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.
I recently had somebody reach out to me to ask me if I had any advice or tips for someone just starting out in kayaking. The person asking was the social and welfare committee member at a University kayaking club. They were relatively new to kayaking themselves and weren’t sure how best to support new paddlers in the club. This person was also keen to hear any tips for encouraging more women to get involved in the club. After sending some ideas across, it occurred to me that this would make a perfect blog!
White water kayaking is such an incredible activity which can quite easily become the greatest love of your life. However, starting white water kayaking can come with a steep learning curve which can sometimes put people off. Here are 6 tips to support new paddlers and help them to fall in love with white water kayaking. Please do comment if you have any tips of your own to share!
I went for a run recently and started to reflect on the highs and lows of the year in terms of kayaking. Both for myself and for wider the kayaking community. I often take the time for reflection in this way around the new year. In recent years I have written a reflection blog to finish the year. This year I want to do it differently. In this blog I will not just be focusing on the highs of the year but also the lows, both for myself and for the wider kayaking community. I will be honest that you might find reading about the lows upsetting. I do not want to make anyone sad but I think it is important that they are acknowledged with the same gravitas as the highs.
One of the most common messages I get through my social media accounts is ‘can I come kayaking with you?’. I believe that this question is not asked because people want to specifically paddle with me, but more because people want to paddle with someone. I post a lot about my kayaking adventures; therefore, people know I am out paddling, and asking if they can come with me might mean they can also get out paddling.
One of the barriers to going white water kayaking is that it requires you to have paddling friends to do it with. I do paddle solo regularly but only on flat sections of river or at a white water centre. I would not paddle a white water river solo because of three reasons: safety, social and shuttles.
I appreciate that there are people comfortable paddling white water solo and that is their choice. Usually, the people doing so are more than capable of both making that decision and of carrying it through safely. I am not here to debate that. Instead what I am here to do is to share some tips on how to make paddling friends so that you always have someone to paddle with!
On Saturday the 6th August at 10am, 6 of us will be setting off on a 24 hour kayaking challenge on the river Dee in Llangollen to raise money for three brilliant charities. This is a brief article to share the key details of our kayaking challenge. I will write a longer piece post challenge but I wanted to be able to share the key information prior to Saturday for anyone who wanted to come along and watch us or support in any way. Please do have a read and ask questions if you have any!
I have debated about writing this article for a while. With each of these swims came feelings of shame and anguish. But I have had a lot of time to reflect on them all and through these reflections, I have been able to take away valuable lessons. I am not encouraging recklessness but simply highlighting the things I have learned as I have gained more experience. I have written the swims in chronological order of when they happened.
Anyone who knows me will know how much I love kayaking and how often I like to bring up kayaking in conversation. ‘What are you doing this weekend?’ – ‘Hopefully kayaking!’. ‘What do you want for Christmas?’ – ‘Rain so I can go kayaking!’ etc. It is so much a part of who I am that it is easy to forget the reasons why I am so obsessed with it. This week one of my students asked me the question ‘what exactly is it that you love about kayaking so much?’