Lowri Davies

Well,? I’m back in the UK after 10 weeks of paddling and adventures in Siberia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan! We paddled? multi-day rivers, each up to 6 days of self support (food, tent, sleeping bag and thermarest all packed in the back of our kayaks)? on big? volume class 4-5 rivers, running through huge canyons,? between? steep, forest-lined rocky mountains in the heart of the Altai Mountains in Russia.

Despite draught in Mongolia, we? found gorgeous bedrock slides and waterfalls on my first? 1st decent.

I? partook in a Russian Freestyle Cup event, (beg, stealing and borrowing a playboat to compete)? and came first in the Ladies event and second in the Open!

Of course, there was far more to the trip than just the kayaking. We saw several starkly different cultures and our kayaks helped us to experience and see things you? only could with the 20kg of bright yellow plastic. In Kazakhstan we endured two weeks of waiting for our boats, bribing people and training for Uni life again (drinking). The team blog is still being updated with some of the rivers and adventures that we haven’t yet publicised, so I won’t go into much detail and spoil the surprise,? but keep an eye on http://www.fourbordersexpedition.com/!

I arrived back? to the UK on? Thursday 7th September and was driven back to Wales, just in time for the Plastic Fantastic Alpkit Challenge at the Tryweryn!? Reunited? with? Pinky (my Jackson Star) for the first time in almost 3 months, I felt a bit wobbly in the tiny kayak but? she did me proud. Together we won the Expert Ladies class, earning us £40!

Photo: Emily Wall

After Saturday’s freestyle fun, it was time for the downriver races at Bala Mill – back in my creekboat. Lynsey Evans cheekily? signed me up for the “Speeder Challenge”, which involved racing from the raft get-out of Tryweryn’s main site to below Bala Mill in a 4 meter long tippy touring boat, trying desperately to avoid all the hapless beginners on the way down! 28 minutes later I screamed my way down Bala Mill with a huge grin on my face – it was like being a novice all over again… fantastic fun!

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Now it’s back to working…

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…and University…

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…it’s a hard life