Explore the UK with brand new Dinghy Trails

The new trails are at Great Cumbrae, Cardiff Bay, Lake Bala, Lough Erne, Plymouth Sound, Itchenor and Lymington. Each trail comes with it’s own map and instructions including distance, safety, sailing times and launch sites.

Through these new trails it’s possible to sail into the city centre in Cardiff, enjoy the peace and tranquillity of Snowdonia National Park, discover a beautiful beach from Itchenor and explore the Islands of Lough Erne in Northern Ireland. For the more intrepid adventurer the trail from Lymington takes you across the Solent to the area of outstanding beauty at Newtown Creek where you can either picnic on the beach or pop into a local pub for lunch.

The dinghy trail at Plymouth Sound was created by competition winner Peter Guilliatt.

Peter said: "I was delighted my entry for the RYA Dinghy Trails competition was considered and even more so that it has been selected as the winner. I personally love sailing in and around Plymouth. It has large open spaces, but also plenty of places to explore in the rivers which drain into it. In fact the River Tamar would be my next choice of trail. It meanders through the countryside, gets straighter past the naval dockyards until finally exiting into the sea. Hopefully this Plymouth Dinghy Trail will be useful to, and entice down, other people who wish to explore this glorious part of the UK."

All trails are packed with information, details of navigation or anchorage, who-knew- that facts, insider visits, wildlife spotting, and stellar views or best picnic spots and more! Some even link to the national curriculum.

RYA Participation Manager Michelle Gent concludes: “We have created these trails to the best of our knowledge but we know that our intrepid adventurers will want to share their top tips and experiences. Although we’re busy planning more trails, we appreciate at the moment there may not be a trail local to you so we’d love to hear your suggestions”.

You can download all Dinghy Trails, submit feedback or suggestions for future trails on the website. For all enquiries contact dinghytrails@rya.org.uk