Three times a year during the winter season, the famous Welsh tourist spot of Llangollen is hit by a wave of entirely different visitors. Paddlers from all over Britain come to take part in one of the WCA's tours of the local river. The trio of Dee Weekends starts with an early bird session in November, often inhibited by low water levels, followed by the pre-Christmas run in December, which seems to attract the largest crowd, and the Frostbite Tour in early January, aptly named for the often below zero temperatures which - combined with the freezing water - are enough to make even the hardiest and most confident paddle freaks shiver at the thought.

However, the Dee and Llanggollen are always worth the four hour drive past the Welsh border. The most interesting section of the river, from Horseshoe Weir down to Town Falls, features a nice mixture of adrenaline-raising rapids, good play spots and short gentle drifts which afford the paddler a relaxing view of the admirable scenery. But non-canoeists - whether devoted or put off by the weather and water conditions - will find a choice of pastimes, too. The rolling hills of the surrounding countryside invite for walks of any length - Velvet Hill Path f.e. leaves right across the road from where most canoeists take their access. Hugging the hillside, it follows the Dee straight back into town. The river is well in sight most of the time and one can hear the roar of Serpent's Tail and the shouts and cheers of the intrepid folk playing in it. The path also takes the walker past the ruins of an old abbey, just one of a myriad of official points of interest which also include a castle, lookout tower, the old state mines and many more.

The quaint town itself begs for a day’s attention, too. That is not only to join the crowds on the bridge watching the paddlers defy the trickiest of the rapids: Town Falls, of which they say that one stands a chance of one in ten of getting hurt in a swim... (No wonder the bridge during paddle weekends seems to be an attraction of its own!). But there are loads of special shops close by, boasting rather unorthodox curiosities, like the Candle Shop which indeed sells nothing but candles - masterpieces from Chinese dragons to fairy tale castles and Merlin the Wizard himself to amazingly real-looking frogs about to leap off the table-side. Or "Wholly Cats", another oddity which features all sorts of knickknack shaped like or otherwise connected with the beloved felines. And then there is "Café & Books", the most remarkable place selling refreshments and snacks in the basement (one of the canoeists haunts when they are after a quick warm-up/energy injection) and second-hand-books upstairs. They claim to permanently have around 75'000 pieces on show and "specialise" in having everything. Plus of course there is a wealth of Welsh crafts shops, usually easy to identify by a large selection of wooden "lovespoons" in their display windows. Apart from sheep, those seem to be the most prominent Welsh item, relating to a time when they were not tourist souvenirs but exquisite objects of labour of love with which Welsh boys would court their chosen ladies.

Apart from historical places and shops, Llangollen is a place of hotels and B&Bs, but - more attuned to ACC budgets - it also has a Youth Club which can be rented as an overnight and, although without beds, comes with hot showers, kitchen facilities and two pool tables. Needless to say, this is where our respective delegations made their domicile - minus Sid & Clare on the 2nd tour who bottled out into a B&B!

The first trip under Jezz's lead had a good amount of "Dee First-Timers" going. Unfortunately, the group split up on the second day (find an account of the novices’ solo adventures in “D-Day on the Dee”). A leaking boat brought further problems to the main group: Sonia who had borrowed Kev’s old Pyranha boat got wet from below instead of above and despite repeated repairs, the craft did not really live up to the challenge of the river. Maybe trust a good old Club Rotobat next time, Sonia?!?

Despite the generally large numbers of people on the December run, the ACC group under Sean’s order was a rather small lot and further diminished by Seal, John and his Dad packing off to the Tryweryn to take part in a 5* training course, Petra being put off by the cold (minus degrees!) which had come early this winter and Sean keeping her company on Saturday (talk of chain reactions).

On Sunday, however, he braved the temperatures after a good night's rest (John was on his best behaviour, probably due to the presence of his Dad, which in turn seemed to keep Seal in check as well - what bliss!). While Petra and Adele took the Beardies along Velvet Path, Sean and Jezz made the two mile river journey surprisingly fast: apparently, playing between islands of frozen grass is not enough excitement to keep you warm on a river you do three times a year…

Finally, Sean was in charge of the Frostbite Tour again, this time together with Jezz, and added a new dimension to the Dee Experience by bringing his Duo and taking white water novice Fera down the rapids. This was good fun although it ended in a swim for Fera past Town Falls when Sean rolled the boat back up with that "Oops, where is my passenger?" effect. No damage done, though, and Fera commented: "It was freezing. My hand was on the deck before I could even think of the fact that this was probably not a good idea…". We don't blame her…

The evening was spent in true ACC manner between Bridge End pub and the Sarah Ponsonby where we were lucky enough to get an arrangement for dinner (saying "we got a table" would be preposterous as we had 6 people crammed around 3 tiny round bar tables, but the food made up for it and we even got the bar maid chatting and joking - we now know that dark brews are being kept at 4°!!!). Most of us made an early exit back to the Club trying to catch up on sleep after the morning drive down, unfortunately screwed up by the Mad Duo of Seal and John (no longer under Daddy’s watching eye...) who mistook the Youth Club for a disco and kept shooting pool balls all over the place as well. Must be strong stuff, that Welsh beer…

The second day awaited us with a nasty surprise. If Saturday had been cold but brilliant, Sunday morning dawned frosty under a light cover of snow!!! The thermometer was stuck at -6° and that was when Fera, Petra and Mark opted out for the day. Even Sean demanded a trip to the mobile paddle shop, to get himself a pair of pogies, because he had forgotten his… Thus came he missed the extra-curricular of the day: John kayaking down the hillside above Horseshoe Weir for a joke and, lacking the means to break, overshooting the footpath right into the river and going down the falls sideways. “Faux-pas proper”, luckily without consequences…

Mark tried an easier version of this new-style canoeing technique later on: down the 2 meter slope behind the Youth Club, much to the amusement of some local kids, who did the same piece on their sleds!

All in all, it was three marvellous weekends for the Club members in Wales - after all, going to the Dee is not just going paddling, it is an institution!

By Petra Hudson, January 1999