Kayak River Journeys in The Lake District. Saturday August 2nd 2014.

Last weekend, Iain enjoyed a rather wet adventure with Bob & Paul Bettinson from Essex who, whilst visiting Pauls brother in Lancaster, booked a day of Kayaking in The Lake District with us.

This is the third time that Bob & Paul have joined Iain for an adventurous activity session in The Lake District. The first time was an all day Esk Gorge Trip in 2012 and then last year, we spent a day on Derwent Water and the Middle Derwent during an Open Canoe Skills Training Session and a River Journey.

This time, the pair wanted to try Kayaking which is something largely done on moving water. Kayaks were invented by Eskimos for travelling on water. The difference between a Kayak & an Open Canoe is that these are 1 person craft and by use of a spraydeck have closed cockpits (ie the place where a person sits) whereas in an Open Canoe - the cockpit is completely open and those craft are often paddled together by two persons.

Most modern Kayaks are designed for river running as can be seen in photos one & two and are designed to be extremely manoeuvrable - very handy when negotiating a rapid!

Today was a steep learning curve for Bob who does extremely well for a 67 year old! He is travelling down river first in both photos two & three and struggled to get his kayak to go in a straight line throughout the day - this is a common problem for a novice.

However, with Iain's tuition and guiding, the pair mananaged to negotiate a section of the River Lune which, on the stretch that we did, is no more than Grade 2 in difficulty although it looks really impressive in the photos - we are sure you'll agree!

The final photo is taken at the getout. We had started kayaking at 10am and had spent the first hour & a half revisiting moving water skills such as ferry gliding & reverse paddling as well as manoeuvring into & out of eddies (areas of calm water between rapids)

During this 10km river trip both Bob & Paul paddled well with only one swim (well - if you could call it a swim!) taking place when Bob failed to make an eddy and then grabbed a tree - a move which he knows never to make again!

The weather was due to be wet and it duly was - with the worst shower coinciding with Bob's dunking. During the day we received a number of showers but then as the afternoon wore on the weather brightened up as we approached the getout (photo four) finally arriving at 4pm.

Bob & Paul enjoyed yet another day of Adventurous Activities with Iain and are talking about returning next year to finish the upper section of the Esk Gorge which we didn't quite manage two years ago.

Kendal Mountaineering Services run Introductory Kayaking Sessions on most of The Lake Districts Lakes and River Journeys in the area where access permits. Half day sessions start at £45 per person, full day guided River trips start at £80 each. Contact us here to book your Kayaking adventure.