Last weekend I joined Blackwater Valley Canoe Club for a trip unto the Lake District, for most of the people going they were heading up on Thursday making the most of the February half term. Unfortunately we don’t get half terms at university, so I had to wait until my final lecture had finished at 5pm on Friday to hit the road and head north, which as it turns out is a very long way! Even only taking only one stop along the way it still took almost 6 and a half hours including the time spent in traffic, not getting to the bunkhouseuntil 11:59PM.

After the early start on Saturday we headed north to do the River Eden, which as with the rest of the rivers up north this weekend was low. The river was mainly flat, with large sections of flat water paddling, but the final rapid and pub at the end made up for this. This river was also the first outing of my new paddles picked up only a few days ago on the way to an interview. Being a low run it was hardly ideal, and there are already scratches on the paddles! After this it was back to the bunkhouse and off into town to look though the many outdoor shops,  trying to avoid spending money on lost of shiny new toys, but I managed to get away only buying a new sling and crab.

On the Sunday we paddled the River Kent, the section was much shorter than what we had paddled on The River Eden, as well as being much more action packed. The rapids were all located quickly together, together with a few small drops which made for a great run. The odd thing about this paddling is that we were done much earlier than normal (Before Midday), but with the long run home we decided to head of home early after a bit of Dry suit conga (Photo bellow by Mike Hamilton), knowing that we had many hours of driving ahead.

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Full BVCC Trip report available here