Canoeing near Wargrave
Richard Quayle, aged 34, tell us about his canoeing trip
My four friends and I have two canoes between us and wanted to do a downstream trip for the day.
We started at Sonning at about 11am and paddled downstream. After about 20 minutes we took a right turn to check out St Patrick’s Stream. There’s a bit more current down this stream than there is in the Thames. It started off well and was very pretty (there is quite a lot of weed, which makes it unsuitable for powered boats but canoeists are fine). It is also popular with fishermen and there was one every couple of minutes who had to shuffle their rod out of the way as we passed by. We tried to get their attention and keep away from their lines – only one or two looked disgruntled.
It got a little hairy when the channel narrowed as I’m still learning how to steer – if you’re travelling slower than the stream it’s harder to steer, but I didn’t know that then! We rejoined the Thames just below Shiplake Lock and carried on downstream.
As we headed to Henley, we took another stream off to the right called the Hennerton Backwater. This one doesn’t bypass a lock so it was a lot gentler, which I preferred. We came out from the stream onto the Thames again where the river is very wide and a bit windy and there we headed for our first ever lock – Marsh Lock. We joined the queue and waited to be called forward to go into the lock. I told the lockkeeper that this was our first time and he said not to worry! We held onto the chains for dear life but hardly noticed that the water was gently going out and we were soon out and found ourselves in sight of Henley.
After lunch, we headed off down the famous Henley Royal Regatta course – well, more alongside it as it was being used for a local rowing event. We couldn’t keep up with them but we tried for a bit! The river is straight for over a mile here so it’s slow going, but I knew that there was an ice-cream van about halfway down the reach so we stopped again and for more refuelling!
Our final destination was just a bit past Hambleden lock, which has a very pretty weir. We hauled the canoes out of the water and drove back to Sonning to pick up the other car and then home for a well-deserved curry!
When did you do it?
A Saturday at the end of August 2006.
What did you like best about it, did everything go to plan?
It was really fun and a lovely way to see the river. The backwaters were excellent but very different. Everything went to plan and the ice creams were a bonus I had forgotten about!
What did you like least, did anything go wrong or was not as you'd expected?
I was a bit worried about the St Patrick's Stream as it was much faster flowing that I had expected. I'm only a beginner with the canoe and I wouldn't go down it again until I was a bit more confident.
Did you use any businesses during your trip? What did you think of them?
The The St George & Dragon bar and restaurant at Wargrave was a lovely place and certainly somewhere I'd go for a nice lunch or dinner. I felt a bit out of place in a shabby T-shirt and old shorts but the owners didn't have a problem with us as we sat outside in the sun. We had to move our canoes as we'd taken up most of the mooring and a powered boat wanted to stop, but that was ok.
The ice-cream van halfway between Henley and Hambleden always seems to be there and is welcome relief in the middle of nowhere.
The The Flower Pot Hotel was very nice and relaxed, with good garden to sit in the sun. It was very popular and we felt comfortable in our shabby clothes.