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I’m organising a Stag do for a mate to happen in a months time. We are interested in going open Canoeing. I’ve been on the Severn north of Shrewsbury (good) and Wye (fine but water a little slow) before but what are the other options that we could consider? Would need to hire all the kit and get a lift up river. Participants would all be active types but not experienced in canoeing so whilst a few sections of fun moving water would be good grade III rapids would be a bit much! The programme for the weekend would ideally be this:
Friday night: Arrive at rural location with pub and camping
Saturday day: Open canoe trip on a river of a good length (12 miles)
Saturday evening: Transfer to large town/city for meal and night out
Sunday: Go home
Location flexible but Scotland/Ireland or N.I. would probably require flights. I live in Cardiff so looking not to end up here. Probably need to bear in mind that it hasn’t rained a lot recently so water levels could be low in marginal rivers.
Any suggestions?
OK in terms of locations there is a forum list of places on Song of the Paddle:
http://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?51-English-paddling-places
But does anyone have a recommendation of a place to go and somewhere that has hire facilities? We will need at least six canoes (two people in each).
I don't know of anywhere personally (the town bit is the hard part). But I thought that if you register and ask on the Song of the Paddle forums, you'd probably have more luck than on here.
canyouexperience.co.uk - Scotland
Mate of mine is a very experienced qualified canoe leader and has organised lots of these kinds of events - I would recommend him very highly. He works for an outdoor adventure company that includes open caonoes - don't know how many they have but it's definitely more than six.
They are based in Aberfeldy on the Tay, which would meet your criteria for a long day out. It is in Scotland, so a bit of a hike for you, but the advantage is that we have had plenty of rain, so the rivers are actually running pretty full ATM.
Email in profile if you would like me to put you in touch
[url= http://wyedean.co.uk/ ]Symonds Yat[/url]
Rural location with pub and camping... tick... riverside campsite + Saracens Head PH (plus 3 or 4 others within walking distance via small ferry).
Open Canoe trip... tick... basic rapids depending on river levels on Wye
Transfer to large town / city... tick... Hereford about 20 miles
Go home... you may not want to 🙂
Where you going city boy..............
Don't forget your hunting bow 8)
I've canoed the Wye with my brother three years in a row now. It is flat, but you could probably have an extra afternoon and play on the moving water at Symonds Yat for a bit more fun.
We've used this company as they've always been very good:
http://www.thecanoehire.co.uk/canoe_journey_details.html
They will drop you off at the start point and pick you up if you don't finish at their place (they're by the river).
Hope this helps.