CSCC Reports 2003: River Usk, 22-23 November 2003

Saturday 22nd - that magic day when England won something somewhere a long way away - meant that we started a little late, leaving the B&B in Brecon just after the final score in the rugby. We ran the classic Sennybridge to Aberbran Bridge stretch. The river was pretty low, and those of us who'd been out inspecting in the morning, were gloomy until we started - to find that it wasn't anything like as bad as it looked. This stretch of river has 3 ledge-drops on it - illustrated below. The first, just round a bend in the river, was run river right - some made it look easier than others! The second was a simple drop over the lip at this level (would be more interesting in high water). The third, a dog-leg ledge, was run over the main drop. The high water route down the right hand side wasn't navigable! In high water, the left hand route we took, could well prove lethal...

Sunday 23rd, we did the run from Talybont to Llangynidr and, for some of us, on to Crickhowell. The best stretch is the middle bit, the mile or so before and after Llangynidr Bridge. Unfortunately, there are a couple of miles of nearly flat water at the beginning and the end of the trip. Pictures here show Mill Falls - a straightforward drop down the main falls, the river left route was too low, at these levels - and "Spuhler's Folly" (aka Gliffaes), the latter arriving sooner after Llangynidr Bridge than we remembered.

I've added brief captions to each of the pictures.

All images ©2003 CSCC/David Pearson/Peter and Hilary Lawrence