CONTENTS
- Date, Distance & Map of Route
- Weather & Tide Times
- The Poppit Sands to Cardigan kayak
- Logistics
- Dangers/Issues
- Kayaks Used
- The Teifi River
- Summary
1. Date, Distance & Map of Route
28 July 2019.
7 miles circular route.
3 hours 15 minutes paddling. 1 hour and 15 minutes lunch and pub stops.
2. Weather & Tide TIMES
It was a sunny, warm day with a high of about 20 Celsius and light North Westerly winds:
3. The Poppit Sands to Cardigan kayak
We parked at the pay and display car park at Poppit Sands. Since the sea was rough, instead of launching from the nearby Poppit Sands beach by the RNLI station, we walked back down the road a bit and then cut through some dunes onto a much more sheltered section of foreshore which was upstream of the mouth of the estuary.
We inflated our kayaks on the foreshore and launched at about 14:45.
We tried to paddle out first to the mouth of the estuary but the tide was running a few knots upstream as it came in so we soon gave up on this and started to head upstream with the tide.
The tide definitely made a difference and assisted us as we paddled upstream, adding at least a couple of knots to our paddling speed.
The main channel seemed to be about a third of a mile or so wide, although the width of the channel obviously depends on the state of the tide.
Kiva had attached a netting bag with some beers in to the stern of his kayak so that the beer cans would be dragged behind his kayak submerged in the water so as to try and keep them cool.
The Teifi estuary has some stunning landscape and is one of our favourite parts of the West Wales Coast. The scenery is gentle and has a certain warmth to it.
The estuary is flanked by a mixture of farmland and woodlands which cascade over gently rolling bluffs.
There was a lot of wildfowl alongside the estuary, geese, waders and gulls.
We paddled past the Ferry Inn at St Dogmaels which is a great pub with a beer garden on a pontoon on pillars above the water’s edge.
A large Norman Abbey was founded at St Dogmaels in 1120 and it’s extensive ruins are great to explore if you ever visit the area.
We stopped for a short break and a can of cider and some food on the bank about a mile downstream from Cardigan. The estuary narrowed as we got nearer upstream towards Cardigan. The river banks were fringed with woodlands festooned with their Summer foliage.
Cardigan suddenly came into view upstream as we rounded a bend in the river.
It’s hard to believe that in the 18th and early 19th Century Cardigan was the largest port in South Wales, exporting agricultural produce but also slate and other industrial products.
Its importance as a port declined with the silting up of the estuary and the growth in the size of ships.
The riverside area of Cardigan just below the bridge is bounded by the bridge, the quaysides, Cardigan castle and the old warehouse buildings on either side. It’s a great place to have a few drinks and maybe some food overlooking the river.
It would have been criminal not have stopped off for a bit here before we headed back downstream, so we landed at the pontoon just below the castle to grab a beer from the Grosvenor.
We securely tethered our kayaks to the landing stage and headed up the ramp to the Grosvenor, a nice pub in a Georgian building with a great riverside beer garden.
After a well earned rest and refreshed by a beer at the Grosvenor, we headed back down to the landing stage and saddled up again for the return trip down the estuary.
The sun started to set in the Western sky as we paddled down the Teifi on there return leg to Poppit with the outgoing tide.
We soon passed St Dogmaels again on the return journey. As the outgoing tide started to run faster, we got more assistance from it.
The lowering sun gave the bluffs which flank the estuary a slight orange hue. The honking of the geese and the lyrical call of Curlew helped to make this a magical setting for our paddle back down the estuary to Poppit.
It was about 2 hours after high tide but there was still plenty of water to ensure that the sandbanks were submerged with more than enough depth for our kayaks to pass through.
We landed back at Poppit at about 19:15. The foreshore where we had launched and landed from was a sandy beach onto the estuary, not at all muddy.
4. LOGISTICS
Since this was a circular kayak, there is not much to say about logistics. There is a large car park at Poppit Sands which is a pay and display car park. It costs £5 to park there all day.
We had to carry our kayaks about 300 meters from the car park through some sand dunes to get to the sandy area of foreshore on the estuary that launched from and where we landed
As stated at the start, you could alternatively go from the car park past the RNLI station and onto Poppit Sands beach and launch from there. You then have to paddle around into the mouth of the estuary so it would be about a half a mile longer to kayak.
There are a few locations on the road down to Poppit Sands where there are small parking spots where you can park for free and still get access onto the foreshore to launch from. During the Summer season, these all tend to be full unless you get there early.
If you did want to get a bus then unfortunately the 405 Poppet Rocket bus service no longer runs along this route. You could try using the Fflecis Bus service or alternatively book a taxi from one of the firms in Cardigan if you needed.
5. DANGERS & ISSUES
Like any estuary, the Teifi is very tidal and the tide is the paramount factor when planning a kayak on it.
If you are going to do the same kayak that we did then as long as you launch about 3 hours before high tide then you will be OK since you will get to Cardigan just a bit before high tide which means you can then come back to Poppit with the outgoing tide.
As with any estuary, we would recommend only paddling up to 3 hours either side of high tide since otherwise you can often times start to get some issues with sandbanks, mudflats and even be left with a very muddy landing or launching process. I’ve done a Guide to Estuary Kayaking on my Kayaking Guides page.
The Teifi is a fairly narrow estuary compared to some of the others we’ve done. Also, as alluded to earlier, it’s quite easy to access for an estuary since it does not seem to have the sam extent of problems with mud and sandbanks becoming exposed on low tides which other estuaries we have kayaked have.
The mouth of the estuary has a long sandbank or ‘bar’ which runs across the mouth of the estuary. The sea is often rough along this bar due to the tidal current running over the bar.
You need to factor in the bar and also the state of the sea if you are paddling out of the mouth of the estuary to land/launch at Poppit Sands beach.
Another point is that if you look on Google Maps you will see the course of the channel as it flows up the estuary and will also see where the sandbanks are. It’s best to stay roughly in this channel up between the mouth of the estuary and St Dogmaels since otherwise you could potentially find yourself bottoming out on sandbanks.
6. KAYAKS USED
We did this kayak in July 2019 when we were all still using the Pro Aqua inflatable kayaks. The Pro Aqua kayaks were sold by Clas Ohlson but they have been discontinued for a while we believe.
They are made from traditional construction techniques for inflatable kayaks using PVC tubular sides.
We have since progressed to hybrid kayaks with drop stitch floors but tubular PVC sides and also to full drop stitch inflatable kayaks. See my Buying Guide to Inflatable Kayaks on the Kayaking Guides page of my website.
7. THE TEIFI RIVER
The Teifi is the main river on Cardigan bay, flowing from it’s source in the Cambrian Mountains all the way to its mouth downstream from Cardigan.
As of the date of doing this blog, I have kayaked the section from the mouth of the river up to Cardigan and also kayaked the section from Llechryd down to Cardigan.
We have not kayaked any sections above Llechryd. Certainly, from Llechryd to the mouth it is a pleasant flat water paddle.
Most of it is very gently flowing deeper water though as the river meanders it’s way gently though heavily wooded gorges and valleys.
The Teifi seems to be tidal up to Cilgerran, where there the remain of a very impressive castle.
The Teifi as with all rivers tends to get narrower and a bit shallower the further upstream you go. Upstream of Cenarth in particular the river has many more faster flowing sections with Grade 1 and 2 Rapids, with the rapids becoming increasingly graded the further upstream you go.
8. SUMMARY
The Teifi is one of our favourite estuaries since it’s accessible, relatively safe, is flanked by wonderful scenery and Cardigan is a great stop off on the route.
The only caveat is that you do need to time this kayak right and launch from Poppit about 2-3 hours before high tide in order to go up with the tide and come back down with the tide.
Alternatively, you could go from the North side of the estuary at Gwbert instead of launching from Poppit.
You could also make this longer again by paddling upstream as far as the tidal limit at Cilgerran which is about 2.5 miles upstream of Cardigan (so this would add about 5 miles round trip onto the distance).
If you have any comments or questions then please post them below and we will do our best to help you by responding asap.
The video of this trip on our Youtube channel is linked below:
Wot types of wild geese were there capt?
Hi, I’m not sure. I think they were Greylag geese maybe? There are a lot of Canada Geese on the estuary but they have a black and white head and neck.