Sunday 26th July 2009
This was the start of what we thought would be an ‘easy’ days paddling on the Wye from Kerne Bridge to Symonds Yat. In all, there were three of us who made the trip- myself, Meic and Hywel.
After hastily negotiating the hire of my forgotten paddle and cag from Wyedean we got on the river at 11:20. As we anticipated from the Web, levels were fairly high with the river moving rather like a wide brown conveyor belt in some places.
On the way down river to Symonds Yat we had to temper Hywel’s enthusiasm to engage with what little rapids (rapidlets, ripples or trickles even??) we encountered by pressing on with our marathon paddle around the Knot. Things seemed a little more strenuous for myself (my own fault I might add) because I was effectively paddling with what felt like an oversized lollipop stick with blades set at right angles! Thanks go to the others for sharing their paddles….. however reluctant they were at times!
After a food stop where Hywel had to unfold himself from the Inazone and relearn how to walk, we eventually got to Symonds Yat. Before descending the rapids, Hywel being the experienced paddler gave us some pointers and off he shot. I followed not really knowing what to expect but rode the rapids and got into one of the eddies fully expecting the others to be behind. Hywel joined me but alas no Meic.
On our second attempt, I followed Hywel to one of the top eddies. After Hywel’s demo, I then powered through the eddy line edging with my right knee, got a bow sweep in ….to wobble like a jelly and take a swim! Many thanks to Hywel though for choosing to save my boat rather than my sandwich box. Great decision making because the sandwich box was always a strain to paddle anyway!
We then rounded off a great day out with a pint in the Saracens Head. As novices, Meic and I would like to thank Hywel for the benefit of his advice and experience.
And even more impressive... most of them were smiling for the group photo.
