I’m taking the kids for a few days paddling down the Wye river next week, starting in Hay and see if we can get to Chepstow in 3-4 days. Probably be a mix of wild camping and campsites, considering taking tarp and bivvy bags instead of tent. Will we get eaten alive?

You’ll be fine on the midge front. There’s very little water (and what there is is mainly chicken ****) in the river so progress will be slow.

As with salad_dodger, I’d be much more concerned about high levels of pollution in the river.
It’s phosphate central.

Thanks. Doesn’t sound ideal on the water levels, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised given the amount of rain we’ve had.

You might get midges tbf. A bottle of Jungle formula would be handy. If it’s windy then not but i’ve had them before in Elan valley so I guess along the Wye too. Just take your NBC suit in case you capsize.

Might as well go for a walk down the river I reckon!

Was alright a couple of weeks back. Bit shallow in places took a big tumble in one rapids when my fin bottomed out…

The water level is as low as it’s been seen in 40ish years.

There will be a fair bit of pushing the canoe over stones to look forward to.

Yeah I would attempt fewer miles in case it’s very shallow, low flowing and you have to get out and line a lot. Did Hereford to Symonds Yat a few years ago in just over 3 days when flowing well – particularly from the Kerne Bridge area. Upstream of that is very gentile. The 18 miles from Hereford to Hoarwithy took us about 6 hours of paddling without stopping, so to do 75+ miles from Hay on Wye to Monmouth in 4 days in current low water levels will be long days.

I wouldn’t go into the tidal reaches in a canoe (south of Redbrook; though Monmouth has a nice get-out at the rowing club).

From memory there weren’t many places to get out and plenty of signs about trespass above river bank, but water levels were higher than now when we were there. Perhaps with low water you’ll have gravel banks / bars to get out on and wild camp.

Camping a week ago 50 metres from the upper Wye and first night had me diving for the car after being chomped on every exposed part (mostly face/ears)

This was inside of the car with the windows closed (ie the ones that followed me inside/hitched a ride on my face/ears):

Had little to no midge troubles on the following two days. A very slight breeze made all the difference.

I’d echo what’s been said above, 3-4 days to Chepstow with kids seems ambitious and not much fun. I certainly wouldn’t recommend the tidal stretch unless you know what you’re doing with tides over flow. And after this summer I imagine there’s be a lot of walking.

Wild camping will be nigh on impossible other than on the gravel beaches, too.

To balance the negativity (sorry!), I used to work on the canoes out of Glasbury and in the lord-knows-how-many descents I did I don’t remember ever having a major midge problem.

ETA Beautiful place to go, though, and lovely chilled paddling.

Thanks. Don’t apologise for the negativity – I’d rather know what to expect. Chepstow was always a stretch, main priority is making sure the kids enjoy themselves. If that means we only go part of the way and/or bail early that’s fine.

Another option might be the Avon from Stratford upon Avon to where it meets, or perhaps some of the Severn?

I’ve been knocking off the full length of Shakespeare’s Avon in sections on my paddleboard and it really is stunning in places.
No fin-dragging sections anywhere yet, as that section is navigable by big boats.

I was struck fairly recently after paddling a section of the Wye on how few fish I saw, I mean, none really.
The Avon you see loads, swimming in the reeds and jumping.

This book is fantastic for planning. Lists suggested sections along with places to camp etc too.
Full disclosure- it’s written by a very knowledgeable friend of mine.

Otherwise, he does one on the Wye and the Thames too.

I can’t comment on the midges, but Hereford to Monmouth is 3 quite long days for 17-18 year old DoE groups.

Wild camping with kids could be difficult, you risk getting chased off by landowners. With the low levels, there might be opportunities on the river gravel but the banks are mostly inaccessible and/or private. I’ve used the campsites at Byecross, Hereford Rowing Club, Tresseck (Hoarwithy) and Welsh Bicknor YHA.

kayak, few fish in the Wye due to industrial levels of pollution from commercial scale chicken farming and massive phosphate run-off.
I’m working for a client in the area and it’s a massive cause of concern.