River Severn: Stage 1 - Pool Quay to Melverley

Stage 1 – Pool Quay (Welshpool) to Melverley, 3 July 2011

We canoed alone, two of us in one canoe. We were the only people on the river this day, a Sunday. We used the document at http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Leisure/canoeguide_1739506.pdf as a basic planning guide.

The minimarket in Welshpool sells OS Map 240, which covers all of the route. Public toilets are available in Welshpool, but don’t expect much else in the town, especially on a Sunday; it’s pretty dead.

It’s a five minute drive to the launching point at Pool Quay. We drove through Pool Quay and out the other side in the blink of an eye, and had to return to the pub http://www.powis-arms.co.uk/ to ask for directions. We were told later that the food is very good here. We were directed back along the road for about a mile in the direction of Welshpool, where there is a large layby, next to a field, from where we launched. We had no information about permissions to launch, but we were told that this is a regular launching point. There is apparently another launching point much closer to the pub http://www.igreens.org.uk/canoe_touring_on_the_river_sever.htm but we didn’t see this from the road and presumably was down a lane. Had we have found this we would have cut ¾ hour off the journey time and avoided a sharp drop (image ) with lots of protruding rocks (which we canoed in any event) and a very narrow rapids blocked by fallen trees (which we carried the canoe around.

For the first five miles of the journey the river was very narrow, shallow, and partially obstructed in many places by fallen trees. Navigation was a little tricky in places. There were lots of partially submerged rocks, most (but not all) of which we managed to avoid. After about five miles the river began to widen and presented no challenges.

The route presented itself with many pebble beaches on which to land. I don’t know what the local landowners’ position is on this, but unlike the Wye, there was an absence of a) any other canoes on the river and b) any signs saying “keep of my land”. I guess this area doesn’t get spoilt by parties of inexperienced canoeists who leave litter and who often disregard basic “rules” of the countryside.

Lots of bird wildlife on the way. The obvious grey herons, plus a cormorant, a kingfisher and some noisy birds of prey.

At about the ¾ point of the journey we passed under Llandrinio Bridge, where it is apparently possible to camp. Our destination was some 60 minutes further on. Four miles later we saw Crewgreen Bridge, before which (left) was the confluence of the Severn and the Vyrnwy.

We paddled ½ mile up the River Vyrnwy in search of the pub at Melverley, the Tontine Arms. At the end of an afternoon’s canoeing the upstream paddling was energy sapping. The pub is not visible from the river, but we "guess" landed a few metres upstream from the church with the lopsided timber-framed tower. This was a campsite and we were challenged politely by the owner, who seemed OK once we apologised for landing on private land http://www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk/church-house-melverley/. I would advise calling the owner to ask for landing permission in advance, and don’t expect anything more than a steep muddy bank as an alighting point.

We carried the canoe along the lane to the Tontine Arms, in need of some pub grub. We were to be disappointed; they don’t cook on Sunday evenings. I used a Welshpool taxi to go back to collect my car from Pool Quay. There are about three companies in Welshpool. The journey cost £18.