Fish From Coracles
United Kingdom's Top 20 AdventuresUnited Kingdom's Top 20 Adventures
Skim along the surface of the water like a dragonfly: Since the Iron Age, the fast-flowing rivers of the Welsh Borders have supported fishermen, and you can join them. You'll head out in coracles—small dark boats shaped like circular tea trays. In these coracles, the fishermen deftly ply the whitewater currents between the deeper pools where the salmon lie. Fashioned according to an ancient design, coracles are made by stretching canvas or hide over an inverted oval of flexible branches, then sealing it with pitch. Using a single bladed paddle in a special figure-eight motion, you'll hover in the lulls between rapids, shoot over the rocks, and settle in the deeper pools to rotate slowly on the current looking for the elusive fish below. They may be biting, so bring a rod.
