River Stour - Canford School to Christchurch Quay

[Mark R]

Read full River Guide

[Mark R]

Pete Shepherd ... 'I put in at Muscliffe yesterday (June 07). Not a great start, as I spoke to a countryside ranger who told me that this part of the river is \'non-navigable\', and that the Environment Agency wouldn\'t be happy. That said, she was friendly, and didn\'t actually try to stop me.

At Throop weir a bloke told me that I wasn\'t allowed on the river as the land belonged to the Malmesbury Estate, and the fishing club contribute to its upkeep. We then had a vey amicable chat - the usual about cost of kayak etc etc.

Ten minutes after the weir at Throop, a bailiff (or estate employee?) was in the river doing some weed cutting. I just knew what he was going to say ... that I was trespassing on Malmesbury Estate territory (which he said runs from Muscliffe to the Bmth to Ringwood road bridge). Once again, he wasn\'t completely hostile, and didn\'t tell me to stop. He told me (more than once) that if I were there in a week\'s time when the fishing season had begun, I wouldn\'t get far, that fishermen might jump in after me ..... I explained that I knew about the fishing season, and had intentionally avoided it. Had the head bailiff seen me, he would apparently have either (man on Throop weir) gone mental, or (man in river) phoned the police.

I always keep in my drybag a copy of the email that I received a couple of years ago from one of the local water companies. When confronted, I mention this, ie that the law is unclear and that as I understand it you can own land but not the river. This does seem to help.'

[Mark R]

Pete Shepherd (2007) - 'Next trip, I put in at the old Iford bridge and headed upstream towards Iford weir .. At the Iford road bridge a Bournemouth and West Hants Water Company notice read \'End of navigation - no boats\' or words to that effect. Strangely, when I arrived at a footbridge about ten minutes later I saw the following sign: \'No canoes, boats or swimming beyond next weir\'. Rather contradictory messages!'

[Mark R]

Updated today.

[Mark R]

'We decided to venture up beyond the \'tidal\' weir towards Throop. Against a strong flow we had plenty of time to talk to the fishermen who generally were very pleasant. Close to Throop a lone fisherman started shouting and threatened us with \'I\'m calling the Bailiff\'. At this point we decided to turn around and head back towards Christchurch. He obiously had called the Bailiff as we met him about 500m downstream from where we were.
The Bailiff called us to the bank and formally explained that we were trespassing and that we were to leave the water and to portage to the nearest highway. We obviously apologised and he eventually allowed us to continue downstream back to Christchurch.' - Simon Jackson

[GJH]

Ran this today, (monday 13/4), low water, no real problems, was politely asked to portage the weir at longham water plant and had a couple of run ins with a territorial swans, other than that everyone we met seemed happy to see us.
Except for Longham we were able to run all of the weirs without any problem, although we did inspect several from the shore, prior to running them.

[rache]

Does anything worth playing on ever form around Christchurch (eg the Bridge Street bridges area)?

[Chas C]

Does anything worth playing on ever form around Christchurch (eg the Bridge Street bridges area)?

Nope, but depends on what you mean by playing and what time of year your talking about.

In the summer there is a fishing barge strung below the Priory Bridge.

Best bet is the stone weir on the Stour behind Tesco's on Castle Lane (near Hospital), about 1/2 mile up from Iford Bridge.

[rache]

ok - That might be worth an investigate next time I'm back home in xchurch.

[Dwarf]

Nice one sided article on the aforementioned 'baliff' in today's Bournemouth Echo.

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/features/8206665.Meet_the_man_the_River_Stour_banks_on/

Chris is frequently having spats with canoeists, who aren’t allowed to paddle on this part of the Stour

[Chas C]

Nice one sided article on the aforementioned 'baliff' in today's Bournemouth Echo.

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/features/8206665.Meet_the_man_the_River_Stour_banks_on/

Chris is frequently having spats with canoeists, who aren’t allowed to paddle on this part of the Stour

What a prat.

[LDN Lee]

Be careful chas looks like he comes armed with a paddler prodder! :-)

[storm]

Mass paddle sounds a good idea obvoisly nothing organised just lots of friends happenjng to turn up on the same day.
Steve

[Nugz]

Nice one sided article on the aforementioned 'baliff' in today's Bournemouth Echo.

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/features/8206665.Meet_the_man_the_River_Stour_banks_on/

Chris is frequently having spats with canoeists, who aren’t allowed to paddle on this part of the Stour

From the article...

On any given day the 58-year-old can be doing anything from strimming grass on the riverbanks to cutting the weed in the river.

Aside from keeping the Stour safe and tidy for visitors, as a bailiff, Chris has to ensure it’s more hospitable for fish and wildlife. He points out some concrete slabs that he’s placed in the river, which will help create habitats for the fish.

More pseudo habitat restoration directly driven by anglers objectives. Does anyone know how these 'water bailiffs' are funded by on both regional and/or specific river basis?

2010 was our national year for biodiversity...

http://publications.environment-agency. ... AG-E-E.pdf

http://publications.environment-agency. ... AF-E-E.pdf

[Etheridge]

Hi all.
I'm new to this forum so HELLO!

Anyway, I'm planing on getting a kaiak after playing with my fathers at the weekend.
We went from mudeford up the river to the slipway at Christchurch by the council building.

Now from what I've read if we had kept going we could have done the 'Christchurch loop'.

Here is my question...
How far can a beginer go up if we didn't loop.

Also, how far up can you go if we didn't turn off the main river... So going past the captins club and then under tuckton bridge?

Sorry if I'm asking stupid questions but I'm very new to all this... But very excited :-)

Cheers
Jason

[Chas C]

Hi Jason - take a look at

River Stour guide http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2340:seengland-stour&catid=27&Itemid=115
&
River Avon guide http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2355:seengland-avon&catid=27&Itemid=115

In general terms on the Avon if your a beginner then its best to paddle the Avon loop at high tide as there is then less river flow to catch you out - the loop runs from above the bridges in Christchurch so if you want to avoid the moving water where the river splits then stop just above the bridges.

The Stour can be paddled all the way to the Weir behind Tesco's (near Bournemouth Hospital) without needing any portages.

Have fun.

[Etheridge]

Awesome thanks.
I will give that a try!! Do you get much hassle from fishermen?

Cheers Jase

[Chas C]

Do you get much hassle from fishermen?

The Stour much less than the Avon, there have been recent issues on the Avon with fishermen harassing paddlers on the loop section above the town bridges.

On the Avon loop below Priory Bridge there is a fishing pontoon in the river (only there in the summer months) but is easily passable.

[mymini67]

12/05/2012Paddled in a small group (4 boats) from Cowgrove Rd car park (just west of Winbourne Minster) to Christchurch harbour. The river was high enough to run ALL the weirs safely. The only challenge was from a security guard at Canford School who gave us the "You can't paddle here!" line. Having been challenged HE finally let us know that river right of the island is owned by the school, but there was no objection to us running the weir on the left. Longham water plant was devoid of life, giving us a chance of a breather

[snuggle_bunny]

I find it all rather sad. up the revolution

[Vulch]

Schools are a difficult one. They have a very obvious higher duty of care towards the kids. Most parents wouldn't expect random people to be wandering through their kid's school. The security guard was simply doing his job. Just like the secretary at the front desk of every primary school in the country. You cannot just walk into schools anymore. They have to know who you are and why you are there. And it needs to be a damned good reason. The likelihood of a bad person (Dunblane? Rochdale?) arriving by canoe is obviously very small, but all people are challenged by schools these days, as a matter of course.

However the fisherfolk are, of course, fair game.

Vulch

[cosmikdebriis]

Schools are a difficult one. They have a very obvious higher duty of care towards the kids. Most parents wouldn't expect random people to be wandering through their kid's school.
Vulch

That takes me back, to the 70's... As a lad and living in west Howe !!! Our youth group used to walk along the river bank from Bear Cross, right through Canford School to go boating at Wimborne (by the bridge).

Now West Howe is mostly a council estate and Canford School is a quite posh private school. Our lads would often invite the posh kids to come out and... erm... "Play". An offer they always declined !!!

I believe now the footpath has been diverted to the other side of the river. Perhaps we were somewhat responsible.