Days 3 to 5
Sunday 8th July: Awoke to rubbish weather on Yns Gybi (Holy Island)
and planned what to do before the pubs opened. Cooked breakfast
for the first and what was to prove to be the only time for the
whole week. Gup burnt my thumb (MIND THAT!). Had a wander round
Holy Island and thought about what canoeing was to come. Didn't
actually do any. Weather was bad though. BBQ for
tea - V.nice.
Monday 9th July: A brighter day so it was time to get the boats
out and sort out the men from the boys. Where better to start
than Penrhyn Mawr. A quick call to Holyhead Coastguard on Sunday
afternoon and some sums from Dave had worked out that we have
to be up early if we were to catch some action. No time to cook
so it was off to Tescos in Holyhead to sample their £1.99
breakfast.
We were on the water around ten
and paddled the mile or so to the mighty Mawr. It was in full
flow when we arrived so we made the most of it and found a small
cove right next to the fast flowing water for lunch. The Coastguard
helicopter was doing exercises around the coast and during one
'fly-by' the winch man gave us a wave - which was nice. Dave and
Gup claimed not to have seen him - fools. After lunch we played
in the caves that are plentiful in that area and decided as we
had only caught the end of the flow that morning we would return
the day after when it would be running one hour later, thus giving
more time to enjoy the waves. One cave in particular was very
long and as it went into the cliff it bent round so no daylight
got in. Very dark and quite a bit too scary for some of the group.
Tesco's for breakfast again tomorrow then! To round the day off
we got some beers in and a few delicacies for the BBQ. Perfect.
Gazebo still standing!
Tuesday 10th July: After another Tescos breakfast we got straight
on with the job in hand. It was a bit blowy so we knew we were
in for some big waves. It was a hell of a paddle out to the Mawr
as the wind was blowing right at us and the swell was HUGE. Getting
round the first couple of corners that proceed the Mawr was not
easy and the paddle out took us about 45 mins. Even from some
distance away it was clear to see that it was going to be pretty
hairy out there. Dave and I looked back but it was 50:50 which
direction was worse so on we went.
We entered the Mawr through the
'chicken shoot' closest to the cliffs - I think that section alone
would have been enough even for some quite experienced paddlers
as the waves made it uneasy going. We investigated the holes in
which we had quite happily been playing. We got as close as we
dare but each wave produced a massive cavern before smashing on
to some very sharp rocks. We weren't going in there for a while!
Stopped in small cove agin for lunch. Tried to dam the ever increasing
river flowing through with the tide. Succeeded in making a small
rapid which we paddled down before heading back out to see how
the waves were doing. In had been quite sunny over lunch so we
thought maybe they'd be a bit smaller.
Yeah right. The swell was ten foot
and rising as a squall of bad weather kicked in from the Irish
Sea. We decided to have a play anyway and I got the award for
the biggest bongo (sidewards surf move) of the week. I can assure
you it was unintentional and i thought i was a gonner! This huge
wave literally picked me up and threw me quite a way through the
main gap in the rocks which makes Penrhyn Mawr. We deicded at
this point that things weren't improving and playing in holes
was too dangerous to consider so we made a break for freedom through
the gap which i had earlier been swept. We were about to investigate
yesterdays cave when Gup saw a man in flourescent yellow clothing
stood waving on the cliff top. He was about to do the decent thing
and give him a wave when the Trearddur Bay lifeboat appeared round
the corner. The lifeboatman gave us some signals so, not knowing
what he was on about (signals must have been in Welsh) we just
sat and stared at them waiting to see what was going on. It turns
out he was going to come in round the back so that he did and
pulled up alongside Dave. The conversation went something like
this:
"Hello Boys. You've been
reported missing..."
"er..."
"Are you parked at (indecipherable
Welsh name)?"
"er... we're parked down the
coast on a beach with a slipway"
"That's the one!..."
"er..."
The coastguard went on to explain
the (slightly over-zealous) life guard on the beach had phoned
for help when we failed to arrive back during the nasty patch
of weather that came over and was a little worried. We assured
them we were fine and knew what we were doing but they insisted
on escorting us back to the beach, which they duly did. We made
sure we paddled through the roughest bits of water possible just
to show we knew what we were doing. We had only been out two-three
hours and thought it funny that he'd been so concerned. We later
found out the Holyhead to Ireland ferry due to leave that afternoon
had been cancelled due to rough seas - THAT'S how big it was out
there! The costguard also warned of force 9 gales for the area.
We were ok anyway, they took Dave's name and address when we got
back to the beach (Gup was doing pirouettes in the two foot surf
just to make sure they knew we were good!) and he told
them we were carrying flares, radios, etc. OK Dave, whatever!
I was a bit dissapointed the coastguard
helicopter didn't turn up. I think if they'd come half an hour
earlier whilst we were hidden in the cove having lunch we may
have been treated to a larger scale rescue!
Revelling in our glory, we told
the story to other canoeists who said they were glad to have us
back (?!?) and we went back to camp. The wind was still very strong
and we could sense there was worse to come. The gazebo was just
about still standing. We straightened the bent poles and roped
it down as best we could, hoping it would see the night out.
We were in need of a pint so we
went off to sample Treaddur Bay's finest, The Seacroft Hotel.
Had tea at the Sea Shanty Cafe by the beach and stayed in the
Seacroft for the rest of the evening, Dave assuring us that usually
he is a good pool player.
