I've not been out with my boat for about 5 months, so it was a real pleasure to finally get her back out yesterday.
I managed to get my elder brother to go along too, or it would have been virtually impossible for me to manhandle the boat on and off the car myself.
We parked at Glencoyne NT car park, a mile or two up from Glenridding on Ullswater, then crossed the road to put the boat in.
it was looking a bit iffy, weather wise but un daunted, we were soon off and away, into the stiffening breeze.
We stooged around the lake, getting back into the swing of things, ending up at Silver Bay on the eastern shore, where we stopped for a bite and a brew.
Then I had a bit of a solo paddle for a few minutes.
The weather began to pick up a bit and it actually got out quite nice for a while.
I often bleat on about how good this boat is but as far as plastic (polythene) boats go, you simply will not get, a better boat, at any price.
Put her on edge and she zips along, and handles like a feather on the water.
ONLY drawback? The same as any polythene boat: the weight! 38kg's + but as I say, if you can't afford a Royalex boat and don't want an Apache glass fibre one, this is the boat to buy.
We hung around for about an hour or so then set off again, just paddling gently and then drifting with the breeze or riding the wake from the ferries ( particularly good fun)
We eventually made our way back down and across the lake and were about half way back to the put in, when we spotted the first open boat, other than mine, that we had seen all day;
It turned out to be a little Sevylor "canyon" inflatable which, given the breezy conditions, was making surprisingly easy headway
We caught them up and had a quick chat, about boats and how impressed we were with their progress etc.
Then we set off again, taking a few pictures of the wild(?) daffodils,
in this picture;
our lad is wearing a shark sports, lightweight waterproof coverall, I had one too, as he had come across a few at a closing down sale, somewhere on his travels and had grabbed a few bargains!
They really are excellent pieces of kit, with neoprene collar and cuffs and totally wind and water (splash/rain) proof. They aren't a dry suit as such but offer great protection against the unavoidable splashes as you paddle and the water that tends to build up in the bottom of the boat.
All too soon, that was that, we unloaded the boat, packed the car, chucked the boat on the roof bars and off we went.
a brilliant way to blow the cobwebs away!
As a bit of a footnote; We were sitting having another bite to eat, after loading up, when two lads appeared, with a "sit on top" each. They appeared to be soaked through and very cold too and I couldn't help but wonder; "what on earth, is the attraction of these things??"
It took two of them to get the things on their roof rack, so it cant be the light weight that attracts people to these "craft".
Still..............
cheers
R.B.
I managed to get my elder brother to go along too, or it would have been virtually impossible for me to manhandle the boat on and off the car myself.
We parked at Glencoyne NT car park, a mile or two up from Glenridding on Ullswater, then crossed the road to put the boat in.
it was looking a bit iffy, weather wise but un daunted, we were soon off and away, into the stiffening breeze.
We stooged around the lake, getting back into the swing of things, ending up at Silver Bay on the eastern shore, where we stopped for a bite and a brew.
Then I had a bit of a solo paddle for a few minutes.
The weather began to pick up a bit and it actually got out quite nice for a while.
I often bleat on about how good this boat is but as far as plastic (polythene) boats go, you simply will not get, a better boat, at any price.
Put her on edge and she zips along, and handles like a feather on the water.
ONLY drawback? The same as any polythene boat: the weight! 38kg's + but as I say, if you can't afford a Royalex boat and don't want an Apache glass fibre one, this is the boat to buy.
We hung around for about an hour or so then set off again, just paddling gently and then drifting with the breeze or riding the wake from the ferries ( particularly good fun)
We eventually made our way back down and across the lake and were about half way back to the put in, when we spotted the first open boat, other than mine, that we had seen all day;
It turned out to be a little Sevylor "canyon" inflatable which, given the breezy conditions, was making surprisingly easy headway
We caught them up and had a quick chat, about boats and how impressed we were with their progress etc.
Then we set off again, taking a few pictures of the wild(?) daffodils,
in this picture;
our lad is wearing a shark sports, lightweight waterproof coverall, I had one too, as he had come across a few at a closing down sale, somewhere on his travels and had grabbed a few bargains!
They really are excellent pieces of kit, with neoprene collar and cuffs and totally wind and water (splash/rain) proof. They aren't a dry suit as such but offer great protection against the unavoidable splashes as you paddle and the water that tends to build up in the bottom of the boat.
All too soon, that was that, we unloaded the boat, packed the car, chucked the boat on the roof bars and off we went.
a brilliant way to blow the cobwebs away!
As a bit of a footnote; We were sitting having another bite to eat, after loading up, when two lads appeared, with a "sit on top" each. They appeared to be soaked through and very cold too and I couldn't help but wonder; "what on earth, is the attraction of these things??"
It took two of them to get the things on their roof rack, so it cant be the light weight that attracts people to these "craft".
Still..............
cheers
R.B.
