People in Wales who cannot work from home encouraged to use lateral flow self-tests

This announcement from Welsh Government might be relevant to outdoor instructors: “All those who cannot work from home are being encouraged to access lateral flow self-test kits as they are rolled out across Wales. The rapid coronavirus testing kits will be available to collect from local test sites across Wales from Friday (16 April) this … Read more

Controlled release of water from Ystradfellte reservoir 20 April 2021

We have received notification from Dwr Cymru Welsh Water that they “are planning on testing the operation of the reservoir scour valve(s) at Ystradfellte on 20/04/2021. The test involves a short opening of the bottom outlet valve(s) of the reservoir to ensure its efficient functioning.” They have added that “we do not envisage any problems … Read more

Change to river bed in Porth yr Ogof

Continuing our theme of venue updates – thanks to Richard Hill for the following message: “The deep water between the great bedding cave and the collapsed entrances I and J at Porth yr Ogof has been scoured out again and was chest deep on going through today with the Pontneddfechan gauge at 0.22m.”

Changes to venues caused by winter / lockdown – spread the word!

As we all start getting out-and-about again, if you spot any significant changes at venues that you think other providers should know about (e.g. caused by winter weather or by wildlife moving-in during lockdown) – such as those we’ve recently posted about the River Wye and the Sychryd Gorge – please e-mail coordinator@swoapg.com (preferably with … Read more

New hazard in Sychryd Gorge

Thanks to Black Mountain Activities for alerting us to the following new hazard in the Sychryd gorge ‘cascades’ which has arisen over the winter. Please take extra care and review your risk assessments for this area as appropriate… “A lot of movement has occurred during lockdown, winter and high water! Please could we make all … Read more

River Wye Glasbury-Hay – update on launching prohibition at Glasbury Bont

We have received the following information from Powys County Council, confirming that there is currently no permission to launch craft at Glasbury Bont until further notice – hopefully this will be resolved in the next 2 weeks… “Unfortunately, the developments that led to [this prohibition] are very recent, which left us very little time to … Read more

Gunpowder Works track closed due to landslip

Due to a landslip, Brecon Beacons National Park Authority has had to close the track on river-right between the two footbridges at the gunpowder works. This means that, for the time-being, gorge-walking groups should return to Dinas Rock car park over the hilltop, since we don’t currently have permission to use the river-left path between … Read more