Canoe Journeys- The River Severn Canoe Journeys- The River Severn| Skills Level: This activity is suitable for beginners with no previous canoeing experience. An adventurous outlook, familiarity with camping, and a sense of humour are necessary. We have experience of enabling people with a disability to paddle with us and would be happy to discuss and assess any specific needs prior to booking. | |
Example Itinerary |
Weather conditions may necessitate variation |
Arrive late evening at The Royal Hill Inn where you will be welcomed by your guides Jim & Paul who will show you our camping area and facilities. When everyone has arrived, while you relax in the Inn, Jim & Paul will answer your questions and outline the plans for your first day's paddle.
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Things to learn about 'Canoeing 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, water language, blending in with the environment, making drinks, and more. Canoeing is a very sociable affair, so we hope you will take advantage of swapping around when the opportunity arises. It's great fun paddling with different people. You will also find that there are differences in the canoes as they are not all the same shape. |
Day 1 a.m. 7.30 am Tea/coffee will be delivered to you at your tent, if you wish, and then you can join us for breakfast. The day's plan will be discussed and adjusted to suit wishes and the weather. We will then introduce you to your canoeing equipment and the essential safety aspects of canoeing, and then will be ready to organise our shuttle so everyone can get back from our destination. We will aim to be on the water by 10.30 am and will travel down the river and introduce you to the skills of canoeing. We will almost certainly raft up and, while we drift downstream, have Cake o'Clock, continuing until lunchtime.
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Day 1 p.m. We will introduce you to the Volcano/Kelly kettle for making hot drinks, while we have lunch which will be a cold buffet. After lunch, we will continue to our destination and probably have more tea and cake as well! When we reach our destination, we will load the canoes on the trailer and then return to the Royal Hill. Tea/coffee and cake will be "on tap", so you can relax before the evening meal. We will meet in the Inn for dinner and afterwards, for those that wish, reconvene in our heated tent, retiring to sleep when you want.
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Day 2 a.m. 7.30 am. As on Day 1, Tea/coffee will be delivered to you at your tent, if you wish, and then you can join us for breakfast. This will be a 'Full English' cooked by your guides. Paddling a bit further than on our first day, there are two options, a medium or a long paddle. The medium distance paddle takes us to Shrewsbury, while the long distance starts at Pool Quay and ends at The Royal Hill. Once you have chosen, we will do the shuttle. Again, we will aim to be on the water by 10.30 am and travel down river. We can give you more help with your canoeing skills, and you will be getting pretty slick at rafting up, having Cake o'Clock, etc. |
Day 2 p.m. We will find a good spot for lunch, maybe cooking pancakes. We will then resume our paddle to our chosen destination where we will load the canoes back onto the trailer. This will be the end of the trip, so we will say our goodbyes before making our ways home. |
Your Guides
Paul and Jim enjoy the pleasures that travelling and playing on water brings. They have
many years of experience of living and working in the countryside and 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. Individually they
also have other skills in mountaineering, bushcraft, caving, kayaking, and sailing as well
as a good knowledge of things like plants, birds, fish and rocks. With 2 guides, you have
more flexibility and variety in a journey. Your guides will be on hand to coach you in
canoeing skills, pass on country skills and respond to your questions and suggestions,
without being intrusive.
Equipment required: (A complete list will be
sent to you when you book.)
Remember it's easy to cool down, much more difficult to keep warm.
| 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). |
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| Spare clothes | Always play safe and have spare. Don't forget sleeping clothes. |
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| Footwear | Some footwear is essential. Wellies are suitable, trainers/sandals also. | |
| A medical declaration | These are confidential and must be completed at booking. | |
| Food | Included | |
| Personal dietary needs | You must inform Jinaka of these at the time of booking | |
| Treat o'clock | Something edible to share | |
| Personal needs | Sun block, etc. | |
| Personal Medication e.g. inhalers | ||
| Alcoholic or similar refreshements (not provided) | ||
| Equipment | Sleeping mat- essential- NO sleep = a GRUMPY punter | |
| Sleeping bag - essential | ||
| Tents optional- You can bring your own if you wish | ||
| A mug for tea/coffee/juice, etc. | ||
| Please avoid bringing | Valuables, documents or other items liable to damage by water |
Documents/valuables: We do
not think there is any reason for you to bring unnecessary 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. Insurance is NOT covered in the cost. Whilst there will be a first aid kit on
the trip, we would recommend that you pack any personal medication that you may require.
Safety and Emergency Procedures relevant to
our activities have been identified and are available prior to booking. On a journey, they
will be introduced and/or practised at the relevant times.
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. Within this outline, we can be
flexible and adapt each day's activities according to personal and group decisions. You
will be encouraged to paddle with different partners and in different canoe positions and
you may have the option to split into two groups. Canoeing provides a lovely opportunity
to journey on water, explore the woods and landscape as well as indulge in bird watching,
fishing, geology, botany, sketching/painting, photography, or other country interests
according to people's preferences. Identifying your interests on our journey questionnaire
(provided at booking) will assist us in providing background information.
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.
More Information: can be obtained at www.canoeincomfort.co.uk
