UKC

Mrs BattyMilk and I have talked enthusiastically of the idea of doing a multi day river trip somewhere. The dream for me would be the Colorado river, or the Yukon, however, other than sailing holidays she’s never been on a non-hotel trip before and only camped twice (both times with me on campsites). She’s still adamant that it’s something she’d love to do and I’d love to be able to go on trips like this with her so would like to give her a nice gentle introduction to more active/adventurous holidays.

We’ve recently bought Kayaks that we pootle about in the local harbour with but we’re far from experienced paddlers at the moment

What’s an accessible trip for this sort of thing? Ideally 1-3 nights camping, good weather (preferably swim wear), beautiful surroundings, gentle but moving river, reasonably easy logistics to go it alone  

I'm not a kayaker but photos I've seen of the Verdon gorge look great.

https://verdonsecret.com/en/canoe-trip-verdon/

Very popular but maybe the Ardeche (central France) ?  I paddled it as part of a group of 4 including 2 who hadn't really paddled before but some 30 years ago when it wasn't so busy but maybe if you avoided the school holidays it would still be OK

one of the nicest easy trips is Vltava, southern Bohemia, from Vyssi Brod to Budejovice. Best in late spring, castles and ancient cities (Kumlov!) along the way... and good beer of course. 

River Spey seems fairly popular with descents in Canadian canoes; there are a few commercial enterprises that run Spey descents. Lots of nice whisky distilleries en route, if you like that sort of thing.

Getting suitably warm weather for swimwear could be the tricky bit - possibly fairly midgie campsites, especially from June onwards... 

May and October are much better mainly midge-free months, though guess with global warming the midge season is expanding all the time. There is a fairly recent Pesda Press guidebook detailing the route - River Spey Canoe Guide by Nancy Chambers.

The Altmühl in Bavaria is very pleasant and  very organised, well  built portables, lots of campsites (often council owned), beer gardens, lots of culture, lovely countryside.

Climbing along the river, lovely landscape

Busy in peak season,