The Constable Stour 4/5th july

[Timmy]

Howdy folks,
We're putting together a weekender on the Sussex/Essex Stour over the 4/5th july, this is a stunning river (just google Constable Stour) and is reasonably close.
This would make an ideal first overnight paddle and longish river trip in kayak or canoe. Grade 1 at most, a few portages around weirs and mills etc.
The plan at the moment is to paddle from Sudbury down to Wissington, camp over night at the rushbanks site and then off to Cattawade in the morning.
Total distance is about 25miles, this trip is done by atleast one rental company through the summer and is justifiably popular so there are plenty of blogs for you to sniff through.
Its been pointed out to me that the Rushbanks campsite is basic and this may put people off.
So here is a non exhaustive list of whats not on offer at the campsite;
Well stocked camp shop
Showers
electrical hook up
Gymnasium
resident northern stand-up comedian
Kidz Klub
solarium
sports massage and therapy unit
WiFi and internet cafe
kids play area
Bar and entertainment suite
aqua park (I hear butlins has a boating lake)
nail bar

Basic toilets and fire pits are available though.
Camping is £10 a night for small tents, but you can check out the website for more info http://www.rushbanksfarm.co.uk/
Were going to try and sort out a decent size BBQ for the Sat night, if you'd like to partake then confirm your coming on here and say you want feeding, I think £5 a head will do a good spread for dinner and breakfast baps but this may change depending on numbers involved.

Any questions feel free to contact me via pm or phone or else you can speak to Tony on Wednesday at the pool or the lake on Saturdays.

[Jules]

Just realised that I could go on this trip. But, but....... I don't have any camping gear so may need some charitable person to help me out.

Anyone out there? I can go to lake sunday morning in case Tony or Tim is about.

[Timmy]

I'll be emailing all interested parties later once Tony has emailed me all the contact details.

[Jules]

This was a fantastic weekend trip on a truly beauticul riiver. Thanms Tim Young and Tony for arranging it. The river meandered through reeds n rushes and I even felt like Swampy in places. Thousands of dragonflies we saw and water plants as diverse as I ve ever seen. Campsite had loos and drinking water so what more could we ask for. Tis true the second day was half a wash out but we still made a short trip making our way as best we could u ntil lunch which we had to stop and eat in the river bed, getting stuck several times in the shallows. Tim catered for us with the culinery skills of a wild wet camper and Martin cooked a mean bacon sarny - only regret of the whole trip was I don t like bacon! Thanks so much guys and I hope we can do the final stretch to the estuary soon.

[Martin Boardman]

Many thanks to Tim for organising. Link below contains some photos from the weekend.

http://www.kayakpics.martinboardman.co. ... 020150705/

[Timmy]

Thanks for the praise, it was a most excellent little river and I'm glad in a way that we still have a good chunk left to explore in the near future. I'm looking at a september date to finish the job, date coming soon folks