When we were doing our research of where to visit in Vietnam one place that everyone agreed that we must visit was Halong Bay. When we looked further into trips in Halong Bay it didn’t take long to start to understand why. Having been there, I would wholeheartedly agree with all the advice we received on this one!
A Karst in Halong BayLeaving home at 2200 on Friday 1st June, we set off for the short drive to the French Alps. With only three of us in the car, we were able to take turns spreading out in the back and catching some shut-eye during the 720 mile drive that would get…
Monday 9th April saw the closing of Lee Valley Whitewater Centre so that it can be prepared for the Olympics. For me, this is the sign that says the games are getting close. I have been fortunate enough to paddle at Lee Valley a number of times since it opened…
Following my summer trip to Canada I was advised to take a bit of time off paddling to allow my hand to heal (I slipped on a rock inspecting a rapid on the Magpie and caused soft tissue damage to one of my fingers – no heroic story!). At the end of November I had the opportunity to join my old uni kayak club on a trip to North Wales and decided that this would be the ideal way to ease myself back into paddling.
I have been paddling a Jackson Villain for the past few months and thought I would share my thoughts. Me in the Villain (courtesy of Simon Knox) About Me A bit about me to start with: I am 27, 6’6″ (198 cm) and weigh about 15.5 stones (95 kg). I…
My recent trip down the Magpie in Quebec, Canada, was my first self-supported multi-day kayaking trip. When I was preparing for the trip I spent some time chatting with other paddlers and researching on-line about what kit I needed to take. I struggled to find a list online of recommended…
This trip had been a long time in the planning. Some time towards the end of 2010, Simon Knox somehow persuaded Martyn Read, Doug Johnson and myself that we wanted to travel to Quebec to paddle the Magpie river. Despite Simon mentioning the 26 miles we would have to paddle…
This trip had been a long time in the planning. Some time towards the end of 2010, Simon Knox somehow persuaded Martyn Read, Doug Johnson and myself that we wanted to travel to Quebec to paddle the Magpie river. Despite Simon mentioning the 26 miles we would have to paddle…
Well, maybe that is a bit of an understatement. It has been 8 months since my last post on my blog and a lot has happened during that time. A quick summary…. 22nd December I had laser eye surgery with Ultralase in St Albans. I have gone from a -6…
Flying with kayaks is always an interesting experience and this starts from the moment of arrival at the airport. We can really use public transport due to the kayaks so I drove. I dropped Jethro off at the terminal at Heathrow with our boats and all of our luggage before I set off to leave my car at a friends house in Ealing for the duration of our trip. Things started to go wrong immediately as I took a wrong turn as I left the airport!