Words : Margarita Felixberger Photos : The Round Wales Team
PADDLER 77
A WELSH
CIRCUMNAVIGATION
Words : Margarita Felixberger Photos : The Round Wales Team
We were sitting in a static caravan in Prestatyn , refreshing the weather forecast yet again . The storm had finished , but the swell was still large , and we were about to venture into the treacherous Dee Estuary full of shifting sandbanks .
MUMBLES NEAR SWANSEA
Two weeks before , our team of paddlers had set off on a circumnavigation of Wales from the Mumbles near Swansea . We had started off making good progress , but the weather had forced us to sit out a few days , and we were keen to get going again .
Some might ask how you circumnavigate Wales , considering it is not an island . Well , it is surrounded on three sides by coast and the north coast can be connected to the south coast via canals and rivers . The inland section route requires paddling from Chester to Wolverhampton on the Shropshire Union Canal and then continuing on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal to Stourport-on-Severn . From
Stourport , the Severn flows south , bringing you to the south coast .
Our team consisted of Tavi , a seasoned expedition paddler with an Ireland circumnavigation and a Roof of Britain circumnavigation under her belt ; Russell , who had dreamed of a Wales circumnavigation since he was 14 ; Margarita , who loves local adventure and was easily persuaded to join ; and expedition novice Alison , who wanted to paddle as much of the coast as possible in the limited time she had available .
SO , HOW DO YOU PLAN A BIG ADVENTURE LIKE THIS ?
We spent ages discussing different start locations . However , there are so many variables that making detailed planning in advance is difficult . In the end , we printed 1:50k OS maps of the route and annotated the coast section with tidal flows and the inland section with portaging information .
PADDLER 77