For 2013 this blog is taking a new direction. Following our wedding in August 2012 we have decided that now is the time to see the world. In May we take off for our first destination – Lima in Peru! From here will make our way to Machu Picchu then through Bolivia and Paraguay to Iguazzu Falls before popping to Buenos Aires and finally Santiago in Chile to round off leg one of the trip.
Leg two sees us travelling around New Zealand and Australia for two and a half months before we round the trip off with leg 3. Leg 3 will start with a ten day break in Bali before we head to Bangkok to tour Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. We then return to the UK in December 2013.
This blog will be used to document our journey with both Andy and Lindsay posting regular updates, offering their own perspectives of their adventures. The “All Posts” tab will show all posts, while “Andy’s Posts” will only show posts written by Andy and “Lindsay’s Posts” will only show posts written by Lindsay.
About Andy
I originally started this blog back in 2007 to keep a record of my kayaking. Since then it has morphed somewhat into what you see today – more a record of us and what we get up to.
I started kayaking when I was 15, originally taking it up as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. I continued kayaking through school and A-Levels where I played polo on a weekly basis, and having a canoe club was a strong requirement for my choice of university. It was whilst at Aston Uni that it went from being a hobby to something much more for it was here that I was introduced to whitewater! Despite the cold, harsh environments in which whitewater kayaking in the UK normally takes place, I was hooked. At the end of my first year I joined the annual club trip to the French Alps where I was to experience warm weather kayaking for the first time.
Upon finishing uni I moved to London, which is not really well known for its abundance of whitewater. Despite this, I kept up my addiction. Weekends would see me making the (not so short) drive to North Wales or Dartmoor and it was not uncommon to spend almost as much time getting to and from my destination as time spent paddling when I was there!
Since those early days, my kayaking has taken me to some truly amazing places…
- The crystal blue rivers of the French Alps
- Stunning gorges in Austria and Switzerland
- Warm water (26 degrees) paddling on the White Nile in Uganda
- Kayaking in the snow in Scotland
- The whitewater-lover’s paradise that is Norway
- Absolutely stunning scenery whilst paddling the Soča in Slovenia
- Life changing experience of paddling the Sun Kosi in Nepal
- A real-life expedition with great friends in Quebec, Canada
To date I have paddled more than 74 rivers in 10 countries on 4 continents, and the list keeps growing.