Canoe Days Out on Canals

Leeds-Liverpool, Lancaster-Kendal, Llangollen Canals

Venues
We visit the Leeds Liverpool and Lancaster Kendal canal at various locations- Bank Newton, Gargrave, Skipton, and Crooklands, but can go to other locations. We can also visit other canals such as the Llangollen canal as part of a weekend or mutliday trip on the River Severn

What can canals offer?
Canals can provide lovely opportunities for people to travel in canoes or kayaks and enjoy the peace, scenery and wildlife at the same time. Canals are generally well sheltered and are good for beginners and so very suitable for learning e.g. BCU 1 & 2 Star personal skills
Canals provide opportunities for exploring the countryside using mixed modes of transport which might be feet, bicycle or horseback.
Cooking, making fire by different methods and picnics can be part of the day out.

Skills Level: This activity is suitable for beginners. Your BCU qualified coaches will provide you with high quality personal instruction. There will be lots to learn: how to 'Canoe in Comfort', looking out for each other and other water users, sitting and kneeling, paddle strokes, trimming your boat, rafting up, how to get a canoe to go in a straight line, how to turn, how to go sideways, communicating with your partner, when to stay and when to go, what to do if you fall in, canoeing language, blending in with the environment, making drinks, where to find access information, and more.
Good outdoor clothing and footwear is appropriate, suggestions follow. Remember it's easy to cool down, much more difficult to warm up. More advice at the time of booking will be given.

A sense of humour	A spare sense of humour in case the first one gets wet.	Check List
Clothing suitable for canoeing	Warm outdoor clothing which dries quickly, if it gets wet. E.g. walking gear is OK. AVOID cotton.
	Fleece- warm top and bottoms.
	Sun hat, or warm hat and gloves.
	Over trousers
	Cagoule
A change of warm clothing	And a reasonably waterproof bag, if you have wet clothes. (We provide waterproof barrels).
Spare clothes	Always play safe and have spare.
Footwear	Some footwear is essential. Wellies are suitable, trainers/sandals also.
A medical declaration	These are confidential and must be completed at booking or at the start of the activity.
Food	Bring a Picnic
Personal dietary needs	If we are arranging food for you, you must inform Jinaka of these at the time of booking
Treat o'clock	Something edible to share
Personal needs	Sun block, etc.
Personal needs	Personal Medication e.g. inhalers
Drinks	A mug for tea/coffee/juice, etc.
Please avoid bringing	Valuables, documents or other items liable to damage by water

Itinerary Times: day or evening trips can be arranged.

Your Guides
Paul Lethebee and Jim Davis enjoy the pleasures that travelling and playing on water brings. Paul and Jim have many years of experience of living and working in the countryside and both live in the Yorkshire Dales. They hold coaching qualifications awarded by the British Canoe Union covering the skills required for journeying on open water in canoes and frequently work together. Individually they also have other skills in mountaineering, caving, kayaking, sea kayaking and sailing as well as a good knowledge of things like plants, birds, fish and rocks. Paul and/or Jim will be on hand to coach you in canoeing skills, pass on country skills and respond to your questions and suggestions, without being intrusive.
Travel: You would normally use your own arrangements to travel to the activity site.
Documents/valuables: We do not think there is any reason for you to bring documents or valuables with you. Please leave anything unnecessary at home.
Health: A confidential medical questionnaire must be completed, returned and received prior to a booking being accepted. Whilst there will be a first aid kit on the trip, we would recommend that you bring any personal medication that you may require.
Safety and Emergency Procedures relevant to our activities have been identified and are available prior to booking.
Itinerary: Any proposed itinerary is an outline which will be followed subject to environmental factors, the most obvious of which is the weather. Your safety is paramount.
Skills: Canoeing is an activity that is suitable for all ages. It provides a mode of transport that is ideal for observing and enjoying nature. Canoeing uses more coordination than strength so there will be no need for you to have anything other than a reasonable level of fitness. There are many skills that will be demonstrated and used throughout an activity/journey, some of which are canoeing skills while others are related to living with nature. A key objective for an activity/journey is to see how comfortable we can be and we shall be exploring skills that contribute to this. It is not necessary for you to have any water skills prior to an activity/journey. However, it is important that you will be able to be comfortable sitting in a canoe for from a few minutes up to an hour and a half at a time, as well as be calm in the event of an involuntary swim. We avoid getting wet as it is unnecessary, but unplanned swims do happen. If you have any doubts about this, you should reconsider the appropriateness of canoeing.

To make an enquiry, please send us a message and we will reply to you.
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