Well it all started here..............
......the breathtakingly beautiful Derwent Water in Cumbria.
In May this year I walked Hadrian's Wall National Trail with a group of friends (full details and photos at www.threemenonawalk.blogspot.com). We completed the walk in 6 days and then spent an extra few days in Keswick. We camped at the Caravan and Camping Club site and this was the view from my tent. I spent a few hours just sat taking in this view and it was during this chill-out time that I observed a couple of people dragging kayaks into the water, climbing into them, and then serenely sailing off into the distance. Their paddling seemed so relaxing and the entire scene just so idyllic that I thought to myself....."I'd like to have a go at that." The rest, as they, is history.
Hadrian's Wall completed, I returned home and soon got back to work and back to reality, but so captivated was I with the scene of the paddlers on Derwent Water, that I started to research kayaking. I'd done a bit many years ago and even took a beginners course in the local pool, but I never took it particularly seriously at the time - always had too much else to do - but now, in my mid forties, another adventure held real appeal.
In July, Dawn and I took off with the caravan and spent a couple of weeks touring Cornwall, Devon and Somerset and, again, I observed plenty of folks enjoying themselves on kayaks. I simply had to have one!
Even the briefest of surfs (is that the right term?) around the web will make you realise one thing about kayaks - they're bloody expensive! I knew there and then - second-hand was the way forward for me. And God bless ebay!
Anyway, back to the original question, what is this blog all about?
As a novice kayaker, I have found the endless research pretty tiresome, particularly as I just couldn't find all the information I needed in one spot. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of good, informative sites out there, they just didn't suit me that's all. So the aim of this site is to share my novice kayaking experiences with like-minded people and anyone else who may be interested. I'll share what I found out as a result of research, about the different types of kayak out there and the different things they can do, what sort of price you can expect to pay for such boats - new and second-hand, how best (and cheaply) to transport them, the types of equipment you'll need and, of course, I'll share my kayaking trips (I've had one already!) as and when I do them!
Another incentive comes from my friend Graham (seen with me below) a fellow kayaker who fancies paddling from London to Manchester along the canal system - sounds good to me, but I think I'll need some practice first!
Another incentive comes from my friend Graham (seen with me below) a fellow kayaker who fancies paddling from London to Manchester along the canal system - sounds good to me, but I think I'll need some practice first!
So that's it in a Coracle shell. And that's enough for me for today - the blog is set up. I do hope you'll come back. :-)
Russ
