Iain had a day off after his weekend of guided Lake District Mountain walking, but got a call that day asking if he could run a half day kayaking session for a family the next day.Jenny Haworth & her Partner George and daughter Bethany were taking a week's holiday at Hawkshead. They had already done some scrambling, had been to Goape in Grizedale Forest and had hired some canoes from u-cando at Ambleside.
The trio fancied getting some more time on the water so Adrian from u-cando had suggested getting in contact with Iain at Kendal Mountaineering Services to see if he could help out. Of course - we were happy to!
The first photo in this post shows Jenny in Iain's vintage 1994 Pyranha Magic Bat (red kayak) and Bethany in a more recent Pyranha G3. Kayak designs keep changing but not necessarily for the better. Jenny thought the Magic Bat a responsive boat and it is definitely the better looking of the two craft.
Jenny wanted some kayaking for herself and Bethany. George, however, was not keen to get wet so Iain arranged to provide two kayaks for the ladies whilst himself and George paddled Iain's Canadian canoe.
At least this way the whole family got to be out on the water together and George was able to video his daughter's first kayaking session - as seen here in photo two.
Jenny has kayaked in the past - having done a great deal of stuff in the outdoors over the years. This was Bethany's first time in a kayak and she did very well despite the rather cool and breezy conditions.
As part of all of our canoeing & kayaking sessions, we will teach you all of the basic skills to handle the various craft on flat water - so that if you decide to take up the sport, you'll have some idea of what to do.
In photo three, Jenny hangs on to Bethany who is enthusiastically attempting a draw stroke to move sideways - despite not being aware the other paddle blade was getting rather close to Jenny! She did very well though.
Finally, Jenny just had to get wet by doing capsize drill - apparently something she has done every time in the past and usually at the start of the session.
Iain thought she was a brave lass though - as the day was noticably less warm than the preceeding one.
Iain thinks Jenny felt refreshed by the experience although she didn't enjoy getting a noseful of Windermere. Ugh!
Just for a change; and at the family's request, we ran this session from Fellfoot at the southern end of Windermere - one of many locations throughout the Lake District we use for our kayaking & Canadian canoeing sessions. The family thoroughly enjoyed themselves and Jenny is thinking of joining a canoeing club when they get back home to the North East. Good idea Jenny! The rest of the photos from this session can be viewed here.
If you would like to book your Lake District based canoeing or kayaking session with us, then contact us here.
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