River Mersey Canoe Trail
Bit of a short blogg this, but it will give a flavour of the river conditions for anyone interested in paddling the Mersey between Stockport and Carrington.
We put in at Northenden weir, and waited for Mrs N to complete the car shuttle.
As usual, the kids' main priorities were:
(i) Wildlife. (Spot the heron at the base of the weir)
(ii) Stuffing their faces
A quick picture down river showed how the Mersey runs between fairly deep banks, which makes positioning yourself on a map a little difficult, as there are few visible landmarks.
There'd been some rain recently, so the river was clipping along at a reasonable rate. Paddling at times involved nothing more than a lazy steering stroke. We overtook a few people jogging along the banks.
Mrs N paddled the kayak, giving me a rare opportunity to occupy the back seat of the open, with Thomas and Will taking it in turns bow paddling.
The river comprises long stretches of easy touring, with the occasional riffle to add a little excitement.
It's a popular venue for walkers and cyclists, and there was a steady stream of people passing on either bank, all waiting for us to fall in it seemed!
Here we are approaching one of the livelier stretches near Sale Water Park.
Will looked tiny as he ploughed straight down the middle. Great fun!
After about 3 hours and a brief stop at the Water Park to watch the jet skis, we arrived at the Trafford Metrovick Rugby Club, and got out via some well signposted portage steps.
If you are an inexperienced canoeist and fancy getting in some flat water river experience with some easy to run 'rapids' at regular intervals, then the Canoe Trail is well worth a visit.
Newbond
'In the end, it's not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away.'
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