River Stour @ Sudbury

Took the kids out for a second time in the Big Blue Canoe, this time we started at The Granary which is the headquarters of The River Stour Trust. Parking is free, and the put in point is great, there's a nice slipway and jetty to cast off from.

The rowing club can just be seen in the distance and there were several boats around, some of whom were learners so we had to keep a close eye on what they doing. The cut joins the main river shortly after where we were met by the local scout group in a bunch of small dinghies careering around all over the place.

We headed upstream into the wind to start with towards the A131 road bridge.


Both kids had their own paddle this time, however the youngest who was in the back insisted on facing the wrong way and paddling . He was enjoying himself so that was fine.

The river splits after a short while and one of the channels had a fallen tree partially blocking the way so we took the other one.


Eventually it became too shallow to continue so we did a U turn and headed back to the blocked channel and decided to force our way through. It was just about a metre wide so no problem. Again, this channel became too shallow and overgrown with reeds etc for us so we headed back downstream only to discover the wind had changed direction. Isn't that always the way?

To keep the kids interested and stop them getting bored we took along some bread for the ducks. The oldest decided he was a duck and ate most of his.



Anyone got other ideas to keep the kids interested on canoe journeys? I'd like to hear them.

Trip time was only a few hours but we all really enjoyed it, so much so the youngest wanted another go after lunch before we headed off home.