Skimming Stones & Other Games Down by the River
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
I've just come back from a weekend in the Black Mountains in South Wales. I've been going with my family for over twenty years. Just below Hay on Wye, the market town famous for its second hand books and the Hay Literary Festival, sits The Warren, a beautiful meadow that runs down to the River Wye. The stone beach by the river is a source of the best skimming stones I have ever found anywhere. My brother and I have worried each year that the supply would not be replenished by the winter floods, but so far, each year has provided a new batch of smooth round stones. This year my eight year old, arrived by the river, chose his stone and skipped it eight times out across the river - a perfect moment.
There are two other games, we've invented for down by the river - "ripple stones" and "thwunk".
Ripple Stones - when the Wye flows fast, we fling one stone into the river creating one set of ripples and then as they travel down stream try to hit the inside of the ripples with the next stone and on. You can begin as far out from shore as you can throw ( hardest) or very close by ( easiest). You can play as a team with each person taking it in turns to fling the next stone. You can sit, stand or run alongside the ripples as they flow downstream. My children and I can play this for hours.
Thwunk - this is harder to describe as this is essentially about making a certain kind of noise as a stone hits the water. Again, the river needs to be flowing fast, the stone needs to be spinning and thrown high into the air, only certain parts of the stream seem to do the trick. But if the conditions are all met then the stone is swallowed by the river with an immensely satisfying thwunk, which once heard is unmistakeable.
There are two other games, we've invented for down by the river - "ripple stones" and "thwunk".
Ripple Stones - when the Wye flows fast, we fling one stone into the river creating one set of ripples and then as they travel down stream try to hit the inside of the ripples with the next stone and on. You can begin as far out from shore as you can throw ( hardest) or very close by ( easiest). You can play as a team with each person taking it in turns to fling the next stone. You can sit, stand or run alongside the ripples as they flow downstream. My children and I can play this for hours.
Thwunk - this is harder to describe as this is essentially about making a certain kind of noise as a stone hits the water. Again, the river needs to be flowing fast, the stone needs to be spinning and thrown high into the air, only certain parts of the stream seem to do the trick. But if the conditions are all met then the stone is swallowed by the river with an immensely satisfying thwunk, which once heard is unmistakeable.
