Hurley Classic

I’ve been a bit quiet on the paddling front this year. The reason for this can be seen in the the photos below taken at the Hurley Classic back in November. Now I’m almost a year into this new adventure life seems to be getting into more of a routine and a bit more paddling […]

Hurley in May

Finally, after a the driest summer/autumn/spring that I can remember Hurley Weir sprung into life… more photos

Strange Times

We’re officially in a drought apparently. Despite this I managed to find myself on a spate run of the Edw (a tributary of the River Wye) last weekend and paddled Hurley Weir on three gates yesterday. Go figure. On both occasions I managed to not take a single photo. In the mean time however I here […]

Abingdon Weir: A personal history

As a teenager back in the late eighties I used to paddle with Pathfinder Youth Canoe Club. I remember learning how to paddle forward in a straight line, capsize drill, deep water rescue, self rescue, use support strokes and all the other skills a budding paddler needs to know.

Blastathon

Another year has passed and that means it Blastathon time again! Once again Dave managed to arrange things so that there was enough water in the Thames to provide primo blasting levels at Abingdon Weir. With a record turn out this year the event ran like a well oiled machine. There were around forty competitors, many […]

(not) Paddling to a Pub

What better way to spend a sunny Sunday than pottering along the river until a reaching a rather nice riverside pub? No a lot really, unfortunately I wasn’t able to partake in said activity. A lingering throat infection and doctors order kept me out of my boat and on the bank. On the plus side I […]

Pub Paddles

This weekend I tested out one of the routes from Peter Knowles new book ‘Pub Paddles – The Best Short Canoe Trips in the South of England‘ which Amazon describes as: This is an inspiring, high quality guidebook for the South East of England. It is written for the recreational, non-specialist paddler and the trips […]

Blastathon

Last weekend was the annual KCC Blastathon. We had a record number of entries this year with two minibuses of contestants from the Riverside Centre coming along to join the members of Kingfisher Canoe Club and Pathfinder Youth Canoe Club. The weather decided to provide us with sun and rain earlier in the week ensured that Abingdon weir […]

The other H

I popped down to Hambledon earlier today. Which gave me a chance to continue practicing my roll (I’ve decided I need more confidence in it) and try out the replacement for the 18-200 lens I trashed in Nepal. As always Hambledon gave me plenty of opportunities to practice rolling, it seems near impossible to come out of […]