Canolfan Tryweryn is the National White Water Centre for Wales, and is based near

Bala Bala may refer to: Places India *Bala, India, a village in Allahabad, India * Bala, Ahor, a village in the Jalore district of Rajasthan * Bala, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India Romania * Bala, Mehedinți, a commune in Mehedinţi ...

in north

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. It developed the first commercial white water

rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

operation in the UK in 1986, and since then has grown to become the largest and one of the most well-known rafting organisations in the UK. The centre is home to paddlesport National Governing Body

Canoe Wales Canoe Wales ( cy, Canŵ Cymru) is the national governing body for paddlesport in Wales. It covers all branches of the sport from recreational canoeing, kayaking, stand up paddleboarding and rafting to whitewater racing, slalom racing and wild ...

. The National White Water Centre is ideal for

canoeing Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. Common meanings of the term are limited to when the canoeing is the central purpose of the activity. Broader meanings include when it is combined with other acti ...

kayaking Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...

, play-boating and coached groups who sometimes run BCU/ CW Star Awards.

The River Tryweryn

The

Tryweryn The Tryweryn is a river in the north of Wales which starts at Llyn Tryweryn in the Snowdonia National Park and after joins the river Dee at Bala. One of the main tributaries of the Dee, it was dammed in 1965 to form Llyn Celyn, drowning the ...

is a river in north

. It flows from Llyn Celyn in the

Snowdonia National Park Snowdonia or Eryri (), is a mountainous region in northwestern Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three national parks in Wales, in 1951. Name and extent It was a commonly held belief that the nam ...

and after 19 km (12 miles) joins the river Dee at

. It is one of the main tributaries of the Dee and has been

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

med to form

Llyn Celyn Llyn Celyn () is a reservoir constructed between 1960 and 1965 in the valley of the River Tryweryn in Gwynedd, Wales. It measures roughly long by wide, and has a maximum depth of . It has the capacity to hold of water. It was originally ...

. Water is stored in winter when flows are high, and released over the summer to maintain the flow in the Dee, meaning that the river often has suitable water levels for kayakers and rafters at time of year when natural rivers throughout Wales may be too low. Usually between 9 and 12 m³/s (2000 to 3000 gallons per second) are released by the dam. The

whitewater Whitewater forms in a rapid context, in particular, when a river's gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that froths, making the water appear opaque and ...

rapids have been modified by placing boulders in strategic points along the course of the river to create eddys, drops and play spots. Access to the centre requires payment for both commercial and non-commercial users. The river is generally split into three sections: Top Site, Centre Section and the Lower Tryweryn.

Top Site

This constitutes the section of river leading from the stilling basin below the

dam down to where the fish trap was located. The fish-trap – known as the ''chipper'' because it resembles a chip-slicer – was removed in November 2019. This section is a nice

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

to Grade III, with a good play-hole (the "Top-Hole") and a playful weir. The section is often used for safety and rescue courses, as well as kayaking freestyle competitions. Officially there is no raft or canoe access to this top section.

The Centre Section

This section (commonly known as the "Upper Tryweryn") is the main part of the Tryweryn, it runs for approximately from the chipper down to the Tyn Cornel camping site, and is a good Grade III. It contains most of the main features of the river (in order of occurrence): * The Graveyard * The Ski Jump * Fedwr Gog Falls (aka Miss Davis' Bridge, or 'Stone' bridge), * Café Wave * Fingers * NRA (

National Rivers Authority The National Rivers Authority (NRA) was one of the forerunners of the Environment Agency of England and Wales, existing between 1989 and 1996. Before 1989 the regulation of the aquatic environment had largely been carried out by the ten region ...

) Bridge * Chapel Falls

The Lower Tryweryn

Running the from the Tyn Cornel campsite down to Bala, this is a good

bordering on Grade III section which finishes spectacularly at Bala Mill Falls (an easily portaged Grade IV rapid). This section is not managed like the upper Tryweryn, although the centre has been known to remove fallen trees and other obstructions/hazards quickly.

References

External links