Canoe with a View : : Canadian Open Canoe forum

I thought that I would post an account of our first paddle which took place over the August Bank Holiday weekend last year. I apologize for the length of it ... I do tend to ramble on somewhat and will try and make future trip tales shorter!

Anyway ....

With sailing lessons put on hold for last year after having to have an operation on my hand, I was looking for another way to get afloat when not out on a motor cruiser. I have been totally enthralled by the “Secret Rivers” series on Anglia TV presented by Paul Heiney, his expeditions to paddle down some of East Anglia’s quieter stretches of waterway looked so appealing and such great fun. After a complete misery of a summer weather wise, the forecast for the August Bank Holiday weekend was actually looking rather good. It seemed like too good an opportunity to miss and so, on the Friday, I phoned and booked us an open canoe for the Sunday from Outney Meadow at Bungay. We would have eight hours of paddling on a section on the upper Waveney, way beyond the limits of navigation for most watercraft. The Waveney had, at one time, been navigable in to Bungay itself, wherries would carry their cargo to and from the village Staithe on what was a very busy trade route. The building of the rail network and, later, the development of the roads and vehicular transport, meant that the river was used less and less. With three locks to maintain between Geldeston and Bungay navigation along this stretch became less viable and passage beyond Geldeston ceased in 1934. Our plan was to hopefully see a little of the lost Suffolk Broads.

We had been advised by Outney to phone on the Saturday afternoon to check whether water levels were going to be suitable to allow canoeing. Apparently they had been unable to let canoes out on the Friday as water levels were very high and fast flowing. A quick call on the Saturday confirmed that we would indeed be able to go out, so the evening was spent packing and preparing for our wilderness experience!

A 45 minute journey on the Sunday morning found us arriving at Bungay at 9am on the dot. Unfortunately the reception was still closed with no sign of the proprietors. At 9.30 the “canoe lady” arrived and we were quickly assigned buoyancy aids, paddles and a dry sack to protect our gear. We were told where to find the canoes and instructed to take one of the two man ones. A father and his young son had also arrived at the same time as us, so we walked off down to the river with them. I was quite surprised to find three rows of canoes piled up which we proceeded to turn over to try and find the two man ones. Eventually we picked our craft for the day which was an Old Town Discovery 174. I had always presumed that these boats were quite easy to pick up …. that was mistake number one for the day as it was a lot heavier than I was expecting.

We managed to drag the canoe down to the launch point using brute force and were helped in by two young lads. I made the decision to sit at the back, this I realised was mistake number two when I heard the words, “the one at the back has to steer”, as we were pushed off by one of the lads. There are those who, having witnessed my attempts to learn to sail, would tell you that putting me in charge of steering a boat that doesn’t have an engine usually leads to disaster! Sure enough, it seemed I wasn’t going to fair any better with steering a canoe, as we proceeded to go round in circles and head in any direction but the one we wanted to go in. Finally we managed to turn around and began to head off upsteam. I think I must have had my mind engaged to sailing mode though as our course involved tacking backwards and forwards across the river. After rounding the corner, a suitable piece of bank was found and we reached a unanimous decision to switch places.

Setting off from Outney Meadow



The plan for the day was to first complete the suggested, four mile route of the Bungay loop around the edge of Outney Common then, if time allowed, we would head in the opposite direction towards Ellingham. We pushed off from the bank and set off upstream again. Unfortunately it seemed that Kev’s canoe prowess wasn’t much better than mine as we continued with the tacking theme whilst trying to figure out something that worked. It was also quite hard work paddling against the flow of the river. It took another couple of hundred yards or so before we actually managed to start paddling in a straight line, in that short distance Kev had managed to steer me into every overhanging tree and patch of nettles along the banks. No injuries were sustained, but I spent the next hundred yards throwing leaves, branches and small woodland creatures out of the boat whilst trying to keep up with the paddling! And Paul Heiney makes it all look so easy!!

I had checked on the route before we left and, when we came to a fork in the river, we duly kept to the left channel as instructed. The father and son who had left before us had already disappeared along the right hand branch a way ahead of us, I wondered whether they would have to turn around. We then came across our first real obstacle, a low footbridge across the river, which required us to lie back in a virtually horizontal position against the canoe to pass underneath. A little while later we passed the other entrance to the right channel, I glanced back and noticed that the father and son had almost made their way out. As we made our way further along the river we began to leave the noise of the road behind us. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and the only sound from our boat was a gentle splish splashing of the paddles and, what sounded like a toilet cistern filling up as the bow carved its way through the water. The latter was a little disconcerting at first as I thought we had a leak somewhere until I realised what it was!

This stretch of the Waveney valley is just beautiful; those who have navigated the main river between Beccles and Geldeston will know just how picturesque it is. At this time of year, the riverbanks were just filled with different species of wild flowers, every one as beautiful as any of the cultivated varieties. Dragonflies appeared to be having a very good year as there were hundreds of them flitting about across the river. It is quite amazing the number of different varieties of dragonflies and damsel flies there actually are. What utter bliss, and the water here is so clear. By now we were beginning to make slightly better progress but it was still quite hard going, we needed to keep changing the side we were paddling on as it was a real killer on the upper arms. We passed two separate groups of people on the riverbank who were busy launching their own canoes and kayaks, there were also quite a few fishermen dotted along the way, none of whom seemed to be having any luck that day.

The Upper Waveney 01


[/b]The Upper Waveney 02


The Upper Waveney 03


The Upper Waveney 04


And another ....






After an hour, we had travelled about a mile along the Waveney, we had successfully negotiated our way through large branches of willow that had hung right across the river ….. and I was still picking bits of the local flora out of the canoe! In the distance we could see what looked like a fallen tree blocking part of the river, as we got nearer we could see that it had fallen right across the river. On the left side there was a gap of around 6” between the tree and the river, on the right there looked to be just about enough room to squeeze underneath but it was going to be a close thing. We drew up to the tree and, very slowly and carefully, managed to pull ourselves through whilst laying flat against the canoe. This was all rather fun, but we were both beginning to feel in need of a rest and a bite to eat so decided to find the next accessible stretch of riverbank to take a break. The riverbank had other ideas though as we were passing nothing but high banks and nettles. We continued paddling, passing the gravel works with it’s huge, manmade mountains of ready washed and graded stones and an array of skeletal machinery towering above us. We decided that this probably wasn’t going to be the best view to have whilst picnicking, somewhat akin to the busy A-road lay-bys my mother used to insist on stopping at for a picnic on our journeys to Cornwall when I was a child. After another 20 minutes of paddling I really needed to take a breather and, luckily, managed to find a handy, overhanging tree to tie ourselves too. With the boat secured, I turned round and moved further along to join Kev for a cheese salad bap. The silence was soon interrupted by loud, munching sounds from behind as a herd of cows with their calves in tow decided to join us on the riverbank for lunch. They munched their way along the bank until they reached the field boundary at the end where it was obviously time to see who could moo loudest at the cows in the field on the opposite side of the river who, in turn, responded with their finest display of mooing. Aaaah, the peace and quiet of the countryside!



So busy were we just soaking up the sun and watching the dragonflies flitting around us, we didn’t notice another couple in a canoe paddle up behind us. “Is everything alright?” they asked as they passed. “Yes, fine” I replied, somewhat puzzled by the question – surely it must be common for canoeists to secure themselves to a tree for a rest? I looked around me just to check that we didn’t have a large willow branch hanging out the side of the boat and it suddenly dawned on me why they had asked the question – I am obviously out of practice with my knot tying and we were now just drifting in the middle of the channel, the rope having slipped from the branch. A careful manoeuvre was called for to turn round and edge my way back to my seat at the front without tipping the canoe, and us, over. Actually, it does have to be said that these canoes are very stable and at no point did I feel in danger of taking a dip. With paddles in hand again we continued upstream, knowing that there should not be too much further to go now. Ten minutes later the couple who had passed us were heading back downstream and confirmed that the road bridge was just a little further along. Another few hundred yards saw us entering a shady, tree covered stretch and there was the bridge. We approached the centre of the bridge slowly as the water here was very shallow, although we may have been able to find a way through we decided that we would turn around and make our way back to Bungay.

The end of the line!



As soon as we turned round and started to paddle downstream things became a lot easier. We could paddle a little less as we were travelling at quite a speed now and were also getting better at steering – it became apparent why Paul Heiney always paddles downstream on his river journeys now! We began to pass more and more canoes heading upstream, both private and those from Outney Meadow, this is obviously a very popular stretch of the Waveney. We successfully negotiated our way back under the fallen tree and made it back to the campsite at around 1pm. We took the opportunity to make use of the toilets and then enjoyed the rest of our lunch on the bankside having hauled the canoe out of the water. The campsite, unsurprisingly, was full for the weekend and many campers had brought their own canoes along with them, but every one of Outney’s hire canoes were, by now, out on the water.

Negotiating the fallen tree


Footbridge over the Waveney


With lunch finished, we launched the canoe again and made a much better job this time of getting underway in the right direction. We made our way downstream past some very lovely riverside properties, the owners of which were mostly out in their gardens enjoying the much waited for sunshine. I hadn’t consulted the map so I had no idea how far we might be able to get along this stretch. A short way along, a road bridge is currently undergoing major work and was completely covered up. A small gap to the right was seemingly blocked by an overhanging willow branch so we were unsure as to whether we could get through. Slowly, we crept up to the gap and managed to just squeeze ourselves through. Our pleasure at this event was short lived though as, a little way ahead we could see Bungay Staithe sluice. Signs on the bank were directing us to portage platforms where it would be necessary to take the canoe out of the water and then carry it beyond the sluice for re-launching. Having already made an attempt to carry the canoe out of the way on our stop at Outney for lunch, this was not really going to be an option today. The portage platforms were also covered in yet more fishermen who scowled as we passed, no doubt worrying that we were going to ask them to move so that we could get the canoe out. We turned around well before the sluice and headed back past the, now smiling, fishermen who were obviously relieved that we were not going to disturb them after all.

The River Waveney at Bungay


So what do we do now? The only option was to have another paddle upstream and, upon reaching the fork where the father and son team had taken the right hand channel, we decided to give it a go ourselves. This was just like travelling through a little, secret tunnel with heavily overgrown branches making it very dark and narrow. The water here was quite shallow and, if river levels were normal, I can see this being un-navigable by even a canoe. The remains of what we later discovered to be a mill wheel pit were visible on the right, the water here only about 8 to 10 inches deep. We carefully made our way forward but didn’t touch the bottom – you really can paddle in very little water. Looking down as we made our way through the wheel pit you could see fish darting backwards and forwards across the concrete surface, Kev thinks that these may have been gudgeon. It was great to be able to see them just inches below us. We battled our way through the rest of the undergrowth before finally emerging onto the main channel again.

We paddled for about a mile upstream, watching swifts swoop down to drink from the river and still marvelling at the vast array of dragonflies in the air. It was mid afternoon by now and my shoulders, neck and upper arms were really beginning to grumble about the punishment I was giving them. We pulled off of the river into a shallow inlet beyond the reeds for yet another rest. A herd of young bullocks were rather curious for a while until the lure of grass made them lose interest in the two strange creatures who were sitting in the water watching them. I looked down to see thousands of tiny fish hovering over the mud beneath us, the smallest near the edge of the bank being just 1cm long, progressively getting larger as the water got deeper – wow! It may seem like such a simple thing, but it is wonderful to be so close to the water and its inhabitants.

We made the decision to head back to the campsite early as neither of us felt that we could do too much more paddling today. This proved to be very fortunate for one young lad who was desperate to get out in a canoe and was having one of those sulks that twelve year olds are so good at! His harassed mother was frantically trying to get him booked for a couple of hours, only to be told that all the canoes were out. We informed her that we were back early so our canoe was now free – the look of relief on her face was priceless!

Despite the aches and pains, and the rather nasty bite I sustained on my ankle from what I think was a cleg fly (through my sock as well), we had had a great day out. It was a shame that we had to cut it short but I think we need to develop a bit more upper body strength. It was disappointing not to have got further downstream but it is always there for another day. And there will definitely be more days out paddling – I think I’m hooked! To be fair, I am hooked on just being afloat in any kind of water craft, but it is a lovely way to enjoy the river, the countryside and the wildlife. It is also such an adventure, discovering secret passages and battling your way through the trees – it really appeals to the tomboy tendencies in me! I guess t is a bit like being a kid again, the only difference being that I am not going to get told off when I get home for having muddy trousers and looking like I’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards … which I had!

Carol

Superb - great TT

It looks absolutely idyllic and didn't you get the weather? I'd so love to paddle the broads extensivley and can only envy those for whom this is a real possibilty.

Graeme

Graeme - the Broads are idyllic, although I'm not sure that I want to tackle too much of the main system in a canoe until we are a little more experienced. The speed at which some skippers drive motor boats (both private and hire) and the inconsideration shown by a few to smaller craft is just too worrying! I really do want to explore some of the previously navigeable sections which were once part of the wherries trade route like the North Walsham & Dilham Canal and the Upper Bure. Hickling Broad also looks like it could be very interesting as you are normally restricted to a small channel across the middle and there are so many small inlets and channels leading off the edges that look so inviting.

Pete - we were in Thetford the other day and have long hankered to explore the Little Ouse and the River Thet. Once we get our own canoe then we plan to make the trip along the Little Ouse from Thetford to Brandon and also see how far we can get up the Thet .... maybe a future Canoe With A View trip?


Carol

Great tale Carol, even better the second time round
Superbly told and some glorious photos. In my visits to the broads have got up as far as Geldeston and agree this part of the Waveney is very picturesque.

Top TT, now looking forward to the next one.

Nige

Thanks for all the kind comments - glad that you enjoyed the tale!

It would be good to joing you all for a paddle in July if we can make it - I don't think we'll have our own canoe by then but I think we can hire from Martham.

I picked up a superb, glossy leaflet last year called "Canoeing on the River Waveney" which has a map and gives a detailed guide to the Upper Waveney, where the portages are etc. They really are trying to promote this 33km stretch of the Waveney for canoeists (they are also installing footpaths and a cycle route as part of a "quiet recreation" project), and are making great efforts to add proper portage platforms, keep the river clear of obstructions and get the co-operation of landowners. You can find a PDF version here


Carol

AdnamsGirl Wrote:I picked up a superb, glossy leaflet last year called "Canoeing on the River Waveney" which has a map and gives a detailed guide to the Upper Waveney, where the portages are etc. They really are trying to promote this 33km stretch of the Waveney for canoeists (they are also installing footpaths and a cycle route as part of a "quiet recreation" project), and are making great efforts to add proper portage platforms, keep the river clear of obstructions and get the co-operation of landowners. You can find a PDF version here

This is the sort of thing I like to hear happening in E & W. All too often you hear of access right squabbles, etc. The people doing this are to be applauded.

Graeme

I've now got a copy of the 'Canoeing on the River Waveney' guide, & it's a good read to, & there are about six(6) pubs on route as well as three or four campsites to.

Edited quote: Nige