Sudbury to the sea

We are now taking bookings for paddling Sudbury to the sea on 19th and 20th August and 8th and 9th and 10th September 2016. Boats available include Open Boats and touring Kayaks. We arrange for delivery of boats to Sudbury Quay and collection at the end of the trip from Cattawade Picnic site .

We drop boats off at Sudbury Quay on a Saturday morning at 8.00 am in time for you to register with the event organisers and River Stour Trust and then meet you at various points on the trip including Bures Lunchtime stop, to check that you are making good progress. We camp overnight at Rushbanks Campsite in Wissington and then after breakfast continue paddling down river to Catterwade where we aim to collect the boats back on the trailer after you have completed the paddling challenge from about 3 to 4pm.

This very popular tour takes place each year on the River Stour. It is limited to 300 craft so you must book your place early to take part on the Sudbury 2 sea website. http://www.riverstourtrust.org. Further details of the event and instructions for booking your place will appear on the S2S website in July.

This is a great paddle through the heart of Constable Country with a great overnight camp with real campfire gatherings in the heart of Constable Country.

The put in is at Sudbury Quay. A particularly fine trip starts at the Stour Trust Tea room and has good riverside car parking facilities. The trip is 23km which is tackled over two days with an overnight camp midway at Wissington. There are some great stops on route including the Swan public house at Henny Street which is a great place to break the journey for a break and several public houses down stream offer great lunches, bar meals and snacks for a weary paddler. At Bures there is a mid morning stop with pubs in the village or during the tour the playing field where local scouts provide a welcome barbecue and break with riverside entertainment as various paddling crew arrive and depart for breaks.

Camping at Rushbanks is a small and very pleasant camp site for canoeists which allows open fires in fire baskets or oil drums and is a great riverside location for an overnight stay with its well sheltered camping area. Take away meals are available on the site provided by the good food army and local pubs are providing evening meals and breakfast at Nayland.The Anchor pub can provide evening meals and often has beer festivals with real ales for the event.

Sunday has several locks and weirs to paddle through with a lunchtime spot available at the Swan at Stratford St Marys then the river meanders through Constable country with Rowing boats, National Trust shops and more Rowing boats all welcome distractions on route as the river heads east skirting the estuary towards the sea.Journey end is at Cattawade where the River Stour Meets the river Estuary and offers a great place for a picnic or rest before loading the boats ready for the journey home.

This trip is popular with groups seeking a weekends adventure. If you would like to hire boats at other times for a weekends paddle from Sudbury to the sea let us know.

Hire for Sudbury to the sea

Cost per open boat £100 for the weekend.( including buoyancy aids based on two paddlers)

Cost per Kayak £80 ( single person boat)

We are able to offer Trips onto the Stour for small groups of between 3-6 Open boats on request, however we do need some notice to ensure that we have equipment available.

A delivery charge of £90 will be applied to groups with 4 or less boats to cover cost of transporting equipment.

Please contact peter.nash@yahoo.co.uk to enquire about availability on Stour paddling weekends with Whoosh Explore.

We also offer tours on the river Stort and River Lee each weekend.