Day 07

paddle boarding Gloucester & the wildlife

Wild camping is a lot harder, and with a pathway along the whole Canal, this was going to be difficult.

Morning

The morning sunrise had disappeared, but after packing up everything and paddling down towards Gloucester, we saw some fantastic wildlife, from Herring to Duckling, Kingfishers to Otters. The river was overflowing with wildlife, and in the countryside, the sound of the birds was deafening at times.

We had to make up time, so we decided to make lunch on our boards, we put our boards together, and one would steer while the other cooked up their lunch. We gained a few miles while doing this, and it proved vital as when we arrived at Gloucester dock, it was 20 minutes before it was closing.

We had to move into the Canal to avoid the weir. It was evening, and after a long day, more than 11 hours without getting off the boards, we picked up some water and food for the night just off the Canal.

Into Gloucester

In urban areas, wild camping is a lot harder, and with a pathway along the whole Canal, this was going to be difficult.

We stopped off in the Sainsbury on the Canal for a sit-down and some food. It was the first time we had stepped off the board all day. We then went in search of a wild camping spot off the canal, by some miracle, the path was closed off for a section, so once we were away from eyes, we hopped off the boards and found an enclosure hidden away. It was perfect.

We headed over for the late-night bore to finally watch these phenomena happen; although dark, we got a sense of the power of this tidal wave.