I reckon this is pretty low for the Tawe but even so there was hardly any scraping and it was a good level for what for all of us apart from Matt was a first run on the river. For comparison, here's a similar image of the level on the Usk (at Brecon) which I ran the following day. This was pretty high for the Usk - just goes to show how different the water catchments can be.
Anyway back to the Tawe. It's a pretty continuous section, though not particularly technical even at the low level we had. There were two memorable features. The first involved a slide over a horizon line down into a frothing pool leading straight into a narrow (2 boat width?) short gully, the left hand side of which was clearly undercut. The second was a fall (8ft?). Matt ran first going straight down the obvious slot into the foaming water. Ben, in his play boat, took the same line but with a short boat got somewhat munched. Luckily, Nick rescued one of Ben's boots on its way down river. Ben stayed by his boat held by the water, admiring the view for a bit, before managing to swim away. My run involved me flaring off the left side of the slot. Nick took a similar approach but got turned so he faced the fall when at the bottom but back paddled successfully while Paul ran it impressively dynamically, landing almost too horizontally for his back. This is a great river. We must make it a regular trip, bearing in mind that it's not suitable for beginners and that the water level is critical. It goes up to Grade 5 by all accounts in big water! We finished off with the traditional pint to do our bit to support the local economy.
