CONTENTS
- Date, Time and Distance
- Map of the Route
- Water Level & Weather
- Kerne Bridge to Symonds Yat kayak
- Logistics
- Pubs & Restaurants
- Dangers / Issues
- Kayaks used
- The Wye River
- Summary
1. date, time and distance
20 September 2020.
8.5 miles paddle.
Launched from Kerne Bridge about 12:00. Landed at Symonds Yat about 16:30.
45 minutes minute lunch stop. 3 hours 45 minutes paddling.
2. MAP OF THE ROUTE
3. WATER LEVEL & WEATHER
It was a warm day with highs of about 21 Celsius and with light winds of about 8mph from the North East.
The Lydbrook gauging station indicated that the water level was about 0.7 meters there. This was quite low for this time of the year, being towards the bottom of the normal range for the Lydbrook gauging station.
4. KERNE BRIDGE TO SYMONDS YAT KAYAK
We set off from the launch point at Kerne Bridge at about 12:00 and headed downstream on our 8.5 miles route to Symonds Yat.
The launch point and the stretch of river downstream from it were busy with Canadian Canoes from the hire companies, paddle boarders and other kayakers.
This stretch of river between Kerne Bridge and Symonds Yat is the busiest on the Wye since it’s very popular with kayakers and paddle boarders and also is one of the main sections used by the hire companies than run organised trips.
As usual on the Wye, we regularly passed groups of Canada geese, swans and ducks loitering along the river.
About miles along the route, we came to Lower Lydbrook. There was shallow, rapid section here which we whizzed down, after initially bottoming out a bit.
We then passed Welsh Bicknor which, as the name suggests is on the West or Welsh side of the Wye. The charming church of St Margarets stands beside the river near Welsh Bicknor.
We pulled up for a Kayak Crew ‘Cider Stop’ and lunch break on the riverbank just downstream from Welsh Bicknor.
Refreshed after our break, we headed off downstream again passing under the the Black Bridge which connects Lower Lydbrook to Welsh Bicknor.
The Wye then curved around in a huge arc, almost doubling back on itself as it meandered down the valley.
We came upon a flock of Hereford cattle drinking water from the river it meandered around a huge, wooded gorge.
The cattle were a bit intimidating due to their size and some of them were actually in the river but they were harmless enough.
About 2/3 of the way along the route, the Wye meandered round again in the other direction and swung down the valley.
We passed under the Huntsham Bridge which the runs down to Symonds Yat East.
We passed the 13th Century St Dubricius Church which nestles on the West bank of the Wye at Whitchurch.
Heading down the long final straight towards Symonds Yat, we paddled by the large caravan park at Symonds Yat West.
A pleasure boat was carrying passengers upon and down the river. Symonds Yat is a real tourist hot spot in the Summer.
As we paddled past Symonds Yat West, we past Ye Old Ferrie Inn. Symonds Yat West straddles the banks of the Wye about half a mile upstream from Symonds Yat East.
As we approached 16:30, we paddled in towards the charming village of Symonds Yat East nestling on the East bank of the Wye.
What another great paddle on magnificent Wye river.
5. LOGISTICS
Kerne Bridge
At Kerne Bridge there is a pay and display car park which is right by the canoe launch.
Symonds Yat West
If you wanted to do slightly shorter route (about half a mile less) and land at Symonds Yat West, there is launch point at just down river of the River Cruise Boat’s mooring jetty at River Wye caravan and camping park.
Launch or landing fees of £2 have to be paid at the Ice Cream stall at the Symonds Yat West camp site. Parking is available @ £6 for whole day or £3 for 3 hours.
There are also a launch points at Ye Old Ferrie Inn at Symonds Yat West which has a car park but you would need to firstly get permission from the pub to use their car park and to launch your kayak from there.
Symonds Yat East
If you carry on half a mile downstream to Symonds Yat East (like we did) then there is launch point just upstream from the Saracens Head pub.
The car park at Symonds Yat East is £5 for 4 hours or £7 all day. There is a fee to launch or land of £2 per craft and this is payable in the machine onsite.
Transport
We had 3 inflatable kayaks which packed up small into a backpacks and we left a car at either end of the route
If you wanted to use public transport then you could get bus 34 which stops at Whitchurch and Kerne Bridge. The bus stop at Whitchurch roundabout is about a third of a mile walk from the launch point at River Wye caravan and camping park. Link to the timetable below:
https://www.nickmaddycoaches.co.uk/service-34-k
Alternatively, there are a number of taxi firms which operate in the area, so you could get a taxi from Monmouth to Symonds Yat and paddle back to the car at Monmouth. If you have an inflatable kayak then you can just put it in the boot of the taxi.
If you have a hard shell then many taxi firms in the Wye valley can transport both you and your canoe or kayak and I have linked one of them below.
6. PUBS & RESTAURANTS
Ye Old Ferrie Inn, Symonds Yat West
Ye Old Ferrie Inn, at Symonds Yat West is a lovely big pub located on the riverside. It dates back to 1473.
There is a hand pulled river ferry boat which runs from the slipway below Ye Old Ferry Inn which ferries people back and forth from one side of the river to the other.
The Saracens Head, Symonds Yat East
The Saracens Head at Symonds Yat East is another large, old pub on the riverside. Like the Old Ferrie Inn, it has a good selection of ciders and is also blessed with riverside beer garden.
It also has the same type of very unusual hand pulled ferry operating from it that the Old Ferrie Inn has half a mile upstream.
7. DANGERS & ISSUES
While the Wye is generally a safe river to paddle, we would flag up the following issues.
River Levels in the Wye
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 riverlevels.uk which has live readings for gauging stations along most rivers
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. KAYAKS USED
Pro Aqua Inflatable kayak
3 of us used the trusty Pro Aqua inflatable kayaks which were our work house from 2016 until late 2020.
The Pro Aqua kayaks are compact, inflatable kayaks which used to be sold by Clas Ohlson but have since been discontinued.
Tootega Kinetic 100 Hydrolite
Archie used a Tootega Kinetic 100 Hydrolite hard shell sit on top kayak that he quite recently purchased.
By using lightweight, polyethylene construction in the Hydrolite version, Tootega have been able to shave nearly 20% from the weight of their standard Kinetic 100.
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.
The Wye is one of the best kayaking rivers in Europe if not the world. The total distance between Glasbury and Chepstow is about 105 miles.
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
We loved this 8.5 miles paddle on a vibrant and stunning section of the Wye.
It is not busy without reason, being blessed with magnificent scenery coupled with some great riverside pubs on the route.
If you paddle this route in peak season over the Summer expect it to be quite busy, especially due to the Canadian Canoe hire companies who use this stretch a lot. That’s not a problem of course, but you may be surprised how busy it is around Kerne Bridge and Symonds Yat West.
The link to our YouTube video of this trip is below.