Mudeford Sailing Club

Messing about on the River,

By ali reeves

When my brother and his wife suggested a canoeing trip some time ago, I of course said “yes”, but then had to persuade Terry that it would be “a good thing”. Cliff lives near Hereford and had seen an article in the local paper about a company running trips on the River Wye, spending the night in a Tipi in a secluded riverside location.  Having looked at the website, they looked like a very luxurious form of camping and in all the photos, the sun was shining brightly, so we managed to find dates when all four of us were available and the company had vacancies and booked up. As we weren’t sure how much we would really enjoy it, we just booked the 2 days/1 night option and early in September, off we went.

Our designated arrival time at company HQ was 9:30 a.m. on a sunny but cool morning. HQ was a farm in the middle of nowhere a few miles from Ross on Wye (also nowhere near the river).  On arrival we were asked to unpack our car and divide our chattels into overnight supplies, clothes etc and our packed lunch & anything else we wanted to take in the boats with us.  As part of the package, the company deliver your overnight items to the tipi site on the first night & as an unexpected bonus our guide said that as they had no other customers  in, he would return and pick them up the next morning, rather than us having to transport them in our canoes.

We were then supplied with dry bags, buoyancy aids and paddles of the appropriate size and given a briefing in the barn. This involved talking through our route, choosing our tipi site (not always possible if they are busy) and most importantly, learning how to adjust the flaps at the top of the tipi to make the fire draw properly and stop the tipi filling with smoke.  The laminated route maps we were given were not fantastic and not to scale either, but it all added to the fun & apparently they will be using OS maps next season.

After this we piled into the Landrover which was towing the canoe trailer for the 20 minute drive into Hereford to start our adventure.  Looking rather shifty, we parked in the corner of the Asda car park and lifted and pulled the canoes over a wall and down a slope to the river where we had a short capsize lecture. In just a few minutes, our bags were secured in the canoes and we were off. We had 2 canoes with 2 people in each and there was plenty of room for our baggage (and a couple of small children if we had come across any).

The River Wye has quite strong currents so going down river was fairly relaxing as in a lot of places we really only had to steer. We soon left the traffic and noise behind us and started to relax. Herefordshire is very green and rural and the river winds through mainly farmland mixed with woodland. A lot of trees overhang the river and are best avoided as apparently many capsizes are caused when people get tangled in the branches – something we avoided.  The river levels rise quickly after rain in the Welsh hills – paddling along, it was somewhat perturbing to see debris caught up in the trees up to about 3 metres above the river level.  The canoe company do take safety very seriously and apparently the week before had driven down to a tipi site one morning to take people back by road, rather than let them on the river.

We had been told about a nice pub “The Bunch of Carrots”, about an hour into our trip. There was a sign on the bank saying “No mooring”, but the canoe company had set a mooring stake into the river and we managed to tie the canoes to this. Unfortunately the bank was very steep and slippery grass at this point and I managed to slip over with one leg going thigh deep in the river – luckily the mooring stake stopped me falling in completely.  The pub was very welcoming and obviously used to canoeists as they didn’t seem to bat an eyelid at my brown & muddy posterior.

Feeling refreshed by a glass of cider and some complementary olives, we moved on to our lunch stop.  On the way we counted several kingfishers and for a large proportion of the time could see buzzards and possibly sparrow hawks wheeling above the river (none of us are ornithologists so couldn’t swear to that).  Having gone a few yards past where we intended to stop for lunch,  Terry and I discovered to our horror that it was practically impossible to paddle upstream, certainly at that particular spot, although eventually we managed to scramble ashore, just before we ran out of flat bank.

After our packed lunch we were keen to move on and find our Tipi site. In some places we just drifted along enjoying the peace and quiet – Terry admitted later that he had dozed off for a few minutes after lunch! Just to make sure we didn’t get too complacent, every now and then the current would speed up and the surface become slightly choppy.  Although this made things more interesting, we didn’t feel in danger of capsizing (well maybe just a little bit the first time).  In all this time we saw nobody bar a handful of fishermen.

After about 4 hours paddling, we saw the sign marking our campsite.  We pulled over and climbed out, pulling the canoes out of the water as we had been instructed.  Unfortunately it was rather slippy again here (the grass had been under water the previous week). I heard a thud behind me and looked to see Terry on the grass “look out, it’s slippery”, he said, just as another thud and squeak came from in front of me and Bev was flat on her back. I was so careful, but a few seconds later, thud and down I went, followed by Terry for a second fall.  Only Cliff stood to one side, looking slightly superior.

We managed to get up the bank and walked through a very large flock of sheep over to the Tipi site.  The tipis were delightful, each sleeping 7 people on 3 double and one single futon. Inside there was an open fire pit surrounded by sheepskin rugs, cooking equipment, plenty of dry hardwood and a container of drinking water (no other water on site, apart from the river of course).  Outside each tipi there was an outside fire pit, a barbecue and a wooden picnic bench.

Having lit the fire and poured the beer we were able to sit in the sun and relax.  We had no idea where we were, but a folder in the tipi did give an address in case of emergency.  A chilled out afternoon was followed by a barbecue and an early night not long after it got dark (we were all absolutely shattered). The stars looked really bright as we were in the middle of nowhere and for most of the night we could hear owls hunting all round us. I managed to stampede the sheep when I visited the toilets (2 Portaloos tucked away in a corner) at 1 a.m.

Early next morning we poked our heads out to see thick mist over the river and to discover a frost on the riverbank, but not near our tipis. Bacon cooked on the barbecue set us up for the day and once the temperature had risen we set off again about 10 a.m.  According to our map we were to pass some areas where otters can be seen – I scanned both banks, but nothing seen, just the occasional fisherman or tractor.

The second day passed much as the first, apart from the appearance of an island not marked on our map. Any other islands had been marked with clear instruction i.e. “KEEP LEFT”. With the current running fast and little time to make a decision, we chose left and kept our fingers crossed.  As we passed the “island” it seemed on closer inspection to be a huge mass of tree trunks and weed which had been swept down the river and lodged on a gravel bank; however it was at least 50 yards long and was forcing the water into 2 very narrow and fast channels – I just hoped that nothing would become dislodged as we passed!

At around 3 p.m. we passed a bridge where we were to phone to arrange our pick-up and just after 4 p.m we reached our exit point in Ross on Wye. We moored the canoes and 15 minutes later the Landrover arrived to take us back to our car.

We had had a thoroughly enjoyable and totally relaxing 2 days and would recommend it for anyone who fancies something a bit different. You can find out more at www.tipiadventure.co.uk

Please see the Troll’s page for an explanation of this disgraceful publishing error - Ed

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