Paddleboarding on the River Wye with Inspire2Adventure

Having had my first taste of Stand-up Paddleboarding (SUP) earlier this year in Swansea and then again on the River Avon in Bath and enjoying both thoroughly I was super excited to come down and spend the day on the River Wye with Inspire2Adventure who plan an array of activities in the area from kayaking to mountain biking and everything in between. Over the past few years there has been a big rise in popularity of learning to SUP mainly do to how accessible it is, you don't need any real skills, it's suitable from children to grandparents and it's much easier than you think.

Having grown up surfing I have always felt fairly comfortable in the water and on a board but even if your not I can assure you they are very buoyant and easy to balance on. What was especially exciting about our day on the river was having the chance to go on the mega sup with 3 other bloggers (and two children) which was so much fun!

We met at a large field only a few minutes away from the centre of Monmouth with plenty of places to park. You are given a safety brief as well as getting to know the equipment more and helping pump up the inflatable paddle boards, of course the Mega-Sup takes more than one person to pump up. The organisers are incredible knowledgeable and from the moment you arrive you feel encouraged and supported. Once everyone has their buoyancy aids on it's only a few seconds walk down to the launch area and at this time of the year the river is very low, in fact in some areas it's less then waist high.

First off I was on the Mega-Sup which with three other lovely ladies and we had such a laugh navigating it along the river. First we started out kneeling and getting the hang of things as team work is required if you don't want to end up in the river, because if one person has the shakes it can cause a  ripple effect for everyone on board. Within no time however we had the hang of it and were up on our feet.

Once everyone had managed to get on their feet we then swapped over with the single SUP boards, we did this on the water which was interesting to say the least but lucky we all managed to stay dry. As everyone had warmed up by this point it didn't take long to get readjusted and enjoy the calm and tranquility of the river. It feels similar to drifting along on a raft but you have control over the speed and direction. I enjoyed myself so much that I am not on the lookout for a SUP board for myself as it's just so fun and a really good work out too. There is nothing better than spending a few hours floating down a river in beautiful surroundings and I highly recommend you give it a go!

Thanks to Inspire2Adventure for inviting me to take part in their blogger event