In the interests of researching all good days out around Gliffaes, I decided to take Alexandra, Olivia and some of our French family canoeing on the Wye yesterday.I wonder why we have not done this before? What a fabulous way to spend the afternoon. I think I may do it more often.

Having not paddled an open canoe before, I was not sure what to expect, especially with four children in tow. However, as soon as we arrived at Wye Valley Canoes in Glasbury, it quickly became the fun afternoon intended.

With two to a canoe (we found an adult and a child in each to be successful), we spent a happy afternoon paddling our way to Hay-on-Wye. The Wye is low at the moment, and as novices, we all felt quite safe. The scenery is extremely beautiful and the river tranquil at this time of year. We loved sailing past the numerous swans, who are clearly quite used to canoeists and spotted plenty of wildlife along the way and some not quite so wild ducks and ducklings. Swallows and Martins swooped down around us, catching flies for their chicks and we also saw many Sand Martin holes in the banks of the river.

Once we arrived at Hay, our canoes and our clobber were collected by some extremely nice and competent young chaps, who then drove us back to our car.

Wye Valley canoes hire out their canoes for a half or full day and give you a safety briefing, some top tips on paddling and some practice to make sure you are happy before you leave. They also collect you at Hay-on-Wye if you wish and bring you back to Glasbury. However, you might like to have  a few hours in the pretty book town before you head back. Alternatively, have lunch at the River Cafe before you take to your canoe.


The drive to Glasbury from Gliffaes takes about 25 minutes. 
Canoe hire costs around £35 per canoe for an adult and a child.

Picking Wimberries

It is around the first couple of weeks in August that wimberries or bilberries (Empetraceae) are ready for picking. These are wild berries found on moorland and mountains across a lot of Wales and uplands in England and Scotland. Wimberries look like small blueberries but are less juicy and more acidic, though just about sweet enough to eat raw. They grow on a low scrubby plant making them pretty hard to find but once you have found a patch you keep it secret and go and visit it every year.

The great thing about the patch we know about is that it is about 45 minutes walk from where you have to park the car and the walk across Llangorse Mountain is one of the best around Gliffaes anyway. Nine of us set out on Sunday afternoon armed with three very useful' berry combs'. These tools enable you to pick berries pretty quickly and don't damage the plants. You can buy these combs from Ray Mear's website.

Between the nine of us we took it in turns to pick berries and ended up with about 9lbs of berries in an hour. After carrying them home and then picking the leaves and twigs and giving them a careful rinse it was time to make Wimberry Tart. Susie has perfected the recipe; short crust pastry, plenty of wimberries and a good dose of black current liquor or cassis. Served hot with plenty of cream it went down very well in the dining room over the next two evenings.