28.01.24
It is good to paddle a new river that I had not paddled before.
The River Stort is 24 miles long and flows from just south of the village of Langley in Essex to the River Lea at Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire.
Dave, Phillip and his two dogs CoCo and FiFi paddled on the Stort Navigation part which is the canalised section of the River Stort running 14 miles from Bishop’s Stortford to its confluence with the Lee Navigation; it has 15 locks.
There would have been four of us on this trip, but Cathy and Annie, both paddle boarders, pulled out the day before due to illness.
We parked our vehicles in the Moorhen pub at about 9.30am and we were on the water by 10am.
We found the river to be remarkably clean; the countryside was also very picturesque as it wound its way through the Hertfordshire countryside. Essentially it is a flood plain through woods and open farmland backing onto Old Harlow.
We have a joke with Dave that it never rains on Dave’s trips; well, this trip lived up to this reputation, the weather was bright and sunny with no precipitation.
As a consequence, a lot of people were enjoying the good winter weather; we had a chat with a number of travellers on our way, (mostly fishermen and dog walkers), who were idling away their time on the river banks.
Dave returned some fishing tackle to one fisherman who over zealously threw his bait hook and sinker into the trees on the opposite bank.
Starting from just after Burnt Mill Lock, we passed the Moorhen Marina, we portaged through Feakes Lock and Harlow Mill Lock and paddled as far as Hunsdon Mill Lock and then after a quick lunch we returned to Burnt Mil Lock.
Coco survived a near disaster when she was placed on the bank and then fell into a four-foot hole full of water. Luckily, she was not swept away and was fished out by her buoyancy aid. She was not too impressed as the water was very cold.
We finished off our trip in the warmth of the Moorhen Pub with a beer and a bite to eat.
Write up by Phillip G.