Severn Estuary - Tides, Islands, Lighthouses and Bridges

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Notes on doing 100km.

I am Slow but Steady, my cruising speed is kph, but when you account for snack breaks, looking at maps, posting on social media and stopping and sighing that becomes 6.

If I did 100k at that speed, you are looking at the best part of 17 hours, which is not a pleasant thought. Tidal assistance is required to make the task more palatable, which dictates a maximum of 12 hours for a there and back, +/-2 hours.

Where better to get tidal assistance than the mighty Severn Estuary.

To complicate matters I wanted to go under the two bridges and paddle around the islands Flatholm and Steepholm, which meant doing the 4km crossing between the two at slack tide.

Everything lined up perfectly, high tide at the Severn bridge was at 9am a very civilised start time, the distance to Steepholm was a convenient 45km and the weather was sublime. I could have delayed my start by an hour to get better tidal assistance but the need to have some contingency won out.

I wear a GPS watch on my wrist which gives me speed over the ground. The tide can be very subtle and speed can have or double without me noticing, that's why I find the watch so useful.

On the way out the tide built up until I was doing 16kph

going past Portishead, soon after the channel widens significantly and the assistance falls, but I was still doing a respectable 12kph as I approached Steepholm.

The crossing to Flatholm was a 5kpm slog.

I didn't want to get back to the bridges and be short of the 100km mark, so I didn't take the direct route back. My average speed had fallen below 10kph and the flood tide seemed a bit wimpy.

I plodded along enjoying the serenity of the blissful weather.

Just before Portishead I got my first superboost, my speed surged to 20kph for a short while. Passing under the Second Severn crossing the water started thrumming as the banks grew closer. Approaching Black Rock I topped out at 25kph and then broke out into a turbulent eddy to paddle back to surf a decent standing wave. It was touch and go whether I'd total up 100km, so a little more distance was required.

I was in good shape when I pulled up at the jetty as I had been cruising rather than racing.

Distance 100.5km

Duration 10:01:26

Note:

Thanks to the benign weather I had been able to regularly check the remaining distance using the measuring tool on Google maps.