Adventures with packboats
See also:The Bradford-on-Avon Loop Returning from a week’s e-biking in Wales took me right past Bradford-on-Avon, a good chance to paddle the Avon again, this time 17km all the way to Bath via five weirs. Last year I did the shorter loop from BoA, returning via the Kennet canal which runs alongside and even crosses […]
Gumotex IKs New for 2026 is the Gumotex Caleya single seater kayak (left) which seems to fill the gap between the two ten-year-old Twist models. It s 40cm shorter than a Twist 2 solo/double (below left), but 60cm longer than a dinky Twist 1. Up front you get a half deck which I find less useful [ ]
Anfibio TXL main page The last time we paddled this part of the Jurassic Coast (video above; more here) we were zipping along under sail or navigating in choppy waters and I didn t get a chance to have a good look around. Now the latest heatwave and strong winds has subsided, today I wanted to [ ]
Bikerafting Christchurch Bikeraft sailing sounded like a good idea I d not tried yet, and now in the midst of this summer s third heatwave, it s high time to get on the water! Lately I ve been distracted by other outdoor activities. Today s 10mph easterly ought to work well across Poole Harbour, followed by the dreary reed-bound slog [ ]
See alsoDoubtful Sound (NZ)Packrafting NZ A few days after paddling Doubtful Sound we rented another hardshell double at Abel Tasman NP, at the top of the South Island. A much more popular kayaking location, a string of sandy, aquamarine bays and beaches punctuate wooded granite headlands dropping to the sea. Less rain-drenched than Fjordland, the [ ]
See also:Hardshelling in Abel Tasman NP (NZ)Packrafting North Island (NZ) Fjordland National Park in the far southwest of New Zealand’s South Island is a huge, barely inhabited warren of 1000-m+ mountain ridges, deep 40-km inlets and glittering alpine lakes. Milford Sound is the best known of these glacier-carved fjords reaching inland from the Tasman Sea. [ ]
After Storm Chandra came the calm. Well, just a day of calm with a 5mph onshore breeze, sunny spells and single digit temps before seasonal deluges resumed. The artillery was pounding at Lulworth so the west side on Kimmeridge Bay within the MOD firing range was definitely off limits, but it might be nice to [ ]
See also: English South Coast categoryBook review: South West Sea Kayaking, Mark RainsleyBook review: Bradt Paddling France, Anna Richards In a linePromising selection of rivers, canals and inshore SUP paddles right across the beautiful Southwest, but just one map. What they sayExplore the best of South West England’s rivers, canals, lakes, estuaries and beaches by paddle [ ]
See alsoChristchurch Harbour bikeraft My Dohon two-speed folding bike is still a bit of a bikerafting novelty, so on a sunny, calm and chilly day soon after New Year, I went out for a spin in Poole Harbour. I pedalled up to Arne, then set off north across Crighton s Heath, occasionally crunching through frozen puddles. [ ]
See also: Packboating in Southern FranceBook review: Rivières Nature en France by Laurent NicoletBook review: Best Canoe Trips in the South of FranceISUP: a new way to get in trouble at sea by Gael AGuardian: Six best Paddles in France by Anna Richards In a lineMouthwatering selection of river- lake- and inshore paddles right across France, but packboats go [ ]