Busy times in Cumbria with Wild River

Robin gets it almost right on Langstrath Beck

Top drop on the Caldew on a bleak winter day

We have even managed to make a change in the ridiculous access agreement that was in place on the river Eden. I love meeting the estate owners and greeting their statements of ownership with a bemused lack of understanding of their ideas. It’s always a pleasure to get on the river with it’s variety of sections that give lots of options to the intermediate paddler.  When high the wave trains can be enormous. In November we paddled 25 km in under 3 hours.

This guy lives at Armathwaite weir and loves sharing the beta with paddlers when they show up

Christmas spent in Cumbria allowed us to get the children out on the river for a couple of days.

Preparation included some dry land training for Méabh

Sarah took Eimhear in her boat. She sits quietly in her seat and is no problem to have in the boat.

Méabh is alot more active but loves sitting in the boat and playing with her paddle

All the children decided to walk this drop.

Christmas dinner on the banks of the Eden in the Cumbrian sun

After Christmas life got busy again with the Stikine getting well used on loads of rescue courses. I lost count of the days spent swimming around on the rivers of Cumbria.

Sunny days on the Leven

Dave Rossiter taking charge

One of the highlights of the season was paddling the Findhorn and Meig with a particularly strong 5 star team on the same weekend that Ireland sealed their first Grand Slam in 60 years.

First big drop on the weird and wonderful Meig

All in all a great season with lots done and more to do.

Sean Mc Grath