St Patrick’s Stream Trip Report & Video

News, Trip, Trip Reports
On Sunday 11th December, 8 slightly insane Nomads arrived at the St George and Dragon Pub in Wargrave on a frosty & foggy morning, with Pierre having negotiated the use of their car park and launch area.  The air temperature was around -2°C and the water temperature approx. 0.000001°C above freezing.  Participants were Dave Hillier, Chris Harper, Nigel Atkinson, Graham Summers, Sue & Pierre Leon, Hannah Smith (aka Santa) and Nathan Ashford. After everyone kitting up in as many layers as possible Dave provided the safety briefing and Graham a brisk warm-up on the bank.  We then keenly got on the water to start our journey, heading upstream along the Thames in the direction of Reading.  Santa had a few “glove issues” but after a few rounds of glove swapping…
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River Thames Section 9a – Reading to Wargrave – Trip Report & Video

Event, News, Trip, Trip Reports
Thames Section 9a Trip Report - Friday 25th November 2022 6.2 miles/10 km downstream, Reading to Wargrave with a side paddle along St. Patrick’s stream. Because of the reduced daylight it was decided to split the Section 9 trip Reading to Aston (Paddle the Thames, Mark Rainsley) into two trips with a break at Wargrave. We also took the option to paddle St. Patrick’s Stream.Paddlers: Dave Hillier (Trip Leader), Pierre Leon (Route Planner), Chris Harper (Consultant), John Murray, Phill Gent (with doggie guests FiFi and Coco), Nigel Atkinson, Dean Edwards, Conrad, Sue Leon (Report Writer)We gathered and unloaded on the road outside the Wokingham Waterside Centre (RG6 1PQ) which had been the get-out point of our Section 8 trip. Although there are restrictions for parking here before 10 am we…
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Basingstoke Canal Trip Report & Video

Event, News, Trip, Trip Reports
Basingstoke Canal 13-11-22This was a round trip, 7km each way, starting at the Mytchett Canal Centre and turning around at Ash Lock. Paddlers Dave Hillier (Leader), Pierre and Sue Leon, Nathan, Jai, John Murray, Phill Gent and Coco and Fifi. This stretch of the Basingstoke Canal is more like a river than a canal; as it morphs into lakes and slowly meanders its way through the Surrey and Hampshire countryside. It was a most picturesque paddle especially with the autumnal colours, as leaves of yellow, red, brown and black fell from the trees onto the water like rain. The put in point was the Mytchett Canal Centre where Dave did his safety talk and we all limbered up by mimicking chickens; fortunately, we were more or less alone. The weather…
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River Wey Trip Report

Event, Trip, Trip Reports, Uncategorized
On Sunday 11th September, 8 Nomads arrived at the Rowbarge pub near Guildford in Surrey for a day’s paddling and exploring of the River Wey and a sidewater. Led by Dave Hillier and ably assisted by Graham Summers this was a placid water paddle of 9 miles upstream and back, with a looping backwater just before our planned lunch stop. We arrived in good time, well I say we, I mean six of us did, two turned up a little later in a convertible beetle with the roof down looking a bit windswept but pointing out they were not as late as Amie last time. We were aiming to be on the water for 10am, so at 10.15am we started our safety briefing, we also felt the need to take…
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River Tryweryn Trip Report

Event, News, Trip, Trip Reports
On Friday 19th August, 5 Nomad paddlers (Conrad, Ian, Martin, Nick and Nigel) set off for Wales to paddle the Tryweryn over the next couple of days. For those who left early on the Friday there was the opportunity for a quick warm up at Mill End Falls on the river Dee which also also gave Nigel a chance to try his new kayak. In the evening we all met up to eat and plan Saturday’s paddle on the Tryweryn. The Tryweryn is split into 2 sections, the Upper River and the Lower River. The Upper River is roughly 2km of grade 3 rapids and runs alongside the National White Water Centre. The Lower section begins below the centre alongside Tyn Cornel campsite and continues with grade 2-3 rapids for…
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Cow Roast to Wendover via the Grand Union Canal Trip Report

Event, News, Trip, Trip Reports
On Sunday 14th August, 11 Nomads ably led by Dave set off on a sunny Sunday paddle from Berkhamsted to Wendover, covering roughly 8 miles. Temperatures were once again in the high 20's and everyone was well armed with hydration and a tasty packed lunch (apart from Jai who barely had a morsel). The majority of the group rocking the new Ainsworth paddles and loving them!! We set off a behind schedule, all thanks to Amie arriving nearly 30 minutes late and delaying the start of the safety briefing and warm up. We eventually hit the water just after 10.30am and set off with the Wendover arm as our stopping point. The trip saw John hit the water in his snazzy new kayak and new Nomad's Hannah and Alexa paddle…
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Hertford Lea Loop Trip Report

News, Trip, Trip Reports, Uncategorized
On Sunday 5th June, eight Nomad paddlers met in a Hertford at 10am to paddle the Hertford Lea loop. All were prepared for wet weather but fortunately we escaped the rain. Prior to launching, Ian and Chris spoke to some paddlers at the nearby Herts Canoe Club to try and gain some local knowledge from local paddlers who were also just about to paddle the same route. We then launched right outside Herts Canoe Club, all except Tony & Rafael who decided to paddle the lead in and launched a bit further upstream. After launching, we headed downstream on the River Lea towards the River Beane and played in Hartham Weir along the way, the first and easiest two step weir of the day. Although, whilst arsing about Rafael did…
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Middle Wye Trip Report

Middle Wye Trip Report

Trip, Trip Reports
On the last weekend in February, braving the low temperatures, three members and an ex-member of Nomads set off to mid Wales to run the middle section of the Wye from Builth Wells down to Glasbury, including the infamous 'Hell Hole' rapid at Erwood. Arriving late friday afternoon we went straight to the Hell Hole to inspect river conditions, before checking into the luxury River Cafe B&B at Glasbury, which was also our get out. The river level was just about perfect  (an inch over the bases of the bridge piers at Glasbury) high enough to make the Hell Hole a grade 3 rapid and cover the slabs the whole width of the river, but not spate levels, which make a dangerous river wide stopper. Satisfied with the prospects for…
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Upcoming Events and Courses

Upcoming Events and Courses

Courses, Trip
Hi All The second half of the year promises to be quite busy with a number of trips and courses in the pipeline. The following are some of the "bigger" items in the calendar, but are by no means the only activities going on. We have many active members paddling throughout the year, so if anyone wants to get more involved or if you do not see a trip that is suitable, please just ask at the club. Trip specific details i.e. travel arrangements, accommodation etc. will generally be sent out 7-10 days before the event. All events will be in the events section of the Recreational Facebook page. 9/10 August 2014 - Dee / Tryweryn Trip Trip to the Dee (Saturday) and the Tryweryn (Sunday) with Nick. The trip…
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River Ivel Trip Report

River Ivel Trip Report

Reports, Trip, Trip Reports
On Saturday the 24th of June Nomads Kayak Club took a trip to Bedfordshire, at the River Ivel. The journey up there was a long and painful one as Jenny’s car only managed to reach 40 mph on the motorway. After about an hour and a half we did reach the drop off point where we dumped the stuff and I was left looking after the kids and boats, which was highly amusing with the ideas we were coming up with to lose the adults’ boats (one was to take their boats and leave ours so they couldn’t fit, then we realised they had Arthur…). Once we they came back and much to their dismay we were still there, we all jumped in our boats and seal launched* down the…
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