Hay on Wye to Hereford in the heat of summer
After getting helpful replies to a couple of questions I asked on this rather brilliant website (thanks Mal and Spinningwoman!), we set off from North Yorkshire to Hereford Rowing Club.
I'd like to say it was a straightforward drive down, but the exhaust started blowing. The Kwikfit guy in Hereford sucked in his cheeks and said he couldn't fix it and it was going to cost a LOT at a main dealer.
SMyikes
We decided to bury our head in the sand and enjoy a few days anyway.
We paid the £5 per night fee for leaving the car at the rowing club and Haytaxis arrived on time to take us up to Hay on Wye.
We were originally going to start at Glasbury but decided to cut it short as it was going to be nearly 3pm before we got on the water.
We had a very gentle cruise down to Whitney toll bridge, spotting a few birds on the way.
I think these are a goosander and a little egret, but correct me if I'm wrong.
Whilst on the subject, where do all the brightly coloured male mandarin ducks go? We saw lots of females but no males.
We arrived at the camp site and got organised.....
A short walk got us to the Boat Inn, where good beer and good food was abundant. Several other canoeists arrived by river as we relaxed in the beer garden.
We did have a bit of a run in with a gang of annoying locals who wanted to taste my beer.
After I floored 3 of them, the other wasps left us alone.
As it was our anniversary the next day, on the way back I treated Gaynor to a visit to a Spa
She was pretty happy with this as it provided red wine. Back at the campsite we bought a bag of logs. The wine evaporated while we sat by the fire overlooking the river.
Next morning across the river we saw what seemed to be a great egret, much better than the inferior one the first day.
And Gaynor had brought a card along for me (Shes romantic as well as extremely tolerant)
We tootled off on what turned out to be the hottest day in the UK, ever. Well, in living memory, anyway.
Three less good egrets kept us company for a while. Or rather, they kept flying in front of us cos they were too dim to go off to the side. Definitely lesser beings.
In hindsight we think this might have been Turners Boat island in the background. At the time it was a tall bank providing some shade, which we were very grateful for.
There seemed to be buzzards calling almost continuously along the river. This one was perched on a fishing hut.
The canoe was a bit heavier today. A Yorkshireman wasnt going to leave his unused logs behind, was he?
What surprised us was how few others were on this stretch. In fact, over the two and a half days paddling we only met these guys on the river. Gaynor started feeling crowded out...
We did see a lot of these fellows. I think they are banded demoiselles.
Lots of green and blue dragonflies seemed to be enjoying copulating and flying at the same time (the 100cm high club?)
No x-rated photos here. I couldn't keep the camera on them.
Eventually it just got too hot, and inspired by a fisherman who was sat in the river in his chair to keep cool, we just had to have a swim. Bliss!
Our dim friends reappeared. But now they had a new leader.
They reminded me of the vultures in The Jungle Book.
We approached Bredwadine bridge.
It had a lovely beach but was full of PEOPLE! We stopped briefly for a snack and drink, but rather embarrassingly we were mobbed by flies while nobody else had any problems. Had we been sweating more than we had realised? We moved on rapidly.
We finally made it to Byecross farm. The camera didnt make it, succumbing to heat exhaustion a hour beforehand. Our first job was another soak in the river to cool down, following by chilled fluids for the same reason. We drank and ate. Then we ate and drank.
Unbelievably, on the evening of the hottest day ever we did this next to a roaring fire.:Campfire: But others around us had fires 3 times bigger than ours.:Campfire::Campfire::Campfire:
I guess they wanted to use what they had paid for too.
Rather cunningly, I had set up a tarp to keep the sun off the tent in the morning so we wouldnt be roasted by the early morning sun. Rather less cunningly, my calculation of where the sun would come up was 45 degrees off and it provided shade to the canoe instead.SMbanghead
This was my second mistake at Byecross. The first was hauling the canoe up the ramp to our pitch. We should have saved some effort and left it on the grass at the bottom of the ramp, as the later arrivals did.
Our last day began with running the fearsome Monnington Falls....or rather bobbing gently down the only width of river available, as most of the river bed was high and dry. So Im not sure whether we have done a grade II rapid or not. I doubt it.
We tootled down the river with a few breaks until we came to the National Trust Weir Garden. There was a handy jetty, so we stopped and took advantage of a picnic table in the shade for a long lunch. We didnt bother trying to pay, we are members (of the Scottish National Trust) so our conscience was clear.
As we set off, Gaynor looked down into the clear water and spotted a big barbel, at least 2 feet long. It wasnt spooked by the canoe, hardly bothering to move. I told the fishermen on the other side of the river, but Im not sure they believed me. We saw several shoals of good sized fish along the way. On the subject of fishermen, all the ones we met and hailed were friendly.
The rest of the paddle into Hereford was pleasant, but we were glad to see the bridges appear. We must have got tired because the carry up the rowing club steps was the hardest of the trip.
We stayed the next couple of nights on a really nice camping and caravanning club certificated site near Madley Long Coppice.
We were surprised to be the only visitors apart from one caravan. It is on a farm with the Comet Inn a mile away and the Red Lion 1.5 miles away. By the time you read this it will be a pleasant walk across the fields to the Red Lion.
When we did it we could have done with a machete to get through the field of rape that was about to be harvested. Over the next 2 days I found rape seeds in my shoes, socks, trouser pockets (all of them) and even my wallet!
Overall, a fun trip building on our hired canoe trip last year from Hereford to Symonds Yat, which introduced us to our new pastime.
I'd like to say it was a straightforward drive down, but the exhaust started blowing. The Kwikfit guy in Hereford sucked in his cheeks and said he couldn't fix it and it was going to cost a LOT at a main dealer.
SMyikes
We decided to bury our head in the sand and enjoy a few days anyway.
We paid the £5 per night fee for leaving the car at the rowing club and Haytaxis arrived on time to take us up to Hay on Wye.
We were originally going to start at Glasbury but decided to cut it short as it was going to be nearly 3pm before we got on the water.
We had a very gentle cruise down to Whitney toll bridge, spotting a few birds on the way.
I think these are a goosander and a little egret, but correct me if I'm wrong.
Whilst on the subject, where do all the brightly coloured male mandarin ducks go? We saw lots of females but no males.
We arrived at the camp site and got organised.....
A short walk got us to the Boat Inn, where good beer and good food was abundant. Several other canoeists arrived by river as we relaxed in the beer garden.
We did have a bit of a run in with a gang of annoying locals who wanted to taste my beer.
After I floored 3 of them, the other wasps left us alone.
As it was our anniversary the next day, on the way back I treated Gaynor to a visit to a Spa
She was pretty happy with this as it provided red wine. Back at the campsite we bought a bag of logs. The wine evaporated while we sat by the fire overlooking the river.
Next morning across the river we saw what seemed to be a great egret, much better than the inferior one the first day.
And Gaynor had brought a card along for me (Shes romantic as well as extremely tolerant)
We tootled off on what turned out to be the hottest day in the UK, ever. Well, in living memory, anyway.
Three less good egrets kept us company for a while. Or rather, they kept flying in front of us cos they were too dim to go off to the side. Definitely lesser beings.
In hindsight we think this might have been Turners Boat island in the background. At the time it was a tall bank providing some shade, which we were very grateful for.
There seemed to be buzzards calling almost continuously along the river. This one was perched on a fishing hut.
The canoe was a bit heavier today. A Yorkshireman wasnt going to leave his unused logs behind, was he?
What surprised us was how few others were on this stretch. In fact, over the two and a half days paddling we only met these guys on the river. Gaynor started feeling crowded out...
We did see a lot of these fellows. I think they are banded demoiselles.
Lots of green and blue dragonflies seemed to be enjoying copulating and flying at the same time (the 100cm high club?)
No x-rated photos here. I couldn't keep the camera on them.
Eventually it just got too hot, and inspired by a fisherman who was sat in the river in his chair to keep cool, we just had to have a swim. Bliss!
Our dim friends reappeared. But now they had a new leader.
They reminded me of the vultures in The Jungle Book.
We approached Bredwadine bridge.
It had a lovely beach but was full of PEOPLE! We stopped briefly for a snack and drink, but rather embarrassingly we were mobbed by flies while nobody else had any problems. Had we been sweating more than we had realised? We moved on rapidly.
We finally made it to Byecross farm. The camera didnt make it, succumbing to heat exhaustion a hour beforehand. Our first job was another soak in the river to cool down, following by chilled fluids for the same reason. We drank and ate. Then we ate and drank.
Unbelievably, on the evening of the hottest day ever we did this next to a roaring fire.:Campfire: But others around us had fires 3 times bigger than ours.:Campfire::Campfire::Campfire:
I guess they wanted to use what they had paid for too.
Rather cunningly, I had set up a tarp to keep the sun off the tent in the morning so we wouldnt be roasted by the early morning sun. Rather less cunningly, my calculation of where the sun would come up was 45 degrees off and it provided shade to the canoe instead.SMbanghead
This was my second mistake at Byecross. The first was hauling the canoe up the ramp to our pitch. We should have saved some effort and left it on the grass at the bottom of the ramp, as the later arrivals did.
Our last day began with running the fearsome Monnington Falls....or rather bobbing gently down the only width of river available, as most of the river bed was high and dry. So Im not sure whether we have done a grade II rapid or not. I doubt it.
We tootled down the river with a few breaks until we came to the National Trust Weir Garden. There was a handy jetty, so we stopped and took advantage of a picnic table in the shade for a long lunch. We didnt bother trying to pay, we are members (of the Scottish National Trust) so our conscience was clear.
As we set off, Gaynor looked down into the clear water and spotted a big barbel, at least 2 feet long. It wasnt spooked by the canoe, hardly bothering to move. I told the fishermen on the other side of the river, but Im not sure they believed me. We saw several shoals of good sized fish along the way. On the subject of fishermen, all the ones we met and hailed were friendly.
The rest of the paddle into Hereford was pleasant, but we were glad to see the bridges appear. We must have got tired because the carry up the rowing club steps was the hardest of the trip.
We stayed the next couple of nights on a really nice camping and caravanning club certificated site near Madley Long Coppice.
We were surprised to be the only visitors apart from one caravan. It is on a farm with the Comet Inn a mile away and the Red Lion 1.5 miles away. By the time you read this it will be a pleasant walk across the fields to the Red Lion.
When we did it we could have done with a machete to get through the field of rape that was about to be harvested. Over the next 2 days I found rape seeds in my shoes, socks, trouser pockets (all of them) and even my wallet!
Overall, a fun trip building on our hired canoe trip last year from Hereford to Symonds Yat, which introduced us to our new pastime.