Category: Trip Reports

On Sunday December 13th five Nomads led by Matt travelled to Wargrave through teeming rain to get some paddling in after the November lockdown. All of us were keen just for being there in the first place with the weather forecast being continuous rain all day. When we arrived however the rain started to let up and by the time we were ready to put in was only a very light drizzle - maybe even a heavy mist. The river was a little high so Dan chose caution over valour and didn't seal launch his newly purchased Axiom, which he was finding a bit tippy compared to the bus of a club boat he used to paddle. Martyn was very ambitious bringing his Necky Vibe and indeed was to have…

On Sunday 11th October 6 Nomads and 2 friends led by Simon drove north to Cambridge to paddle the scenic Cam from near Grantchester through the centre of historic Cambridge and back. The weather was as good as the forecast had promised as we prepared ourselves, safety briefed and put in to an idyllic pool below the mill bridge on the outskirts of Grantchester. Due to coronavirus precautions we stayed in two separate 'pods' as we paddled through tree lined meadows toward to Cambridge and after the first quarter mile met up with Andy from Chiswick club recently moved to Cambridge, who was our local knowledge and tourist guide for the day. River traffic was light when we started out with the odd open canoe and a half dozen K1s…

On Sunday 13th September eight Nomads led by Matt met by Dobb's weir on the Lea for a circular tour down the Lea to Broxbourne and back via the Lea navigation. It was a beautiful sunny day so sun hats rather than helmets were the order of the day as we put in to the rather duckweedy pool below Dobbs weir and formed into two COVID friendly (or should that be unfriendly?) pods as per BCU guidance. Martyn achieved a tiny bit of side surfing on the weir's miniscule wave, watched intently by two fishermen on whose fishing spot he was surfing. Once assembled we headed off south under the road bridge and along the edge of the campsite where we were greeted by a member of the public exclaiming…

On Sunday 9th of August Simon Pettifer led 6 Nomads on a scenic trip to the Thames and Cherwell at Oxford. The day was forecast to be a scorcher, but it was pleasantly cool when we arrived at meadow lane car park in time to get parking spaces, get changed and wait for David to arrive. Once we'd all arrived it was over to the Thames for a short safety and COVID procedures briefing before putting onto the water avoiding all the passing skulls. The stretch up the Thames was short and pleasant before turning into the Cherwell on the right, just before several very fancy and expensive looking rowing club boathouses without a soul using them. We made good speed up the tree lined Cherwell against a very slight…

On Sunday 23rd of February seven Nomads led by Matt converged on the Grand Union canal at the Grove in Watford to paddle the canal and river Gade back to the aquadrome. The scheduled trip to the Abbey Stream had been cancelled due to very high water in the Thames and all other local rivers were in flood, so the plan was to take advantage of the high water to explore the Gade through Cassiobury Park, which is usually too low to paddle. Despite a poor weather forecast, we set off in pleasant sunshine with only a moderate and slightly gusty wind portaging the first two locks past the golf course and into the park. The turn off into the river Gade was a little overgrown and Matt scouted out…

On the 18th and 19th of January six Nomads led by Matt traveled to Builth Wells to brave freezing conditions and paddle the middle Wye with good water levels. Matt arrived friday afternoon to inspect the river in the light, being joined by three more at the B&B that evening and two the following morning at Builth car park. Levels were high but not spate, 2.05m on the Erwood gauge which promised good paddling but fewer features, unfortunately for Tony on his first proper river trip and needing a few eddies to practice breaking into and out of. Instead he got plenty of practice with big waves. The killer wave 100 yards down from Builth bridge was miraculously avoided by all and we enjoyed playing in and surfing the many…

On the 8th of December eleven enthusiastic Nomads led by Matt braved the cold and wind to travel to Hertford to paddle the river Lea. Such was Ian's enthusiasm he couldn't wait to get to the normal put in and persuaded us to launch alpine style into the ditch next to the car park leading down to the Lea, which went without incident. Once on the Lea proper we grouped up by Herts canoe club to paddle the short stretch in glorious if cold sunshine with a kingfisher down to the first weir. Needless to say it was impossible to contain Martin, but the rest of us also enjoyed some ferry gliding and, for the more experienced, some playing in the stopper. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM4rIJipods Before everyone else got too fed up…

https://youtu.be/VXNah3O7oUs Thanks to Ian for leading this exciting looking trip to the Dee finally, due to the Conway, Llugwy and Tryweryn not running. More details to follow shortly from Fane ... Thanks Ian for the excellent video.

On Sunday 10th of November nine Nomads led by Matt, assisted by Ian and Martin and including Elisabeth and Debbie on their first trip with the club drove to the bottom of Cassiobury park in Watford to explore the river Gade on it's way to the aquadrome. The weather forecast for drizzle proved wrong and it was nice and sunny and not too cold as we put onto the Gade after the safety briefing. We'd barely passed under the A412 before encountering the first of many argumentative trees that day, which yielded to Ian's manual pruning to let us pass. As we passed along the side of Croxley business park we met a number of central European looking fishermen who greeted us politely, evidently keen to pull something out of…