Blogs

As the first trip I have organised for WKCC, I opted for the usually docile Oxford Cherwell on Sunday 7 th December 2025. The original intention was the classic there and back trip, but local advice from Oxford Clive, led to a last-minute switch to a downstream only trip from Sunnymeade to the Riverside centre with our 10 strong crew. The river was up, but overall, the flow was relatively gentle. However, the first half of trip had quite a number of tree shaped obstacles. Wel

The river (the Vyrnwy) was chosen the evening before and the weather was booked (requirements for warm and sunny because Jackie is going). Meeting planned for 9.30.   Sunday came, the river level was spot on and the paddlers arrived – although the sun failed to show up. It was at least mild. The 5 got changed, faffed remarkably little, and were almost ready to paddle. It turns out the shuttle run on this takes almost as long as the paddle, but eventually the shuttle was sorte

There is something nice about heading out early on a Sunday morning to the river for a paddle. It was a great winter morning, chilly but sunny. Meeting up at Eckington Bridge it wasn’t long before we were on the water. Breakfast’s were packed safely in our boats as we did a quick warm up weaving in and out of the bridge arches which was good practice with a bit more flow on the river than normal after all the rain we have had. With Clive, Russ and Dave in their canoes, Clive

So 2025 started with a solo breakfast paddle on the 2nd January. In reality it started for me in December 2024 with a decision to ‘Paddle more in 2025, try to get back to where my paddling used to be back in the years leading up to 2018 and 2019’.   So what has 2025 looked like so far (January to November). Well there were a number of play sessions at Nafford refreshing the memory on what to do and have fun. Then early morning breakfast paddles which are great for mind, body

Here’s a little write up from one of the Jacqui John Adventures on the Avon series of river trips. This time from Bidford to Evesham. Paddled on Sunday 2nd November by a keen trio of WKCC’ers; Claire Teagle, Jacqui John and Marcus Draper in fine and pleasant weather. Meeting at the get-out, Rapheal’s Restaurant, Jacqui’s kayak was happily mounted on top of Claire’s for the ride to the put-in at Bidford. The main carpark was closed for the season, so this meant a bit of boat d

Townfalls Credit: Arron Gary Coe The WKCC has been paddling the features, drinking the ales and eating the cakes of Llangollen for over a decade. Sitting astride the ever-imposing town falls, laughs have been had, tall stories told and songs sung in the beautiful Welsh town. 2025 may be the last visit for a while with new pastures calling further north but we made sure to go out with a bang.   Friday’s dinner at the Bridge End Inn saw everyone reunited in known territory, clu

Last nights 2 hour pool session saw lots of people turning up and practicing a variety of skills. Everything from support strokes, hand rolling to self rescues. A selection of club buoyancy aids were tested by Nuala Dalton to check they officially pass the float test. If you’ve not come along to a pool session for a while, it really is a great place to practice and fine tune your skills.

It was dry for our 9.5 mile paddle on the 27th September on the Avon with 6 locks to negotiate.  Six paddlers – Nigel, Marcus, Jacqui, Helen, Simon and Russ started from Stratford and 5 hours later arrived in Bidford.  The Avon meandered through picturesque countryside and with great teamwork we tackled different situations. Jacqui – organiser, map reader, historian pointing out locks built by prisoners. Russ – lock and key keeper, pushing gates aside. Simon – taxi driver, do

A few weeks ago some of us spent the weekend paddling the Tryweryn, of course we all had a great time, enhancing our paddling and developing new skills. Over all there were 8 of us paddling on the Saturday and 4 on the Sunday. The group comprised of: Kenny (Organiser), Pete, Jackie & James, Aimee & James, Ian, and Clive. Chris & Elise joined us on the Saturday and camped with us. We camped at Ty Isaf Bala Caravan & Camping Site , the usual place of late. and drove to the Tryw

By Carlos S, 20 July 2025. Jacqui, our Supreme Leader on the day, entrusted me with the task of writing the report of our Windermere...

Another great weekend was had by all. When we left Worcestershire it was very hot and sunny and the closer we got to Wales it became more...

Safety is always our top priority and knowing how to rescue a boat and a person is something everyone the paddler should know how to do. ...

It was a last minute decision, the 4 of us, Chris, Elise, Graeme and Clive went to the Tryweryn (click the link to read the river guide)...

Recently a few people had asked about overnight camping in canoe and kayak so the club has organised 2 trips (1 in April 2025 and the...

On Saturday 5 April a group of 15 WKCC members stayed in or near Bala ready for the first of the PUK Three Lakes Challenge. Some of us...

A great first night back on the water. Good to see quite a few people out and some new members. Who would have guessed that when you...

A very productive morning after the containers had flooded over the winter jet washing them out and some of the canoes at the Riverside...

"It was worth getting up early to paddle from Eckington to Nafford and see these 'boys with their toys' cooking gourmet breakfasts:...

A frosty start to the morning and then the sun came out to be a glorious day. After an early start, to met at Cardiff for 9:30 am and on...

Yesterday we had a great paddle,starting out at Iron bridge, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, going down to Bridgenorth....