After yesterdays amazing paddle down the River Wye, I wanted to go kayaking again so dad chose a place called Resolven Canal in Glyn Neath.
We went and picked up the kayak from our stores along with the other kit that we needed and headed off down the road. I had my I-pad with me so I played on minecraft whilst dad drove.
After a short drive we reached the start of the canal. The water was a lot calmer than yesterday and I felt more confident because of that. We drove to the drop off point and took the kayak off the roof. I carried the paddles and kit bag and dad took the kayak.
At the waters edge we put the kayak in and I climbed in as dad held it and then he got in to. I had my sports camera mounted to the front of the kayak filming the trip so that was good. Maybe I’ll put a video up soon.
We started paddling and went past some old walls and then past a building which had canoes outside that people could rent. The building sold drinks and ice cream, so I asked if we could have one on the way back later to which dad said of course.
The canal was well kept and had little growth in it initially. After a while we reached a lock gate .We paddled into the lock and it had really high walls. We were not allowed to close the gates so we had to portage the kayak around the lock. Dad carried it and I took the paddles and kit bag. Once we got passed this first bit, there was a broken floating drill type machine in the canal that we got back into the river next to.
We carried on paddling up this stretch of the canal but all too soon this ended as well. Again we carried everything past this lock and onto the final stretch. This part was good initially but soon filled up with overgrowth. We went under several bridges and also across a viaduct (I found out that this is a bridge that carries water). Once over this the canal ended up very overgrown and we couldn’t paddle on any further. As such, we turned around and paddled back down the canal .
It was really good fun, we did about six miles and I loved it. I wasn’t scared or worried today as it felt a lot safer than yesterday.
After the paddling we had our ice creams and a can of coke before we headed to the marina where our yacht is. I didn’t want to go out on the yacht so we played in the marina and I used a net to try and catch some fish swimming around the yacht. I didn’t succeed, but it was lots of fun.
We then headed back home, even though I didn’t want to. A really fun day with my dad, doing the things I love to do.
Joshua Lewis 