Paddleboarding the Severn Source to Sea – PART I

Can’t believe I’m actually paddleboarding the Severn source to sea. Only one and a half years ago, my buddy Markmeister got me into stand-up paddleboarding. I was incredibly bad at it. I fell into the water during the two-hour introductory course, I had booked. Something, which, the instructor assured me, only happens very rarely. Then, when Mark and I met at the sea in Brighton, to practice, I wasn’t able to stand up at all. Not a single time. Every time I tried, I fell into the water. Non-stop. For three hours.

 

EVERYONE NEEDS SOMEONE WHO BELIEVES IN YOU

Mark kept his faith in me, and a week later we set off to do the first part of our Thames source to London adventure. I was probably even more surprised than Mark, when I didn’t fall into the water a single time. Not on the first four-day part, and not on the other two multi-day sections of our trip all the way to London.

 

 

If it wouldn’t have been for Mark’s vote of confidence in me and his willingness to take a (huge!) risk, I never would have gotten started with paddleboarding. Certainly not paddleboarding the Severn source to sea. Now this is probably my favourite means of long-distance transport.

THAMES SOURCE TO LONDON, CUCKMERE SOURCE TO SEA

Since we finished our Thames source to London, Mark and I have been doing the Cuckmere source to sea in treacherous winter conditions. We also did some paddleboarding in the sea together.

 

PADDLEBOARDING THE SEVERN SOURCE TO SEA

However, for a long time, pretty much since we got talking on our Thames trip, we had been planning to do the Severn, source to sea. The Severn is the UK’s longest river. It starts in western Wales and goes in a big, meandering loop via Shrewsbury and Gloucester into the Bristol Channel: 354km.

 

WELL, THE ‘SUP-NAVIGABLE’ BIT, ANYWAY

Not all of it is navigable, far from it. As a matter of fact, despite being such a majestic river, even the smallest motorised boats have to avoid the first 200km or so. Paddleboards are more flexible than motorised boats, so there are different possible entry points, depending on your risk appetite, personal preferences, boards, water levels, weather forecasts, and other factors.

 

‘SETTING UP TENT’ IN SHREWSBURY, BEFORE PADDLEBOARDING THE SEVERN SOURCE TO SEA

We chose to book ourselves into a hotel at Shrewsbury for four nights, with the intention of doing at least four days of paddleboarding the Severn source to sea, maybe extend and do a fifth day. The plan was to start upriver from Shrewsbury, then pass by the town and go further downriver, but always return to our hotel at night via public transport or taxi.

 

 

EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS

The weather situation on our first day was about as weird as it could possibly get. There were red weather warnings for expected severe floods. At the same time, the river was at extremely low levels. This was due to the drought, that, for the time being, continued to plague the river. Were we going to prepare for extremely high or extremely low levels?

AN HOUR FROM TAXI DROP-OFF TO ENTERING THE WATER

We decided to check the weather regularly and set off from Crewgreen, in Wales, close to Melverley in England. Our taxi arrived at the drop-off near the entry point at around 10:30am. There had been a little hick-up.

 

The taxi driver had initially understood we wanted to go to Crewe Green, i.e. the market square of the town of Crewe. Crewe is 60km and more than an hour’s drive from Shrewsbury. Crewgreen is 20km and 20 minutes from Shrewsbury, in a completely different direction. Luckily we spotted the issue less than five minutes into the drive.

 

After we had been dropped off next to the river, it took us almost an hour to walk the 200m to the entry point and set up everything. We had to get the boards inflated, check our gear, take some pics, gobble down our packed breakfast.

NO FINS, THANK YOU

Luckily, we decided to set out paddleboarding the Severn source to sea without (in my case) respectively with an ultra-flexible, small fin (in Mark’s case) right from the beginning. Little did we know that for our whole trip (the first part of it, anyway), we would not use the regular fins on our boards.

A MISTAKE?

The first few hundred metres almost made us regret our decision. There was plenty of water below our boards. Proper fins would have made us twice as fast. What a waste of energy!

SHALLOWS, SHALLOWS, AND MORE SHALLOWS

Then the first shallows of very, very, very many shallows appeared. There had been no shallows on the Thames paddle, because we had only done the part that is navigable for motorised boats.

  

A GUESSING GAME

Huge rocks and sharp ends of tree trunks and branches were sticking out of the water left, right, and centre. Where they didn’t stick out of the water, they were often a mere inch or less below the water. You really had to watch out. Try to guess what the underwater surface was like by looking at the water flowing over it. If the water made any funny moves, best to avoid that section.

 

PADDLEBOARDING THE SEVERN SOURCE TO SEA: CONFUSING, EVEN FOR ‘LOCALS’

Mark had grown up in Shrewsbury and he knows the river well. But the extremely low water levels took him by surprise too. They made everything rather unpredictable.

FINALLY, A RIVER THAT ACTUALLY FLOWS!

On these early stretches, the river, at the time we were passing it, was often flowing fast, up to 5kph, perhaps 2.5 to 3kph on average. This made for a nice change from our Thames experience, where we had had to do all the work, paddling. Soon, however, probably from the afternoon of the first day, the river’s current slowed down a lot. There were still a few passages, almost always around the shallows, where it was flowing fast. But most of the time, the current was no faster than 1 or 2kph at best.

 

STANDING UP ON OUR BOARDS WHILE GOING THROUGH SHALLOWS

At first, Mark and I sat down on our boards whenever we spotted shallows. However, gradually we grew more confident and started to navigate those tricky passages while standing up. I was surprised about how much of a thrill that was. You’re unlikely to hurt yourself badly, if you fall in. On the other hand, falling onto a rock that is just under the surface of the water probably won’t be a great experience either.

MONEY IN THE GAME

This means that you’ve really got some money in the game. You definitely do not want to fall in. It is amazing, what such a relatively minor threat can do to your concentration and adrenaline levels. Mark and I were both very focused whenever we went through any shallows.

  

GETTING CAUGHT OUT, WHILE PADDLEBOARDING THE SEVERN SOURCE TO SEA

Sometimes you get caught out. The board beneath your feet moves into a different direction from what you had anticipated. You find yourself doing some serious acrobatics on your board. Sometimes it almost looked like dancing, especially when you’re going over a whirlpool or the board touches a rock. It is still a miracle to me that neither of us fell in.

YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN, IN A GOOD WAY

On the Thames, you often can’t go five minutes without a longboat passing by. Here on the Severn, we sometimes paddled for four or five hours without seeing any other people. The embankment is also a lot more interesting than on the Thames. More hilly, sometimes even with rock walls.

NO ISSUES WITH TAXIS AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT

As mentioned, we took a taxi or public transport back to our hotel each night. It worked surprisingly well. There was one occasion, when we had missed our exit point and had gone over very long shallows (about 350m long) before we found out. We had to paddle and wade through the river upriver for a long time to get back to the exit point. Then we had to walk quite a distance to the bus station and wait for an hour for the next bus.

 

IRONBRIDGE RAPIDS – THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE

WHILE PADDLEBOARDING THE SEVERN SOURCE

TO SEA

On our third day, we set off from Ironbridge, after finishing up our delicious pork pies from Eley’s. Mark & I had both done a lot of research. We had read pretty much any blog post, article, and advice that is out there. Under normal conditions, the Ironbridge Rapids, also called Jackfield Rapids, are very doable. In particular, if you are in a kayak, canoe, or other vessel suited for white water.

‘NORMAL WATER CONDITIONS’

We were on paddleboards. While it is not entirely unheard of, for paddleboarders to go through the rapids on their boards, all sources we had found involved normal water conditions.

  

They are defined as being between 3.75m and 0.5m. The current levels were 0.51m. 2cm above red conditions, which would have meant a no-go. Now, half a metre depth of water is a good level if there are no rocks sticking out of and just underneath the surface. By definition, this is not what rapids look like. There were going to be lots of rocks. Everywhere.

DISCUSSING ESCAPE ROUTES AND POSSIBLE ACCIDENTS

I very vividly remember how Mark and I discussed how, if things turned south, we’d paddle to the embankment and walk around the rapids. How we talked about the likelihood of that approach not being possible in case we’d spot the danger too late. What we’d do if one of us hurt himself when falling into the water.

DO YOU IMMEDIATELY ASSIST YOUR PARTNER IF HE’S INJURED?

Would the other person jump off their board and try to rescue the person that fell in? We decided that if one of us fell in, the other one would continue through the rapids and help from below the rapids once the injured person was floating, or hopefully swimming, past.

  

TENSE START ON OUR THIRD DAY OF

PADDLEBOARDING THE SEVERN SOURCE

TO SEA

When we set off, we were both quite tense. We had watched all those YouTube videos, and it had looked like a walk in the park. But no one had done the rapids at such low levels. What was expecting us? Were we going to be okay?

FALSE ALARMS

We had a few false alarms along the way, thinking we had reached the rapids, but realising soon that we had just come across some regular shallows.

EYES CLOSED, HEAD FIRST

Then we spotted some proper white water. Waves up to 1.2m high. 60cm above and below the regular river level. The river was deeper than 51cm in those sections, obviously, with plenty of rocks sticking out of the water. Very fast currents and lots of foam and mist. It was too late to get out of the river. There were no good exit points. As they say: eyes closed, head first.

WASHING MACHINE

We tried to find the perfect line, going through the least troubled waters. Mark did okay. But I missed one turn and went straight through one of the big washing machine waves, hardly managing to cling to my board. Even in my seated position.

SOME QUIET TIME

When we reassembled below the rapids, we both didn’t talk much for a few minutes. We were just happy that we had put that bit behind us.

  

TRAIN STRIKES

It was also around that time, on said Friday around lunch time, that we learned that no trains were going to go as scheduled over the weekend because of train strikes. Apparently there was a chance to reach London with a few hours delay in completely overcrowded trains. Considering, that we had our paddleboards and other luggage to carry, this did not have a good ring to it.

HOW TO MAKE IT BACK TO LONDON AFTER

PADDLEBOARDING THE SEVERN SOURCE

TO SEA (PART I)

Mark decided to spend the whole weekend in his hometown Shrewsbury and only return to his home in Brighton on Monday morning. After Mark had kindly given his go-ahead, I decided to leave that Friday evening. Having been aware of the train strike rumours, I had purchased several tickets back to London well ahead of time. For Friday, Saturday, and for Sunday, via different routes, including via Wales, Manchester, and Birmingham. Mark had been been briefed about this, of course.

CANCELLING VS KEEPING

The plan had always been to cancel (free of cost) those, that I wouldn’t need, which is what I ended up doing. Thus, I had been able to take advantage of the early bird discounts. Some of my tickets had cost under £20. Would I have purchased them on the day, the prices would have varied between £80 and £220.

THE MYSTERY OF THE ENGLISH TRAIN TICKETS

On a funny side note: I ended up keeping one of the £40 bookings that were via Manchester, in order to take a train via Birmingham (not Manchester). This was, because the Manchester ticket was flexible regarding the route, whereas the Birmingham ticket was restricted to a different train operator. None of this was clear from the tickets, which all stated “Anytime Super Saver, any eligible stations and routes” or similar. The British railway ticket system is about as intelligible as murky mud.

TWO HOURS THAT FELT LIKE TEN

We took a cab from Bridgnorth back to Shrewsbury. I picked up my luggage and said goodbye to my friend, before walking to the train station. Unsurprisingly, the train back to London was still outrageously overcrowded. People were literally squeezed into the carriages with zero wiggle-room. Those two hours on the train felt like ten hours. When I arrived at Euston, I had to queue for a black cab for another half hour. It was 10pm, when Ellie greeted me at our flat’s doorstep.

 

LESSONS TO BE LEARNED

In hindsight, it had been a bit excessive, to (unsuccessfully) attempt a 13km Thames Marathon swim in Henley the previous Sunday, then go caving in Somerset on Tuesday, then paddleboarding in Wales and Shropshire from Wednesday to Friday. The following Tuesday morning, Ellie & I were going to be on our way to Tanzania, where we would attempt to climb Kilimanjaro, then do a safari. Ellie & I are both supposed to have day jobs. Those fun activities are all just on the side. Never again would I squeeze so much into three weeks.

Looking for more outdoor activities? Check out my posts about indoor ice-climbing, outdoor rock-climbing, caving, packrafting, jetlevving, flyboarding, skydiving, jetskiing, powerboating, and kitesurfing.