CONTENTS
- Date, Distance & Duration
- Map of the Route
- River Levels & Weather
- Ross-on-Wye to Kerne Bridge kayak
- Logistics
- Pubs & Restaurants
- Dangers & Issues
- Kayak used
- Kayaking the Wye River
- Summary
1. DATE, DISTANCE & DURATION
10 August 2023.
Just under 6 miles.
Launched from Ross-on-Wye about 14:00. Landed at Kerne Bridge about 17:45. 30 minutes lunch stop. About 3 hours 15 minutes paddling.
2. MAP OF THE ROUTE
3. RIVER LEVELS & WEATHER
The gauging station at Ross-on-Wye measured 0.52 meters depth on 10 August 2023.
It was a sunny, hot day with a high of about 26 Celsius and light winds from the South East of about 5mph.
4. ROSS-ON-WYE TO KERNE BRIDGE KAYAK
We launched from the launching/landing platforms on the by the Hope & Anchor pub in Ross on Wye at about 14:00 on a hot August afternoon.
We decided to head upstream a bit just past the boat club because the current was not that strong at Ross-on-Wye before turning back downstream.
Turning downstream, we paddled back towards Ross-on-Wye.
Ross-on-Wye is a nice market town in Herefordshire near the Welsh border.
Ross-on-Wye promotes itself as “the birthplace of British tourism”. In 1745, the rector, Dr John Egerton started taking friends on boat trips down the valley from his rectory at Ross.
The town boasts the remains of a medieval castle and is well blessed with a number of small independent selling food, drink and other goods.
Passing Ross-on-Wye, we headed downstream and under Wilton Bridge which was built between 1597 to 1599 out of red sandstone.
This section of the Wye is well stocked with geese, ducks and swans and we passed countless groups of them as we paddled downstream.
It was a great day to be on the river, a bit hot but not unbearably so.
The river was fairly quiet for August, but we did intermittently pass the odd paddle boarder, kayaker or canoe.
The green fields and woodlands glided past as we paddled downstream. The current generally assisted us by 1-2mph, occasionally increasing on the shallower, faster sections.
While we were grateful for the assistance of the current on the shallower, faster sections, we were also wary of hitting boulders underneath the surface so we were vigilant when traversing them to make sure that we didn’t end up tipping our kayak over and having an early bath.
This was a relatively short river route for us so we were taking our time, enjoying the scenery and relaxing.
This section of the river between Ross-on-Wye and Kerne Bridge was noticeably quieter than the next section downstream between Kerne Bridge and Symonds Yat which is unquestionably the most popular section of the river for kayakers, canoeists and paddle boarders.
I had my newly acquired Insta360 X3 action camera mounted on the 114cm ‘invisible selfie stick’ on the front deck on the kayak. It was attached to a wide base tripod which was secured in place by no less than 8 bungee cords, although I was still worried at times that it would somehow come loose and end up in the river.
By 17:00 we were nearing Goodrich and only had a mile to go to Kerne Bridge. All of a sudden, the turrets of Goodrich castle loomed up to the West over the tree tops.
The life of the castle itself began in the 11th century, soon after the Norman Conquest. William de Valence, a French nobleman, rebuilt the castle in the late 13th century,
Much of the castle was ruined in a siege of 1646, when Parliamentarians attacked it during the Civil War using a locally made cannon called ‘Roaring Meg’ to bombard the garrison into submission.
We passed some fishermen as we neared Kerne Bridge, giving them a wide berth so as to avoid their lines.
As we rounded a bend in the river, Kerne Bridge came into view.
Kerne Bridge was built on the site of a pre-Roman ford across the River Wye. The nearby Flanesford Priory was an Augustinian priory founded in 1346.
Kerne Bridge has some sentimental significance since it was here back in 2016 that I was first introduced to kayaking when we did a paddle from Kerne Bridge to Monmouth – I’ve been hooked ever since.
After passing a final fast flowing section, we landed at Kerne Bridge at about 17:45. What a great paddle on another amazing section of the Wye River.
5. LOGISTICS
Kerne Bridge
At Kerne Bridge, there is a quite large pay and display car park which at the time of us doing this paddle in August 2023 was £4 for up to 3 hours or £6 for over 3 hours.
Note that there are entry/exit cameras so do not stay too long in the car park unless you buy a ticket. There is a canoe launch just below the car park.
Ross-on-Wye
At Ross-on-Wye, we parked in the car park of the Hope & Anchor pub which is right by the canoe launch there. I enquired beforehand and was told it was free to park there but we had to pay £5 to use the canoe launch.
There is also parking on the nearby Wye Street but it is often busy and you may struggle to find a place.
Transport
We left a vehicle at either end of the route on this occasion.
If you only had one vehicle, then bus 34 runs quite regularly between the ‘Flanesford Priory’ bus stop just outside of the car park at Kerne Bridge and Ross on Wye. The link to the timetable is below.
https://www.nickmaddycoaches.co.uk/service-34-k
Alternatively, there are several taxi companies in Ross-on-Wye and the surrounding area who you could also book a taxi with.
6. PUBS & RESTAURANTS
The Hope & Anchor, Ross-on-Wye
The Hope & Anchor is a great riverside pub at Ross-on-Wye, right next to the canoe launches.
There is a nice beer garden out front overlooking the river with a cabin that does pizzas, drinks and other food.
Inn On the Wye, Kerne Bridge
The Inn On the Wye at Kerne Bridge is just up from the car park and kayak launch.
It’s a lovely Wye Valley pub with a good selection of drinks and food.
7. DANGERS & ISSUES
While the Wye is generally a safe river to paddle, we would flag up the following issues.
River Wye water levels
We would suggest that you always check the water level of any non-tidal river before you plan a kayak on it.
We use the website riverlevelsuk which has live readings for gauging stations along most rivers. The relevant gauging station for this route is at Ross-on-Wye of course.
Its important to check that the water level is not so high as to make the river potentially dangerous to paddle on the day when you intend to go due to the volume and speed of the flow. This can often happen after heavy rain.
At the other end of the spectrum, we have also paddled once on the Wye when the water level was very low, almost in the brown segment below the usual range and we found ourselves hitting lots of rocks under the water and bottoming out a lot because the river was so shallow.
Access to the River Wye
While the Wye is a magnificent paddling river, we would stress that access points for landing/launching can be few and far between. You cannot just land/launch where you like since most of the land adjoining the river is privately owned.
We have thus identified the land/launch locations in Section 5 above (LOGISTICS).
8. KAYAK USED
This trip was the maiden voyage of an Itiwit X100 2-3 person kayak which I had literally just bought that morning at the Decathlon store at Cardiff on the way up to the Wye Valley.
The Itiwit X100 is an inflatable kayak which can accommodate 2 adults or 2 adults and a small child, although it can be used as a large solo kayak too.
It has a high pressure drop stitch floor which inflates to 5psi and which provides a firm base to sit on.
There is a smaller version of this kayak called the 1-2 person Itiwit X100 which we previously did a review of.
It normally retails for £500 at the time of me writing this blog but I got it on offer for £400.
We liked the Itiwit X100 and a full review will be forthcoming once we have used it more and uploaded to our gear reviews section of our website.
9. KAYAKING THE WYE RIVER
This journey was part of the Kayak Crew’s undertaking to paddle every section of the Wye River between Glasbury all the way down to Chepstow.
This map shows how we broke the Wye River up into sections for our paddles.
We are uploading our blogs of our exploration of the Wye River by kayak to our Wye River page of our website.
We are also uploading videos of all of our trips to the Wye Valley playlist of our Youtube channel.
10. SUMMARY
This route of just under 6 miles is a very accessible and pleasant part of the Wye River.
There is parking and access onto the river at Ross-on-Wye and Kerne Bridge with public transport or taxis if you need them.
Ross-on-Wye is a lovely Herefordshire market town to start to paddle.
The scenery is stunning with rolling farmland, woods and bluffs gliding by as you paddle downstream.
Paddling by the historic Goodrich Castle is the icing on the cake.
If you have any questions or comments then please get in touch.
Below is the link to our Youtube video of this trip.