The Christmas holiday of 2012 had been fairly dark and wet. Most days were short, dark when waking and dark by tea time, made worse by heavy cloud and much rain. Plans had been made for a New Year’s Day paddle down the Severn, so it was a great relief come the day to have just about the best weather of the entire holiday. The forecast was for sunshine and occasionally overcast, but most of all it was going to be dry. Perfect!

Phil and I had decided to launch from Framilode around the turn of the tide and have a lazy drift down river, for about 13 miles to Purton. Here would leave the river and paddle the short distance along the canal to Upper Purton bridge, where we had left my van. Open canoes can be a bit of a handful (Green Bean is really heavy), when having to carry them over the soft sand and mud which we expected to have to do at Purton when leaving the river. Therefore we chose to take sit-on kayaks because they were the most practical boats, both lightweight and easy to jump on and off as needed.

Framilode is such a perfect place to launch a canoe, for either up-river or down-river exploration. Parking is easy, alongside the church and access to the river is just a few metres away down a grass bank. Often we deliberately get here early so that we can brew up a cup of tea and spend some time just watching the river. There is a kind of peace in waiting for the tide to either arrive from the sea if we are going up-river or slow down, stop and finally reverse its flow if we are going back with it down the estuary. Every trip is different and every trip’s beginning just as exciting.

About two and a half miles down river of Framilode is Pimlico Sands. This sandbank appears in the river as the tide falls and forces the water into a channel flowing diagonally across the river towards the lower end of Garden Cliff on the opposite side. We like to stop on the sands when we get the chance but today there was a lot of flood water coming down the river and we were too early to do so. Instead we stopped on a mud flat near the left bank and enjoyed a cup of tea and a snack whilst soaking up the sun. In the short time we were stopped the river level dropped noticeably and even the mud flat we stood on looked quite colourful in the sunshine.

We launched once more and paddled gently towards Newnham on Severn and Arlingham. Newnham looks very tranquil viewed from the river and what’s more, it always seems to be sunny when we go past! As we arrived at Newnham we paddled right up against the cliff beneath the church, where the colours of the rock were quite something and really stood out in the sun. A tiny gravel beach was a convenient stopping place and both of us took a few minutes to bask in the warm sunshine, which was such a contrast to the weather conditions of the previous week. Usually our trips on the river are longer than this one so it was extremely pleasant to take it steady and relax. Furthermore, we wanted the water to drop off some more to enable us to explore the sands as we ventured through ‘The Noose’.

The stretch of river between Newnham on Severn and ‘The Noose’ is really quite special. Once down-river of Newnham, and past Bullo the view up-river is truly stunning. Newhnam church stands majestically on its hill top with a panorama of the Forest of Dean in the background and boasts a waterscape worthy of any artists canvas. Down-river the wooded Hock Cliff rises on the left hand side and provides ample opportunity for fossil hunting and bird watching (and cooking sausages over a fire of course!). In anything other than a canoe, the navigation down this section requires sound local knowledge. The river level falls fast and the deep water is restricted first to the right bank whilst above the pylons and then almost immediately afterwards to the opposite side until the top end of Hock Cliff. Anywhere out of this area gets so shallow it’s often possible to paddle around in a just foot or so of water.

Much to our surprise the usual channel through ‘The Noose’ has disappeared. It’s quite difficult to locate at the best of times but it really had gone. The main flow was now tight to the outside of the bend (where it used to be several years ago) making navigation so much simpler, until it moves again! Just to be sure we hadn’t missed something obvious we stopped and walked through ‘The Noose’ back across the river, almost to the opposite bank and sure enough, the channel that we were looking for had all but gone. The only trace of it being a slight depression with about 10 inches of water in it. It used to be a really deep channel !

At this point in the day the air temperature started to noticeably drop and we wanted to press on to keep warm. We launched from the sandbank into the last of the outgoing tide and headed towards Purton. The light was starting to go but for a while the sky looked fantastic as the final rays of the sun filtered through the thin cloud. We were treated to a further magnificent sight as several hundred ducks took to the sky as we approached them. Not being very good with bird identification we were unable to tell exactly what sort of ducks they were but the huge flock twisted and turned whilst their numbers grew before they disappeared into the distance. It’s quite amazing what this estuary provides for entertainment, never a dull moment and always something different and we reflected on this whilst dragging our kayaks across the sand back towards the ships graveyard.

Just before reaching the bank we came to a small channel that we could just float across on the kayaks. It had a reasonable flow as it was the concentration of the remaining water that was fast draining off the sandbanks. It took us conveniently to the foot of the bank below the concrete hulks of the ships graveyard. A short climb across the muddy rock and a scramble through the grass and we were stood looking back at the estuary which was now much more sand and mud than it was water.

This was a relaxing place for a final cup of tea and a snack and just watching the estuary at the end of the day. If it wasn’t for Phil having to get back to let his dogs out for some exercise, we’d have stay a while longer rather than tearing ourselves away. A very short drag to the canal with the boats and a 5 minute paddle back to the car park brought our first canoe trip of 2013 to a close.

It was a both brilliant start to the year and another enjoyable outing on the Severn estuary. One thing is or sure though – we’ll be back for more!

Steve C