With unseasonably warm weather and not a breath of wind, it seemed only right to spend the day floating about on the paddle boards.
In the late 1990s, I paddled this section of river quite a few times with groups, but have barely been back since. Last time was with you Mo and Dudley!
Setting off from Glasbury, the river was in perfect condition. T-Shirt weather and a nice mellow speed.
Where the river slowed, we just sat down and watched the birds as we drifted along.
Didn't see a Kingfisher, but plenty of Herons, Egrits, Oyster Catchers, Sand Martins, Swallows, Swifts, Comerant, Canadian Geese, Wagtails, Kites and Buzzards among others.
You're not allowed to stop on the single banks of this section due to nesting birds, but there are a couple of river braids, with large islands, which made for a perfect lunch rest as well as more stone skimming.
We spent so long on the lunch island, that we almost forgot that river paddlers have to be off the water by 16:00, to allow fishermen (and women presumably), to have access without a conflict of interests.
The final section, just before Hay-on-Wye, involves a small rapid. It is easy to inspect on the bank before going, and usually just about 'sneak past-able' on the river right. It brought back some good memories of the Longtown days...
The intention at Hay-on-Wye, had been to catch a bus back to Glasbury, but having miss-read the timetable, we either had a two hour wait, or a 35minute jog to get the van. I chose the jog and arrived back about 45 minutes later with the van glistening with sweat from the absurd March heat. While Clare packed the boards, I had to dunk in the freezing river to cool/wash off! All of this added exertion, meant that we were just in time for last orders at the ice cream parlour in the village! Phew!
Even though everything was closed and we couldn't go book shopping, it was lovely walking around the deserted streets. And more incredible to be there at 18:00 in a pair of shorts and sandals! It felt like we were in some quirky French village on a cycle tour!
Even with the sun gone, the warmth stayed out, as did we, until it got dark again.
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