needs a boof as there is a hitherto unseen tree on the right hand side by the portage route, on the plus side Matt’s probing shows rolling under the tree is an option if it all goes wrong. One by one we run the drop and make the portage until only Neville is left, we’re a little concerned as the boof wasn’t invented last time he was on a river, he comes up trumps and lands perfectly in the eddy.
The river now eases off but manages to throw in one last surprise a perfect play hole, it’s not deep but has two great ends for flat spins, it’s just a shame we all had creek boats.
“Little” Rich Puttock
