SOURCE TO SEA – Bikepacking Britain’s Longest River (The Severn)

From the Welsh mountains to the Bristol Channel, I followed the River Severn, Britain’s longest river, from source to sea with my bike.

The Ride – https://www.strava.com/activities/15299816265
The Route – https://www.keepsmilingadventures.com/beginner-routes/the-river-severn
Find all the routes and gear here – https://www.keepsmilingadventures.com/

Make a route suggestion here – https://www.keepsmilingadventures.com/route-sugestions

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The gear i am currently using

The tent – https://youtu.be/n9GKHSf805E
Framebag – https://youtu.be/6LM3UJKDOEk
Seatpost bag – https://youtu.be/W1E_iWY6Ajo
Jones Handlebars – https://youtu.be/dhPBSdRros8
Gravel bike – https://youtu.be/Gnd_4LgTyrg
plus bike mtb – https://youtu.be/COTUOzLPbGk
gps device – https://youtu.be/BWeMmx62A9M
mtb shoes – https://youtu.be/OYVEnfXwT0k
All the gear from GNT – https://youtu.be/e5oKSoPoMk0
Vest bag – https://youtu.be/01nzgd-t550
Ortleib bar roll https://youtu.be/Uk9fLgS1ioo
Dynamo setup – https://youtu.be/SL7MhjB6Lp0
Questions answered – https://youtu.be/u1q9AEs9flE
Gb divide bike/gear- https://youtu.be/epcZ81wqFCo
Sonder looped bar – https://youtu.be/BqWGTxd2VaQ
Tarpstar tent – https://youtu.be/RcQoBdZSAb8

Intro
This little stream will soon become something far greater.
High in the Cambrian Mountains of Mid-Wales, around 2,000 feet above sea level, 
the River Severn begins its journey, quiet, almost unnoticeable at first. Just another 
stream like thousands of others. Emerging from the peat bog that soaks up the rainwater; water 
trickles from the bog to form a small brook. over 220 miles, winding through mid-Wales, 
crossing the border into England. And winding its way through countryside, growing as it 
goes, fed by rainfall and joined by other rivers along the way. It’s doing what rivers do best: 
finding the path of least resistance to the sea. Before I could start my adventure 
bikepacking Britain’s longest river   I’d first need to find the source of the 
river Severn and that meant climbing, climbing into the evening sun. I had 
planned to start tomorrow but I wanted   to get as close as possible tonight. And 
that meant it wouldn’t just be pedalling I would be doing this evening I’d have to hike 
to find somewhere to pitch the tent tonight. At just under 2000ft I found the perfect spot 
looking over the endless views with the sun setting and the source of the river Severn 
just a little further in the distance. I had gone to bed in this magical place but 
woken up in a more familiar wales this morning, but the source of Britain’s longest river 
was just a stone’s throw away from where I had slept. Finding it in a whiteout and heavy 
rainfall though definitely made it harder to follow these little tracks. But then out of 
the fog a wooden marker for the start of the river Severn. Surrounded by thick fog and the 
puddles which mark the start of not only my journey but the river Severn’s journey. This 
area gets a lot of rain. The average rainfall here is nearly three times the UK average.
The Severn starts its life in a peat bog, a sponge-like patch of ground 
that soaks up all that rain. From 2000ft the river Severn starts 
making its journey as a narrow brook, a young river Severn moving fast, energetic 
and gathering pace and carving a narrow valley. It doesn’t take long for this river to drop 
most of its elevation, after just 12 miles the young river settles at around just 500ft 
above sea level after descending 1500ft from the source. Where it slows down and will 
take over 200 miles to drop the last 500ft And while I made my way over the 
couple of bumps along the river,   it got me thinking. About the 
long history tied to the Severn. The Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, Viking invaders, 
and Norman conquerors, all fought to control this river at one time or another. The river’s always 
been more than just water flowing to the sea. It’s been a boundary, a lifeline, a battleground.
But now, it inspires people’s dreams. Leaving Newtown, I’d be following the 
Montgomery Canal, once a key route for moving goods like limestone, coal, and 
timber. Today it’s no longer used for that, but running right alongside the River 
Severn meant it would give me some   shelter from the incoming rain clouds 
that seemed set on following me today. The heavens had well and truly 
opened. But living this way of life, you’ve got to remember the saying: 
there’s only so wet you can get.  Still, I thought I’d try to outrun it. I followed 
the canal a little longer before heading off-road, tracing the winding river as it made 
its way toward the Wales–England border. It must’ve been a Welsh goodbye, because as 
soon as I reached the border, the rain stopped. As I got closer to Shrewsbury, 
the River Severn tightened into   a loop that almost wraps around the town.
That bend made the town easier to defend through the ages — the river acting like a natural 
barrier. To keep watch over this important spot, Shrewsbury Castle was built by Roger de 
Montgomery soon after the Norman Conquest, around 1067. The castle still stands today,   overlooking the river bend that once 
played a key role in protecting the town. With the sun kind of shining it didn’t take too 
long to get the tent dry and to start to make my way further downstream to wroxeter. Wroxeter was 
once one of the biggest Roman cities in Britain. The River Severn was a lifeline for Wroxeter 
it was a key transport route, moving supplies, troops, and goods to and from the city. The 
river’s location made Wroxeter a vital hub, connecting it to other towns and 
military sites across Roman Britain. But just about 10 miles downstream at Iron bridge,   there’s another story…. One that goes way back, 
to the Ice Age. Before the glaciers advanced, the River Severn actually flowed northwards 
toward the Irish Sea. When ice sheets moved in, they blocked that route, forcing the 
river to carve out a new path southward. That’s how it ended up winding its way toward the 
Bristol Channel instead, shaping the landscape and valleys that would later become home to 
towns, industry, and history along its banks I’d followed the river almost halfway by 
this point, and with evening drawing in, I picked up an old railway line that ran 
alongside the River Severn. But as expected, finding somewhere to camp was 
proving harder than I’d hoped. After an absolutely incredible and peaceful night 
sleep, waking up to start following the river Severn this morning was the complete opposite, 
not only was I not waking up in a cloud, the   morning was still with not so much of a breeze, the Severn, to powerful for man to control 
below this bridge in winter it can get so full that it floods the whole of the bottom 
of the valley. Further downstream in Bewdley, they know this all too well. The town’s 
been hit by floods so often that they’ve installed special barriers designed 
to hold back the river when it rises Leaving Bewdley I’d follow the Severn 
closely maybe a little too close as I found my self for the first time having to 
push my way through the overgrown banks. So overgrown I couldn’t quite 
see where the river had gone. By the time I reached Worcester, the 
Severn felt almost unnoticed, flowing, under the old viaduct, and through the middle of 
the city, it’s just there. People walk past it, drive over it, maybe glance at it now 
and then. But it’s been here forever,   shaping the city. Just yesterday it was a 
mere stream carving its way down the Welsh mountains today it slowly flows 
through the heart of Worcester. With only 69 miles of the Severn left 
to go, the river had now dropped almost as low as it would — from about 2000ft 
at its source to around 40ft above sea level. The young River Severn I’d met 
at the source felt older now — wider, slower. And while I’d be continuing right beside 
it, the Malvern Hills would be towering in the distance. I wouldn’t need to overcome much 
more climbing just the of bumpy flat field. Tewkesbury, a small town with a big history. 
It sits where the River Avon joins the Severn, and where one of the bloodiest battles in 
English history took place, the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, during the Wars of the Roses. 
A brutal civil war between two rival branches of the royal family. The House of Lancaster 
and the House of York. The Yorkists won, dealing a massive blow to the Lancastrians. 
Today, it’s all half-timbered buildings, narrow streets, and a river nearing 
the end of its long journey to the sea. Arriving in Gloucester meant one thing — 
I was very close to the end of the Severn, ever closer to where this epic river meets 
the Bristol Channel. But to get there, I’d have one more canal to follow: the Gloucester 
and Sharpness Canal. It’s along this canal that you really see just how powerful this once-small 
stream has become. The Purton Ships Graveyard is a haunting reminder of the Severn’s force — 
dozens of old vessels deliberately beached here to reinforce the riverbank, their rusting hulls 
slowly sinking into the mud, now part of the landscape shaped by the river they once served. 
Because you see, this isn’t just any river. The Severn dictates everything here. With its massive 
tidal range, you can’t just leave the canal and enter the river unless the Severn says so. It 
decides when you can pass, and when you’ll wait. I had made it to the end of this 
mighty river at just the right   moment — the sun setting over Wales, and 
after all the miles we’d both travelled, I couldn’t think of a more fitting 
way to toast the journey of Britain’s   longest river than with some water 
from the very source of the River Severn.