canoeing the wye

i'm looking to canoe down the river wye with my old boy in september this year. i'm reasonably proficient with a paddle but the old boy is new to it, we planned it when i left school but i just never happened, he's recently becaome a grandad for the first time and now he's retiring we thought it would be nice to finally do it.

we'll go in a canadian and have our support team - my mum, following us about with all the goodies, i've ordered the guide book from the BCU and we want to start where its reasonably navigable and end up around tintern abbey. white water ain't his style and we want to have a nice relaxing 'bonding' holiday without any nasty surprises, so if anyone has done the trip or knows the area very well i'd love to hear from them.

Phil,

I took my girls a few years ago and we did a two day trip from Hereford to Symonds Yat West, where we hired the Canadian from.

You will not be able to get to Tintern as the river becomes un-navigable below Momouth and below LLandogo it is extremely dangerous and VERY muddy due to being part of the same tidal reach as the Servern, the second higest tidal reach in the World, second only to the Amazon.

The tide is so fast here that it is considered much too dangerous for canoes!

cheers tony, you wouldn't happen to remember the place you hired the canoe from would you?

i used to live in oldbury-upon-severn, so i i've seen the tide - i just didn't know it went that far up the wye!

I will make some enquiries for you, I know it was next to the Caravan park in Symonds Yat West but I can't remember the name, but I will get it for you!!!

Hell Phil,

that was quick, even for me!!!Symonds Yat Canoe Hire

We went down it in a rowing boat from Lydbrook to Symonds Yat one summer. I got fed up with everyone else tipping the boat up because I couldn't swim so I actually did the last couple of miles on a four foot square piece of polystyrene I came across on the bank. The water was low and we had to haul the boat over several gravel bars. Don't expect the salmon fishermen to give you a cheery wave back. From walking and cycling along the bank most of it below Monmouth looks ok to me. I've seen canoes at Bigsweir.

I did this two or three years ago during the easter hols.
We started above Hay, hiring the boats from Wye Valley Canoes who provided us with excellent service. They even gave us laminated information cards detailing the sights on the route and camp sites.

If you start this high up you will get to know the river quite well, -lots of wildlife and tributaries, but few other canoists. -Most of the time it felt as if we had the river to ourselves.
Summer water levels are a little low for a really good run from this far up, so in the larger pools you could feel as if you are paddling forever and getting nowhere. There were only a few mildly exciting spots between Hay and Hereford where we got out.

There are several places to camp on the way either legally or otherwise.

The company provided us with boats and paddles (obviously), bouyancy aids, laminated notes and barrels for our goods. I would add to the list and take:

One light rope for tying the boats up and possibly to help getting up the bank.
Stove -Brewing up mid river is fun!
Sandals -Dont go into the river in shoes, your feet will stink forever
Hat, sunglasses and bug protection.

Important advice:
1: Always wear the bouyancy aid
2: Always tie the canoe up well when getting out for a break
3: Dont let go of your paddle (its embarrasing)
4: Get wet, Have fun.

The UK Rivers Guide may also be of assistance.

Wye Valley Canoes ???? http:// at the front of the address makes all the difference!

cheers to you all for your advice, i'm deeply grateful for the information as it'll make a old(ish)! man very happy.

wye vally canoes & symonds yat canoe hire look like the front runners at the moment, though there are quite a few companies offering a similar service for similar prices - its just that nobody has recommended any of the others yet!

thanks again.

Regarding the Lower Wye. It is not navigable below Monmouth with a series of rapids and weirs. They can be negotiated by the experienced, but it is generally not wise for novices to venture there. From Tintern down is tidal with a 35 feet rise and fall which exposes vast glutonous mudbanks and areas of quicksand with few places to be able to get out of the river at low tide.

The flow of the tide out is also very fast and impossible to paddle against with the associated risk of being carried out into the Severn estaury, not a place for the faint hearted.

In contrast, the sections from just North of Hereford to the Town of Monmouth are reletively slow flowing and ideal for novices and for those who want to experienced a leisurely "glide" down the river. There are a number of shallow sections between Kearne Bridge and Symonds Yat that give the appearance and feel of "white water" without being dangerous, but even these can be avoided by steering down adjacent deeper channels.

All in all a relaxing experience!

Oh and another thing Phil, DON'T forget to take gloves, my hands were PLASTERED in residue from the aluminium paddles!!!!

(Bit messy when it came to eating!!!)

nice, so that won't help the old boy and his appalling memory then!

the companies all supply plastic exped barrells, do i want them or should i stick to massive dry-bags?

cheers folks - and tony especially - the old lad has sorted out dates and now we're off - well, as soon as i can convince the wife!

The advantage of barrels is that you can throw them around and generally abuse them without much worry. If you manage to puncture one of the barrels, you are doing very well!
They fit across the boat quite snugly, so getting into them requires standing the barrel up on its end before you can open it. With practice you can do this mid river without tipping yourself in, but it is exciting. I guess unfastening a dry bag is trivial wherever you are.

It's nice having the luxury of choice, If everything packs well into the dry bags, go with them, though of course you puncture them at your own risk. If you decide to use a barrel, make sure that the lid fits well and the metal clip is secure, some of these have been brutalised by previous users.

I would keep a small dry bag outside the barrel/whatever to keep handy items in such as the essentials mentioned below, first aid kit, brew kit, map etc.
We found river navigation surprisingly tricky as there are few landmarks easily visible.
We had the game "where are we now?" with sweets for the person who gave the most accurate map fix. The river changes speed without telling you and your position can be a long way out before you know it.

Due to not very good planning really, we ended up drinking the water above Hereford (usually boiled, or if not, iodine treated). We suffered no ill effects whatsoever. -Just revise the symptoms of Weils (sp?) disease to be on the safe side. There is a sewage outflow below Hereford, so I would not call the water below that potable despite all the water industry hype.

I forgot to add two items to the essential kit list:
Plain chocolate and a hip flask. Both strictly for medicinal reasons of course.

Have fun,
--
M.

River becomes tidal at Chepstow. Expect a mile long slog against the wind coming into Monmouth. Evil swans a couple of miles below Lydbrook - we gopt out and protaged round! Oh - and Symonds Yat West are (allegedly) a bunch of cattle herding lasso throwing whisky swilling profiteers, and you should go with Symonds Yat East www.wyedean.co.uk who are just as mercenary, but at least their owners are canoeists who don't want to erect huge monstrosities at the riverside or destroy the ferry lines.

hi you can go from glaysbury near hay on wye down as far asyou want its very nice