Lee Valley White Water Centre — Attraction in Broxbourne

I visited the Lee Valley Centre with a friend, booking us for a Saturday 2.30PM White Water Rafting session. The whole experience at the Lee Valley Centre is incredibly well organized and drilled.

Upon arrival, you are provided wetsuits, water boots and instructions on how to use the free lockers provided on the hallway. The lockers provided are midsize and allow for the storage of a medium sized bag. It can be a chaotic scene at the end of each group as people scramble to find their locker. My suggestion is to bring a large towel and a bathing suit as the changing rooms feature showers.

The group then gathers outside where instructors hangout the helmets, floating jackets. Following the kit distribution, you are given a briefing on the liabilities and requirements (including age and medical conditions) of the event which led to signing a standard release form. Once the forms are released you are taken to a safety briefing around how to use the raft and paddle including the procedure to get individuals that have fallen into the rapids back onto the raft. The group is then separated into smaller groups - each assigned to an instructor and a raft. The final procedure prior to jumping on the rafts is a swimming test. The swimming consists of jumping into the water, getting dragged downstream by the current and upon given instruction swim to the edge. It is a fun exercise and one that most people pass and enjoy as it gets the body going. Once these procedures are complete you jump into the rafts and conduct some basic training on the rafts including basic instructions such as getting down and turning. Once up and running and depending on the speed of the track, each session will consist of four to five runs down the circuit that get progressively more intense.

The entire experience is amazingly fun and safe. The crew and instructors are friendly and knowledgeable. Our instructor Tom was a seasoned whitewater trainer and made everybody feel incredibly safe yet entertained. I highly recommend a visit to the Lee Valley Centre and taking part in the White...

Insanely good!

We chose the Rafting Unleashed experience. There was a short water test beforehand which was a good introduction to what to expect. I would say the test was a little rougher than the website video made it look. My friend was not expecting to be dunked in the baby rapid and declined. The water to 'shore' moved a lot faster than in the video and I was not prepared for that.

You don't have to be a great, or even mediocre swimmer but water confidence is a real must. You will get dunked, splashed, dragged and swirled.

The best way I can describe the event, is a steer your own rollercoaster experience. If you have never imagined steering a rollercoaster it's a lot harder than it looks!

The website warns that this is a robust experience and a degree of fitness is beneficial. As a person who spent most of the last lockdown on the sofa I can confirm They did not lie.

Tim was a great instructor, he swapped us round to make sure we all suffered equally and pushed us through the Rapids front back and sideways to ensure that near death never felt far away.

I did fall in. I was rescued & reunited with my motley crew. Half of whom I did not know but now feel an abiding camaraderie.

It was a huge shock to the system and very disorienting, there were many times I felt at risk but I always felt safe from harm.

As an aside, you may discover aspects to yourself and loved ones you never knew. Will you drag someone with you when you fall? Will others try to save you? Do your people see you bob by in a whirlpool without remorse? Team Jack or Team Rose . The...

My Wife and I visited, as this is something she'd wanted to do for years. We were pleasantly surprised at the whole venue. Very large, scenic and nicely laid out.

There are lots of onsite facilities, including a food outlet, bar and many seating and viewing opportunities.

We did the Rafting Unleashed experience, which we loved. We'd never done White Water Rafting before, so opted for this as opposed to the Rodeo Rafting. My only criticism is that I could not get a clear answer as to the difference between the two, either from the website or when I called. In a nutshell, the Olympic Course has 5 levels, determined by the number of water inlets they run. Rafting Unleashed is on Level 3, Rodeo Rafting is on Level 4. If someone had told me that, I would have had a better chance to understand the difference. in essence, I think we did the right thing as newbies, but if we there had been the availability for us to return the next day and do the Rodeo Rafting, we would have done it in a heartbeat.

For either of these experiences, you'll need to be fairly fit. You'll be actively rowing the craft as it makes its way down the course. Battling the current and tides, rowing with and against. The experience is more exciting if everyone is actively and enthusiastically participating to the rowing. With that aside, it is brilliant and I highly recommend it. We will definitely...