On Friday evening, we decided to set off from Saltash and go downstream. The nice thing about launching from Saltash is that it's practically seaside down there, so the water is clear and salt and the bottom is all sandy and there is no mud! The slightly alarming thing is that the river is wide down there, so it can get a bit windy, and there are a lot of boats. If you go down towards Plymouth, there are frigates and submarines, too. I find being in a canoe and sharing a river with a frigate a bit alarming!
But fortunately there were not many boats moving on a Friday evening, and all of them were tiny. The wind was quite calm too, so we crossed the Tamar just downstream of the railway bridge, went downstream and found ourselves outside the naval dockyard. We weren't sure quite how close to it we were supposed to paddle, so we crossed the river to the Cornwall side again, which was much less daunting.
I forgot to bring the SD card for my camera, so you'll have to imagine the three egrets, the heron and the oyster-catchers, and the deep clear green water under the trees leaning down from the rocky shoreline. We went downstream a little, then went around into a cove, where we saw a labrador sitting sadly by the river waiting for its person to stop doing other things and throw a ball into the water. The labrador's person told us that the village was called Wilcove. I've never been there before, so we paddled in to have a look, and found that it had a pub, and a driveway going behind the pub that was currently underwater. I liked seeing the cars parked as far up as they could go, unable to escape until the tide went down.
But fortunately there were not many boats moving on a Friday evening, and all of them were tiny. The wind was quite calm too, so we crossed the Tamar just downstream of the railway bridge, went downstream and found ourselves outside the naval dockyard. We weren't sure quite how close to it we were supposed to paddle, so we crossed the river to the Cornwall side again, which was much less daunting.
I forgot to bring the SD card for my camera, so you'll have to imagine the three egrets, the heron and the oyster-catchers, and the deep clear green water under the trees leaning down from the rocky shoreline. We went downstream a little, then went around into a cove, where we saw a labrador sitting sadly by the river waiting for its person to stop doing other things and throw a ball into the water. The labrador's person told us that the village was called Wilcove. I've never been there before, so we paddled in to have a look, and found that it had a pub, and a driveway going behind the pub that was currently underwater. I liked seeing the cars parked as far up as they could go, unable to escape until the tide went down.
Comments
I was faintly hoping to see a dolphin, but no luck there yet. Maybe one day! (I don't mind sharing the river with dolphins!)
The idea of submarines was delightful.