Planning a day on the River Dart

[pumpkinking]

We covered 18 miles today on a full round trip of Ullswater with two up in our new 3.3m Excel Volante, and the Suzi 6hp is pretty much broken in. Got about 12mph which I’m really impressed with considering the motor AV plate is at least an inch too low and and we had a lot of stuff in the boat. Going to make a 1” spacer for the top of the transom and see where that gets me.

Now I’m looking for somewhere to take the SIB next week while I’m with my folks near Clevedon, North Somerset (half way between WSMare and Portishead)

River Dart seems possible, but it would be the first time on unfamiliar waters after my nice calm break-in trips in on Ullswater so I’m looking for guidance and recommendations.

From reasearch, I’m thinking I would launch from Dittisham, either The Ham or from Blackness Marine’s slipway for a bit more luxury with their pontoon.

Then we can explore the river a bit. It’ll be me and my girlfriend in the boat for the most part, but can anyone suggest a location that my parents could meet us for a riverside picnic and take turns in the boat? They’re keen to have a go and I’m not sure how much summer I’ll have left before I’m totally snowed under with work.

Also is trying to berth at Dartmouth going to be crazy stressful? Perhaps they could get the Park and Ride into town and we meet them on the quayside?

Any and all suggestions welcome, thanks in advance!

[Roy54]

Hi, I absolutely love that area however not been there with a boat. I've spent many hours with the family crabbing from the pontoon at Dittisham(where the ferry runs from) . Would that pontoon not serve as a place for your parents to board?

[Aaron]

Say hello to David at Blackness for me. He kindly lent me his rib a couple of years ago and we went upstream. It's lovely, loads of wildlife. Went to Totnes and moored on a boatyard pontoon there for a small charge. They had toilets too. You're right in the town so handy for food.
I don't remember seeing many other landing spots. If you use a desktop and Bing maps you can get an OS maps layer on 1:250000 to confirm this. (Or Maverick on Android)
There is a pub right on Bow Creek at Tuckenhay used to be owned by Keith Floyd, that might be the place to meet up but check the tides as it dries out as does a lot of the river so go carefully.
David will give you advice about downstream but it will be busy that direction.

[Bigplumbs]

There is a lovely launch site at Totness next to the bottom car park