England, Fun, Water sports

Thames Source to London Stand Up Paddleboarding Trip – 20 Questions and Answers

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THIS THAMES SOURCE TO LONDON STAND UP PADDLEBOARDING BLOG POST IS BASED ON MY VERY LIMITED PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. I AM NO EXPERT. PLEASE DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE YOUR TRIP. Paddleboarding, like all things in life, can be dangerous. Several people died paddleboarding on rivers in the UK this year. That said, a very large multiple died in bed or crossing the street. So don’t be put off. Doing a Thames source to London stand up paddleboarding trip is a lot of fun and it can be done safely. My buddy Markmeister and I have recently completed our Thames Source to London Stand Up Paddleboarding Trip. We split it into three legs. The first leg was four days in blistering heat in July. The second leg was three rainy days in September. The last leg was one and a half days in October with both air and water temperature just […]

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Fun, Water sports

Canoeing on the Basingstoke Canal near London with ‘Go London’

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A few weeks ago Ellie & I went canoeing on the Basingstoke Canal near London with Colin from Go London. The experience takes about 4 hours, including 3 hours on the water. It costs a very reasonable £40. We were joined by two friends of ours and about 10 other outdoor enthusiasts. The train from Waterloo to Ash Vale takes 50 minutes. From there it’s another 30 minutes’ walk to the Canal Café in Mytchett. Canal Etiquette Colin and his partner had already off-loaded the canoes, prepared the swim vests, dry bags, and paddles. Only a couple of people in our group had done some proper canoeing before. Most had never done any paddling. Luckily our instructor made everyone feel at ease right away, cracking a few jokes here and there. We learned a bit about safety, canal etiquette, the equipment, and paddling technique.    Getting the canoes to the […]

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London

Buckingham Palace Gardens – London’s biggest private garden will be open for picnics

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[Last update 30 Sept 2021.] Since last week and for another two weeks, those, that were lucky enough to grab tickets (sold out now), were able to check out Buckingham Palace Gardens. London’s biggest private garden stretches over 39 acres and keeps 11 full-time gardeners and various contractors busy. From July it will be open to the paying public for picnics and walks (£16.50, discounts available). The only way to access the gardens today was by booking a tour. 90 minutes for a tour around a garden did not sound attractive to me, but I was hoping to be able to take some nice pictures, so did get myself a ticket. An ancient institution You realise quite quickly that you’re dealing with an institution that has been around for hundreds of years and one that isn’t known to be an ‘early adopter’. You have to print out the tickets. Neither […]

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Activities, Fun, Water sports

Open Water Swimming at West Reservoir Centre, Stoke Newington

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A few weeks ago, I’ve decided to pick up open water long-distance swimming [30.07.2021 update: I’ve since completed several long-distance swimming events, but in my mind attempting the 10km Hever Castle Endurance event was the highlight so far, even though I dropped out after 6km]. This is why I started to check out open water swimming venues in and around London. I ended up at West Reservoir Centre in Stoke Newington. Open water swimming? Basically swimming. When I grew up in Germany, my buddies and I would always go wild swimming in rivers and lakes, often several times a week, twice a day during summer. My parents grew up in the Bavarian town of Passau, at the confluence of the mighty Danube, the Inn, and the Ilz rivers. When they were 10 or 11 years old, they swam across the Danube with their big brothers and sisters, zigzagging between the […]

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Fun, London, Water sports

Jetski Safari in Poole – Proper Adrenaline Rush

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During Ms B’s and my recent weekend stay at the New Forest, we only spent the first day (and night) in the New Forest, and took the train to Poole on the following day, because we had booked ourselves into a jetski adventure with Jetski Safaris. We had initially planned on doing the jetski ride together, but the water outside the harbour area was partially fairly rough that morning and many of the activities on offer had already been cancelled, so Ms B gave it a miss and did a cake and muffin safari instead. The instruction video was followed by a few more bits of guidance from our instructor, and then we were on our way walking the 5mins from the boat shack to the jetskis. I was slightly nervous, because it had been so long since I last rode a jetski (in the Maldives in 2010, where the […]

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