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Sunday 7 August 2011

Kayaking the Wensum: Costessey to Hellesdon Mill

Rowing through gunk

I DON’T particularly understand the biology, but whenever a big tree falls across a small freshwater river a micro-habitat seems to develop underneath. And you get this thick green soup in the water which makes the going tricky for anyone in a kayak. There was plenty of it today on my second stretch of the Wensum which sees the river climb north around Costessey to Drayton, before plunging south again towards Hellesdon Mill. The gunk I could handle, a bit of portage around Costessey Mill was easy too, it was the “No Canoeing” landlord around Drayton that got my goat. But let’s start at the beginning. In Costessey I used the backyard of the deserted 16th Norwich Sea Scouts base to get in the river. The Bush pub gardenI have to confess I didn’t have permission, but hey, Baden Powell would have approved wouldn’t he? Thanks chaps. From there you pass the idyllic pub garden of The Bush (pictured left) before seeing the equally picturesque back gardens of Costessey’s luckier residents. One of them even appears to have a private bridge (below right) which in my book is the height of cool. The river runs north down to the site of Costessey Mill. The buildings disappeared a long time ago, but of Private bridge at Costesseycourse there’s the usual longer-lasting evidence – two channels, a sluice and the need for a bit of portage. (Compared to Taverham this one is a piece of cake. Paddle right up to the road bridge and head left. Cross the road, head down a riverside footpath and you’re back in, immediately north of a weir.) The next stretch should be superb. You’re out in some lovely countryside and you can just make out the higher ground of Drayton up ahead. It’s spoilt by a “No Canoeing” sign, which I ignored. But a few hundred yards further on there’s a wire strung across the river which did make me turn, reluctantly, back. Some complicated portage saw me get back in immediately under A bridge, Draytonthe famous (for Drayton) A-bridge which used to carry the Midland and Great Northern line railway through these parts, and now carries cyclists and walkers down Marriotts Way. Looking back along the stretch I’d been forced to walk, there was no obvious reason to be banned. This is the sort of stuff that canoeing campaigner Griff Rhys Jones rightly rails against. At some point I’ll try to track down the landowner. Now the river gently meanders in a wide flood meadow with higher ground to the left and flatlands to the right. A road appears on the left too and I needed the map to work out that this was Hellesdon Low Road. There are an awful lot of fallen trees (and gunk) here which require some slaloming. (One is so low across the water that I had to get out of the kayak, balance on the trunk and hoik the craft over.) Further down there are more majestic gardens with boats and boathouses at the water’s edge. But I never see anyone in these places. Is there a rule though that the posher the pad the less time you have to use it? Hellesdon Mill cormorantAnd then, rather out of the blue, you arrive at Hellesdon Mill, where the Tud joins the Wensum. A wooden boom (used by fishing cormorants, see right) sits across the river just in case you don’t get the message. Portage here is easy. You hop out of the Wensum, cross a path and then drop via a slipway into the Tud/Wensum. Another canoeist reckoned that it’s an easy trip from here into Norwich. After today, I’ll take that.

10 comments:

  1. There used to be a section of river in North Wales that would have been brilliant to kayak but somebody used to put wire across that. Wire on a relatively calm river is bad enough but wire at chest height across white water is lethal! Can the landowner stop you kayaking through? I thought you just couldn't get in and out on their land.

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  2. To be fair I've since found out that the signs and the wire were probably there to stop canoeists disturbing a fish spawning area. I'm still not entirely sure though.

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  3. A friend of mine had a run in with that land owner a few years back whilst fishing from a boat. The land owner was abusive and threatening and threatened to call the police, so my friend did it for him from the safety of his boat. Long story short, the Police told the land owner that no laws were being broken.

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  4. It's still called trespassing, kayakers have NO legal rights to "Hey ho" paddle a river!

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    1. Indeed, called trespassing, but not a crime. If you own the river you can ask them to keep moving, that's it.

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  5. Landowners may own the banks and riparian interest but right of navigation iss public and should prevail

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  6. Hello, I know it’s been quite some time since you
    Posted this but I cannot find anyone else who has documented this. I attempted to do this paddle upstream from hellesdon mill on a paddle board. I made it fairly close to costessey mill however there was a very large steel beam placed across the river just outside a lone house. I believe this could have been the same land which you mentioned had strung up a wire. Although this still would have been a distance from the wire.

    I could have pushed my board under the beam and stepped over the beam and back onto my board however it looked as if the river ahead was full of fallen trees. Could also very easily get out, walk on the land and come back in the river right after the beam, but that is trespassing. I was quite cold so decided to turn around. I am very tempted to try from Costessey mill to see what I encounter, see if the wire is still there etc.

    I’ve been looking up whether it is legal to put something across the river. Seems it may not be as this prevents the rights of being able to navigate a non-powered craft on a non-tidal river. Just no idea who I would report this to, and if anyone else would care ?

    I understand if people were causing damage to your property, but why go to this extreme to prevent a few people from paddling down/up a river ?

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    1. Hi Brooke, a year later but I can help you out a bit here - I am a kayaker from Drayton so I know this stretch very well. The steel beam is the remains of an old bridge from Drayton to the house on the Costessey side of the river. When the water is low you can just duck under it. There is a particularly big tree down immediately after the broken bridge but after that it's clear most of the way to Costessey Mill apart from a short stretch after the A frame bridge. There is no wire across the river at the time of writing, just a few grumpy 'no canoeing' signs.

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  7. Unfortunately there are no navigation rights beyond the tidal stretch of the Wensum. You can go as far upstream a Hellesdon Mill because the City Council own the river and bank for most of that stretch.
    Beyond Hellesdon Mill you are trespassing but the important thing to remember is that trespassing isn't a crime, you just have to leave when asked, which is to say carry on paddling.
    The metal beam is the remains of an old bridge. Bank owners can put up barriers in the same way they can put up walls unfortunately. Trespassing over the bank to get round is exactly the same legally as paddling past - not a crime but you can be asked to leave.

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