Bala Lake in Wales - a scenic paddle with 'bumpy' waves in the wind!

Bala Lake (or Llyn Tegid) is the largest natural lake in Wales. It's in the Snowdonia National Park and has views of the mountains on both sides of the lake. It's 3.7 miles long and 0.5 miles wide and makes an interesting paddle for kayaks, canoes and paddle boards.

Bala Lake, Wales and looking towards the Snowdonia mountains.

The car park (W3W) is at the north end of the lake and has plenty of spaces (in the height of summer, it might be busy!). You can pay your parking and paddling fee at the machines in the car park.

Access to the water is via either a grass slope or a slate walkway into the water.

We visited over a weekend and, on the Saturday, it was mill pond flat and, on the Sunday, it was windy with some waves to contend with.

Bala Lake as flat as a pancake. Stunning reflections though!

As with any open water, you do need to check the weather and make adjustments to your trip accordingly. When we paddled, it was windy and rained a little too. The mist dropped low off the hills and obscured the view several times.

A simple round trip on the lake is to paddle up one side, cross over the lake and paddle back down the otherside. This is what we did. We paddled about 2.5 miles although you could easily go further or less.

The wind was against us paddling up and it made it hard to paddle across the lake. It was behind us coming back which made it much easier and gave us a few small surf waves!

Paddling up Bala Lake with the clouds dropping off the Snowdonia mountains

There are some spots on the side of Bala Lake for stopping and taking on snacks, but be aware of any private property signs and always take your litter home with you.

Chris was paddling his paddle board and Issac and Alex were paddling touring kayaks. Chris was more affected by the weather and did need to make some adjustments to stay on course.

Issac and Alex loved the choppy waves and the surfing back down the lake.

Dave smashing through a wave on Bala Lake, Wales

Bala Lake is home to the myth that a dragon called 'Teggie' lives at the bottom of the lake. It's a scary thought and we certainly kept our eyes open and paddled faster knowing this!

Do keep a look out and if you see 'Teggie' - get a photo!

Here's the video of our trip to Bala Lake in Wales. A great trip and lots of fun.

PS. Paddlesports can be dangerous.
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