In the event we were fine. I got soaked as water came over the bow but, as rapids go, these seemed fairly benign. We pressed on to Monmouth where we got out at the rowing club steps. I phoned Mark Simons to check where the best rendezvous would be, here or Redbrook. I was aware that I had only a few trains I could catch back at Hereford, and what had started as a short day’s paddling with some time to kill, now seemed a little more pressured.
There was nothing to be gained by stopping at Monmouth, which in any case seemed from the river to be just a busy town. So it was back in the canoe for the final stretch. Having successfully negotiated the rapids, we then got stuck on the bottom in mid-river.
Dave bravely hopped out to push the canoe free, but then Ella jumped into the water as well. It could have been difficult if I had been taken downstream, leaving Dave and the dog in the middle of the river but we managed to stay together.
The noisy A40 road was dead ahead, with a bit of headwind too so it wasn’t the most pleasant canoeing. We passed the River Monnow flowing into the River Wye and continued on until we reached an ugly disused railway bridge with the Boat Inn on our right.
This was the end of our trip. We got out on the left hand side and once again had to haul the canoe up a very steep muddy rut in the bank. Mark was very soon there with minibus and trailer to return us to Ross-on-Wye.
We had done about 34 km this time, and 18 km on the first leg making a total river journey of 52 km.
View Canoe trip July and August 2009 in a larger map
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