Could be the reason for the somewhat disappointing results yesterday though there may yet be other reports.
One report today anyway from below Hereford where the colour is still poor and even worse below the Lugg. First fish of the season For John Lowe a bright 9 1/2lb hen fish taken on a green and yellow flying C.
Look like there is to be a meeting in Llandrindod on the 30th June where POWYS CC may be looking at further ways of regulating canoes. Canoe outlets have been invited to attend.. Prompted so say the press by the death on the river of a young girl eight years ago -god they move fast these councilors.
I saw the below which was part of a revue one of one of the local canoe outlets.
Whilst quite funny in some ways there could have been tragic consequences once again. These near misses as we all know are far to common. It is as they say an accident waiting to happen sooner or later apart from the fact of course they where operating where there is no right of public navigation. See below.
"The next day is when the real issues commenced. We had kayaking included as part of our trip and after waiting for the heinously impolite Barbara to make her way down to the river; us and another group (who had been waiting as they were 'scared' to go and find her) were given a fun-sucking tutorial of how to move a paddle. Then off we went.
Five minutes into the paddle the river termed extremely rough and me and my friend ending up ploughing into a tree and the kayak overturned on top of us, trapping us both between the underwater branch and the heavy kayak. Understandably this sounds overdramatic, but having not been briefed on any safety issues, told what to do if we capsized and being total novices at the sport, we panicked. The current was so strong it was dragging us both down the river violently and our clothes and skin were ripped by the rocks and branches of the river. Eventually we were able to grab hold of a log, whilst our friends watched on helplessly from the other side of the river. After being in the water for around 5 minutes we was able to scramble up the steep embankment and wave down a farmer on a tractor in his field to come and get us.
During the truly terrifying experience, my friend and I lost our shoes in the current along with our phones, wallets and other items in our pockets. So left utterly freezing and shaken, the very kind farmer gave us a lift back to the campsite. On the journey the farmer was shocked to hear that anyone had been allowed Kayak down the river that day as the water level was so high and fast, even more shocked that we weren't given wet suites or any safety instructions. Furthermore, he informed us that we were not the first to have a close call and that others have lost their lives on the river.
To add insult to serious injury when we arrived back at the campsite we were again treated as if we were pests. There was no concern, no apology, not even an offer of a warm drink. When we asked if we could borrow the tumble drier for our clothes you would of thought we had asked them to give up their first born. We then had to run, bare foot in the hail wearing only leggings and a tee-shirt down the filthy mud track into the equally filthy shower block to warm up.
When Barbara finally arrived back with our friends in tow, she only called us silly little girls. She mocked us for wanting to know if there was any way we could dry off our hair exclaiming ‘err, your in the country now little girls’. She then told us that we could go back and get out boat out of the river later! 2
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Far from an untypical experience I would suggest.
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