Kayaking the Afon Artro in 1999!

The 2nd October 1999 was the day.

It had been raining in Wales and we were looking for a good river to paddle.

On the map, the Artro looked perfect so we set off to inspect. Luckily the river can be seen from the road and the water level looked great.

Randomly there were some trees across some parts of the river, but these could be avoided by portaging.

We put in where the river leaves the lake and followed the main flow down a technical rocky stretch. Lots of bumps and scrapes!

Next was a reasonable size three-part fall which can be inspected clearly from river right. Rescue can be set up just below the middle part of the fall.

The Afon Artro - at a very low level - much higher when I paddled it (c) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Afon_Artro_river_-_panoramio_-_Keith_Ruffles.jpg#filelinks

The river then moves away from the road and continues to be rocky and technical.

There are several small river splits that drain the main flow and create very shallow rock hops.

As the flow began to swell, the river became deeper, more entertaining and easier to paddle.

By the time the next bridge was reached, the river is a good grade III and similar in nature to the Tryweryn above Bala Mill falls for those familiar.

Nice.

Most of the river could be easily inspected and leaves some interesting holes and surf waves. Great fun on a river like this.

Just below the bridge after the put-in is the Gorge section.

We inspected this from river right and were sure to make the breakout!

Best to inspect the breakout on the way up.

The three main falls in the Gorge are technical, but the river flow gives a good line.

As mentioned above, the third fall looks like a flat, tongued flow, but is a drop of about three feet. No major problems on the falls other than the steep sides of the Gorge making rescue more difficult.

Follow the river under the bridge at Pen-y-Bont. The next bridge after Pen-y-Bont had a tree across it (no way through!) when we paddled. Again, inspect on the way up.

The breakout here is river left to carry the boats over the bridge and get in river right (seal launch off the concrete river bank) if the tree causes a hazard.

The Afon Cwmnantcol merges into the river from river left just below the bridge and adds more flow. The run down to the Llanbedr road bridge is continuous.

The weir below the bridge (about 200 metres) is runnable with care.

We got out just above the second weir, next to the layby.

It was a great day out and a brilliant little river to paddle.

Dave on a whitewater river like the Artro - he looks startled!

At the time, I wrote a guide for the river and it was published on the UK Rivers Guide Book website. See it here:

Afon Artro - Cwm Bychan lake to Llanbedr

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