Kayaking on the River Wye

James and I have been promising ourselves a session of Kayaking for a long time now.  We’ve not tried it before, aside from a spot of Sea Kayaking in Spain last year, but it’s always struck us as a really pleasant way to pass the time and explore waterways in a bit more detail than by foot or bike.

Eventually we got round to it, and couldn’t have wished for more glorious weather.  After a night spent bivvying under the stars on Newcourt Farm campsite (where I slept so soundly apart from being woken up by the light of the moon!) we set off. We booked the full day, 11 mile route with Wye Valley Canoes.  The route started at the boat house in Glasbury, with coffee and cake at Hay on Wye, then finishing the 11 mile stretch to Whitney on Wye in five hours.  As the river was so low there were several spots where we had to navigate carefully over the shallower spots to stop us becoming beached in the middle of the river.

The whole river was absolutely buzzing with life.  As well as Swans, Canada Geese with their small goslings and the mallards there were literally hundreds of Sand Martins, swooping onto the surface of the river to catch insects to take back to their nests, nestled into the sandy banks of the river.  I’m not sure that the video does it justice.  We were also lucky enough to spot the iridescent blue of the Kingfisher, darting across the water.  Absolutely magic!