Hi all

As a total novice to the whole paddling scene I'm after some advice.

I belong to an online 4x4 community who are thinking about organising a charity field trip.

The intention is to find a longish river and hire some Canadian style canoes, pack em full of kit and see how far we get. those not wanting to brave the waters will form mobile support teams and being that most of us are CB'ers or hams, some will be setting up communications relay stations along the way, so, everyone enjoying their particular hobby and getting to try something new at the same time whilst supporting a good cause.

My questions for you good watery type people are as follows.

Could you suggest a river in england that is long enough to sustain a trip of at least 3 days 2 nights, bearing in mind our novice status one with as little white water as possible, a little portage occasionally will do us no harm, rather that than drown someone

Is it actually possible to hire these Canoes and if so could you suggest a reliable supplier? (could be anything from about 10 to 70 bods actually on the water)

Is there a "Paddlers Code" and if so, where could we get a copy? (last thing we want is to upset the natives)

Bearing in mind this is a charity bash, do any of you know someone qualified who would come out on the first day to give us some basic safety instruction at a reasonable price?

obviously this plan is only at an embryonic stage so any input would be most appreciated.

Many thanks

LW

My daughters used to be very involved with canoeing (the kayaking type) and I would suggest a useful first point of contact might be the British Canoe Union, who administer canoeing as a sport in this country. They are on www.bcu.org.uk Your location says Wiltshire - I am assuming this is not the county in England ? If it is, you will know that a lot of British rivers are quite fast flowing, sprinkled with locks and weirs and can be very busy with all sorts of other leisure craft. From my daughters' experiences (and mine, standing on cold river banks) these things do take a lot of organisation and awareness of local conditions and requirements.

I would have thought that you need to have at least some of your people above novice level - not sure a couple of hours instruction would do it. (Knowing how to do rescues etc, when a canoe is tipped over by some speed merchant's motor boat - having seen my daughter expertly pulled out from in front of a large boat, I am a bit safety conscious!)

I came across this site which might be helpful for you as it does refer to canoe hire - I have no experience of them
http://www.backwatershire.co.uk/

I don't want to sound negative - it does sound like a charming plan and I hope you manage to put it together.

Thanks for that Panda

All points taken onboard and yes of course we have considered the safety angles, The plan is first to find a suitable river, then contact all the canoe / boating clubs / organisations along the route to see what assistance they can offer us, its such a great cause that I'm pretty sure we'll get plenty of help.

The links you posted were a great help and have given me plenty to work with, having organised several large events in the past i know how tight deadlines can get so we have not made a decision yet as to weather this is going to take place this year or next, but determined that it will happen. The guys and gals are really hyped up about the whole idea and determined to make it float

thanks again,

all the best

LW

It seems to me that the River Wye would fit your bill. A lovely river, with options from one to five days of canoeing, open "canadian" style canoes or kayaks, with trips from 1 - 5 days in length. Worth the trip just to see the lovely kingfishers. Here are two of many options for outfitters.

http://www.blackmountain.co.uk/water/hire.htm

http://www.thecanoehire.co.uk/canoe_journey_details.html

Hope this helps. I only wish we could go with you!

Egret

wow, absolutely perfect, thanks Egret, feel free to join us if I can get it organised, the more the merrier.

thanks again.

LW