Category: General

Exactly one year ago I wrote an article explaining why I had been absent from the kayaking scene. Poor health meant I couldn’t be my normal active and kayaking obsessed self for most of 2023 which impacted on both my fitness and happiness. Roll on a year later and 2024 so far has been just wonderful! I am in a much better place and whilst the people I see regularly will know this, I thought it was worth an update on here too. I’m overwhelmingly happy at the moment and I am in a good place with my kayaking because of it. So here is a little life update for you!

Welcome to the third article in my little series on my favourite UK white water rivers to paddle! In my previous articles, I discussed my favourite English and Welsh rivers and this article is going to focus on my favourite white water rivers in Scotland.

I have nowhere near the same number of paddling days in Scotland as I do in England and Wales and consequently do not have the range of experience to draw from. I have however very much enjoyed every kayaking trip I’ve had to Scotland and there are a few rivers which I would strongly recommend paddling! As always, please do leave a comment to share your favourite Scottish rivers.

Welcome to the second article in my little series on my favourite UK white water rivers to paddle! My last article was about my favourite English rivers and this article is going to focus on my favourite white water rivers in Wales. Enjoy!

I often get asked the question – what are your favourite UK rivers to paddle? It is always a difficult one to answer! Partly because there are so many rivers well worth paddling across the UK and each have very different characteristics which make them enjoyable. I have put together a little series of articles looking at my favourite English, Welsh and Scottish rivers. As a Nottingham girl, I thought I would start with the English rivers!

It’s that time of year again where the days of indulgence are dwindling and people look to celebrate the new year and the ‘new me’ that comes with it. Setting new years resolutions is a common habit that many of us follow but few of us follow through. Those first few weeks of January are full of optimism, determination and a desire to achieve those new year goals. So why is it that so many of those goals will remain unachieved and new habits forgotten by the end of the year?

This article aims to summarise an effective way to set kayaking specific new year’s resolutions. If you read through to the end, I have also shared one of my own goals with you too.

Somehow I’ve got myself into the habit of reflecting on my paddling every new year and with just a week left of 2023, the time has come to reflect once more! I find the process of doing so strangely therapeutic as well as helping me to set goals for the coming year. This article is definitely more for me to organise my own thoughts but if you fancy reading my annual paddling reflections – please do go on!

I originally called this article ‘I can’t kayak and it sucks’ but figured that wasn’t a positive frame of mind to be writing under. I’ve experienced some health issues recently that have meant I’ve not been able to paddle or live my usual active lifestyle. I wanted to update people on why I have been absent from the water and social media. As someone who always has a lot of words, I thought it was easier to share via a blog post.

I also thought this would be a good opportunity to share the things about paddling that I am missing the most. The phrase ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ is definitely appropriate here. Over the last couple of months there are certain things that paddling gives me that I have been missing. In some ways not been able to paddle has given me a fresh perspective on my motivations for paddling and I wanted to share those.