I saw a post on the Paddle365 social media page a couple of months ago advertising their ‘Snowdonia Advanced Week’ as a pre-Christmas week and thought…. what a perfect way to start my Christmas holidays! So I booked myself on and have ended up having a really lovely week. A perfect Christmas gift to myself! If you want to hear about my white water pre-Christmas adventures, then read on!
For UK and Irish paddlers, October brings with it an exciting couple of weeks as the Park Jam events series runs. Park Jam is organised by Pyranha Kayaks and Palm Equipment in an effort to bring people together for some fun on the water. The aim of the Parkjam tour is to inspire the next generation of paddlers across the UK. It’s a chance for kids to paddle with and be inspired by the Palm and Pyranha teams, and hear from them about their latest adventures. Over the course of 3 weeks, team paddlers from both Pyranha and Palm tour white water courses across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Paddlers are encouraged to come and join them for some fun on the water, with the opportunity to then hear from and meet those paddlers afterwards.
I was involved with some of the Park Jam dates in 2023 and was thrilled to get involved again in 2024. Life has been a little busy lately but I managed to join for 4 out of 9 of the dates and had a great time during those events. I am sure there will be blog posts aplenty from team paddlers in the coming weeks to share a more official account but here is mine if you wanted to hear it!
On Monday the 12th of August 2024, I set off on a challenge to kayak the Great Glen Canoe Trail. This is a ‘coast to coast’ of Scotland, a journey along the Caledonian Canal and a series of Lochs from Fort William all the way to Inverness. It is 60 miles in total and took me 3 days to complete. In the process, I used the challenge to raise some funds for Lochaber Mountain Recuse Team, who are based in Fort William. Carry on reading if you would like to hear more about this adventure!
Tryweryn Festival (fondly known as T-fest) has to be one of my absolute favourite white water events on the calendar. Quality white water time, fun well organised events and plenty of time to catch up with old friends and make new ones! I’ve just got back from this year’s T-fest and once again am struck by what a brilliant weekend it has been! This article is a summary of the highlights of T-fest 2024!
I was thrilled to be invited to Plas y Brenin‘s third ShePaddles event which ran on the 10th-12th May this year. This event first ran in 2022 after the lovely Katie Simmons came up with the idea. It was hugely successful and has been a highlight on my calendar ever since. The last two years had been beautiful sunny weekends full of fun and laughter and the 2024 event proved to be just as good. As I drove over to North Wales on the Friday evening, the Welsh mountains of Snowdonia were basked in sunshine and it was still beautifully warm. I arrived at Plas y Brenin (PyB) to an enthusiastic welcome and a delicious dinner from their restaurant. It promised to be another wonderful weekend.
On Saturday 6th April 2024 myself and Tom got married by the river Etive in Scotland. In the middle of storm Kathleen and in the company of three of our closest friends, we became Mr and Mrs Clare. It was a crazy and wild day but it was the perfect wedding day for us. I wanted to share our wedding day with our wider friends through here so please read on and enjoy my account of our special day!
The river Dee is an absolute UK white water kayaking classic! The Dee is a North Wales river that flows all year round thanks to the fact it has water released into it. It is so good that some brilliant local paddlers decided that they wanted to organise a festival on the Dee and so was born Dee Fest! Dee Fest this year was held on the 13-14th April and it was brilliant! So here is a little account of Dee Fest 2024.
A few months ago, I was asked if I was keen to be involved in the East Midlands (EM) ShePaddles weekend that was happening at Broadway’s Meadow on the first weekend of September. I love paddling and sharing that love with others so of course I said yes! It turned into a brilliant weekend with amazing weather and lots of happy paddlers. I wanted to share that through an article so please do have a read.
You might have seen the videos of scores of paddlers floating down Holme Pierrepont on inflatables and wondered what was going on. The answer to that is the Dewerstone European Open! Euro Open is a freestyle focused event that happens at the end of August every summer in Nottingham. It is one of my favourite events and one that I highly encourage people to attend. Here is my recount of Euro Open 2023.
If you were in Nottingham at Holme Pierrepont white water course at the end of August, you might be wondering why every eddy and every feature seemed to be full of teenagers in playboats. The reason is because the GB Freestyle Academy Camp was happening! This was a camp aimed to improve and inspire young paddlers in freestyle kayaking and something I was lucky enough to be involved in. This article is here to tell you all about it – enjoy!