CSCC Reports 2014: River Wye May 2nd - 5th - May 2014

Our luck with the weather finally turned and this year we had lovely weather for our early May bank holiday trip to the river Wye.  Stewart organised a splendid three days of paddling for David G., Dan and Stewart's fellow army veteran, Nick.

Day 1 involved paddling from Glasbury to Whitney.  Day 2 saw us continuing on to Preston and on day 3 we finished our trip at Hereford, opposite the cathedral.  Splitting the journey like this was perfect for paddling solo.  However, we took it in turns to paddle tandem in one of the 3 boats which meant we avoided getting too tired, although at one stage on the final day we were overtaken by a standard poodle and his owners in an inflatable canoe, so we must have been flagging a bit.

Paddling this stretch of the Wye was very straightforward technically and so relaxing.  Monnington Falls was washed out and therefore there were no rapids at all.  The only peril we encountered was a swarm of bees, but fortunately it stayed on the river bank.  There was plenty of wildlife to see including sand martins zipping around and some oyster catchers.  We enjoyed watching the skillful fly-fishermen catching salmon and trout and were so impressed that we intervened on the side of one of them when he was disturbed and insulted by some yobbish kayakers.  Even more remarkably for our club, we got up early each day and on the Sunday were on the water by 9.20am, having done a lengthy shuttle with our cars.  Is this a record for CSCC?

The Hollybush Inn in Glasbury got rave reviews for its Nepalese food, if not the quality of the adjoining camping facilities.  The Pound campsite in Whitney was memorable for the amazing dawn chorus and the cute field voles living in the hedgerow.  Byecross Farm campsite in Preston was my favourite.  You can pitch your tent in an apple orchard right by the river.  It was well regulated by the proprietors, so I got loads of restful sleep - 9 hours. Beforehand we had a pleasant 20 minute walk to the Yew Tree Inn where there was tasty food and excellent live music.  Dave enjoyed the put-downs from the singer when she was heckled by the kayakers who had tangled earlier with the angler.

Thanks to Stewart for organising the trip so expertly