Conwy Castle by Kayak

The tides were looking to be about right for an exploration up the Conwy Estuary and having spent a pretty intensive day planning august's adventures we were keen to get out and make the most of the bright weather. The only snag was the wind. Would it be sheltered enough? We decided to go and find out. At the Beacons, at the mouth of the river, we were exposed to the wind and the tide was racing inward at a terrific rate. As the river narrowed towards the bridges, the wind would ease, but the speed of flow would increase. It was going to be an exciting start!

As soon as we broke into the flow, there was no turning back! We bounced along in the main flow initially, before breaking out into a slower channel. Even here, however, moored up boats seemed to be bearing down on us as we zoomed along on the incoming tide. Before we knew it, we shot past the harbor and under the bridge. Here the estuary widens out and the river's energy is dispersed and things calmed down a bit. One thing we hadn't allowed for was the fact that it was a Sunday in July and the river was busy with waterskiers, wakeboarders, fishing boats and jet ski joyriders. We felt a bit vulnerable, low down in the water and even when the boats managed to not run us down, we then had to contend with the waves of their wake. 

Still, we made good progress on the tide and pushed up and around the corner, out of sight of the town. The further we went, the more peaceful things became. That was until we lost the shelter of the high banks. Further up into the Conwy valley, the wind was hitting us face on, accompanied by a shower of rain. Rather than battle into the wind, we used the wind and eddies, to gentle creep back towards the Castle in the calmer waters.

It was great approaching the castle from this side - and to be heading towards blue sky, rather than the dark drizzle of the valley head.

We arrived back at the castle just before high water, so had time for a little explore around the moat.

Then, right on time and as if by magic, the tide turned and we began being sucked back out to sea.

This time as the water was just off slack, we had time to enjoy the views as we passed by the bridge, boats and marina.

Although we didn't go too far up the valley, it was the perfect introduction to the river and to be fair, we were both plenty tired enough by the time we got back home!