This summer my son has reached the stage where he is competent enough paddling that I’m happy to let him out in a sit on top solo in easyish conditions, with me tagging along in my own boat never too far away.

On holiday in Belgium we did a 10k river trip which he really enjoyed although it was rarely more than knee deep and we spent a lot of time shuffling our bottoms through the shallows.

Do any of you out in STW-world know any routes in the southern half of the country that would work for an autumn trip? I’ve done the Wye Valley in the tin hire boats before, so that’s a possible.

The Great Ouse from Bedford to St. Ives is not bad. Quite a few locks, but you can pick and choose where to start and finish from depending on how long you want to spend out and about. I’ve done pretty much all of it from St. Neots to St. Ives and it’s quite nice.

I think the Bedford to St. Neots bit would be nicer though.

That’d fit in with a trip to Cenrtre Parcs and we could take in the Thetford trails, hmmmmmmmm.

I clicked on here to suggest the Wye Valley as it’s what we did a couple of weeks ago.

We did lots of rivers and canals when James was a 10year old sprog. He managed and loved some of the grade 3s at that age so yours might be up for more than you think. Go on UKRivers link:
http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=107
best thing we did was get him kitted out in right size good gear
Start of the Loop age 9

End of the Loop age 9 and a bit!

Just done Lover Leap aged 11

lots to choose, good ones are rivers down to estuaries with tide going out and then lunch and tide coming in.
Good ones for us were: Wye, Dart, Avon (both of them) Barle, Frome, Exe, a few more on there, have a great time. Thought we would be on the rivers still but somehow this all led to DH which led to RoadRacing Motorbikes!
Good Luck

Have been thinking about this myself. Asking around, Wye valley seemed to come up a few times.

Link below to a site. I know you don’t want to hire gear etc but it shows a 2 day trip down the Wye

http://www.wyevalleycanoes.co.uk/index.htm

If you venture north, upper derwent, across derwent water then middle derwent in north cumbria makes a nice day.

Wy valley does make a lot of sense, and the two day trip is something that appeals to me too. Mind you, I’d planned a weekender down the Wye this summer, but never managed to get hold of anyone at the canoe hire place, so eventually just forgot about it.

not a hard route but for a work outing did Bridgnorth to Bedley on the River Severn and got the steam train back again.

I did bits of the Thames at that sort of age. The upper Thames is really quite pretty, and dead easy to access. No interesting water though, all pretty flat.

You have to portage a few locks but it isn’t hard.

Oh and talking of tide, I’ve done Twickenham to Teddington and back a few times in a rowing boat. Very nice, you wouldn’t believe it was 10 miles from central London. If you time it so you’re starting on a rising tide, there is a nice lunch pub with a garden right by the river, you can justpop the boats out and go straight to the bar to order food. Make sure you time it so after lunch is a falling tide and you’re back in no time. You can start at twickenham, or Richmond if you want to go further. Make sure you read the tide tables (Richmond Lock is the right one).

lower lower dart has easy whitewater and then long tidal section to dartmouth.

tamar is supposed to be a good trip from calstock down

The tidal Dart is *the* classic [open] canoeing river. It’d suit a Sea Kayak too, but might be a bit more work in a short creek boat (or whatever they are called these days 😉 ). Fast tide on the bottom end, and it’s busy in Dart Harbour.

The top end of the Tamar is good, but watch for the tidal race further down, it can become pretty committing. SOTP is another good resource for canoe rivers (kinda like UKGB is for kayak rivers).

Hereford to Ross on Wye was vey calm and shallow back in June. No rapids or rocks.

Me and my mates canoed down the wye for a stag do – given the state of us, and the fact no one died, I assume it’d be a good option for a little one.

Another Wye vote here. We use Monmouth Canoe Hire. Great people.

http://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk

Thanks for all the suggestions, just got to find a weekend when he’s not playing footie.