Sea Kayaking - Seaton to Branscombe

Information source from South West Sea Kayaking by Mark Rainsley

Seaton to Branscombe and back

Get in: Seaton Beach

Get out: Branscombe Beach

Distance: 5-6 miles ish

We had a few days holiday so borrowed a couple of Perception Essences from the work hire fleet, Andy paddled the 17 and I took the 16 because it’s a little smaller on the cockpit and a better fit for me being a smaller person. We stayed at a campsite near Seaton, got up and had breakfast, then sorted our kit out and headed down to the sea. We parked on the road side near the River Axe and paddled down with the tide, we headed out and round to the right. It was a nice still day, I just had a light weight cag on and a thin Helly top.

Andy paddling form Beer to Branscombe

It’s a lovely section to paddle, we went round past Beer which is a very lively seaside town and round to Branscombe the tide was just high enough to paddle though the arch then as we started to paddle along Branscombe beach, we aimed to paddle up to the far end of the beach, it was a hard slog as we got a head wind.

Andy looking at the rather impressive arch

We eventually got there and came into the beach for a spot of lunch and a bit of a rest. After a bit of lunch we started to cool down so headed back off again, it was much nicer paddling with the wind behind and we zoomed back. The tide was a fair way out by the time we got back and we had to walk the boats over the beach which as it’s a chunky pebble beach was very hard work, we then managed to paddle up the now shallow River Axe and got out again.

On our way back to Branscombe

It was a very enjoyable day and I’d like to do it again, it have would have been better if we were able to do a shuttle and paddle further round instead of having to double back.