December has been a very decent end to a fantastic 2023, with some paddling with SUP Stratford Social and their brilliant Christmas lunch party as well as yoga, gym, hiking, Christmas do’s with various friends and my gym, a family Christmas and then a cottage in #hayonwye. We were hoping to paddle board on the Brecon and Monmouthshire canal and to hike the Brecon’s but it’s been a washout so we managed 3k in monsoon like heavy rain, and headed to the pub for mulled wine! Definitely one on the list though. I’m so grateful for my awesome friends and the stand up paddleboarding community for an awesome year and can’t wait for more SUP and adventures in 2024! Hope to see you there. Happy New Year 🥂🍾🥳
November was surprisingly busy as far as stand up paddling is concerned, I’ve bought dry trousers and 5mm neoprene boots so I can go out in all weather. @sup_chelmarsh organised a @starboardsupuk demo board day which was great fun and I went down to @thesupco in Southampton who also had a race board testing day… I don’t know how I’ve managed to resist buying a new board but I’m saving for a camper van at the moment so trying to be good! As well as paddle boarding I’m also doing #aerialyoga through winter, hiking lots as I live in the #malvernhills and I love my strength training and CrossFit classes in the early mornings to get me going for the day! Makes such a difference to my SUP strength, balance and endurance.
September was sunny and SUPer fun! The highlight was the #greatbigpaddleparade from Torquay to Brixham and yet another opportunity to meet and mix with some of my Instagram SUP heroes! Also paddled Gloucester docks for the first time courtesy of @sup_lifer and loved pulling up on our stand up paddle boards for a pint at one of the bars.
August was awesome, a chance to do other things than train for the endurance challenge, like #parkrun and #wildswimminguk, although I felt a bit lost to be honest, so we headed to #llangollen for #whitewatersupfest23 which was awesome! Did a beginners course and I loved it although I’m not sure I’d do it in fierce winter water! I also headed down to #henleyonthames for my first ever SUP race with @gowiththeflopaddleboarding and somehow got a place on the podium 🤩😂🥈with @yelttum92 and @bshaw_sups.
Huge thanks to @andyhal123 for introducing me to everyone, and to everyone there for being so welcoming!!
The biggest challenge, the biggest achievement and the biggest party was the @trent100k team endurance stand up@paddle board challenge (it’s not a race but we knocked 3.5 hours off last year’s time and got a very respectable rank in the team times!), which is also an awesome camp festival full of people like us who are SUP crazy and not afraid of a bit of hard stand up paddling… the best bit is always meeting all you Other SUPpers and as you can see I’m a shameless networker and SUPer sociable! 🤩🥳😂
My week in the Lakes span into June and the weather was so hot 🥵 it could have been the Med, especially when I paddled the length of Windermere, the largest lake, with @sup.loving.shilpa. @sjcoopey71 and I weren’t quite so lucky on Wastwater when the wind suddenly picked up but we enjoyed the challenge!
Fingers crossed for great weather again when I head back up in 2024! I’m hoping by then @jomoseley will have published her book about paddleboarding in the Lake Dustrict, we spent a day exploring Coniston together as you’ll see in this reel, and I can’t wait to go back, with her guide in my pack, to find more fab things to explore on and around the lakes. I wonder if @adventure_kirkbylad will be back next summer too?!
March madness - A fab weekend paddling on the Peak Forest canal, mud mud glorious mud on our runs and finding the best pub stops to warm up!
#outdoorenthusiast #adventureislife #getoutsidemore #lastwinter #winterfun❄️ #lovecold #winteroutdoors #winterpictures #takemeoutside #paddlegirl #inflatablepaddleboard #supfun #paddlesports #inflatablesup #instawater #paddleforever #lovetheskinyourin #midlifewoman #paddletime #livelovesup #paddlelove #supworld #ilovewater #paddleboards #supfamily #dontfallin
Apparently posting selfie reels in the gym is one of the most irritating things to do on social media, so sorry - not sorry!!! 😜 for this. Obviously the sound track is tongue in cheek 🦸🏻♀️😂. And I’m sure many of you can push press far more than 30kg, but it’s a PB 💪 for me (I started at 20 not so long ago) and I’m pretty happy about that! 😁🥳🤩Love the team spirit and encouragement @_risefitness, Debs @deb_powell13 who filmed this, like most of the rest of the gang, is awesomely strong but they all know you have to start somewhere and we celebrate each others’ achievements no matter how small. A few friends think it’s odd that I want to be strong, but I don’t think so at all. Quite apart from it really helping my endurance and balance in SUP, it’s so satisfying being able to lift things for myself and has a massive impact on my personal resilience, self belief and mental and emotional strength too. Plus it’s an investment in my future… What do you think? #thisgirlcan #WonderWomanWednesday #malvernhills #burnoutrecovery #strongereveryday
A perfect day for the Leamington Loop, an 8 mile paddle on the #grandunioncanal and the #riverleam around Leamington Spa. The great thing about a loop paddle is you start and end at the same place, so it’s very easy. We set off on the river, which wasn’t very fast flowing (so ideal for this time of year). This first section was lovely, tucked away from civilisation until the first portage. #supaddict ##paddlegirl #paddletime #supaddict #paddlesup #paddlesports #stand_up_paddle #paddleout #paddleboards #supadventure #paddleboarder #suptour #paddleforever #supuk #standuppaddleuk #suplove #suplife #seekadventure #exploreoutdoors #paddlelife #royalleamingtonspa #leamingtonspa #ilovewater #suptrip #starboard #paddleon #starboardsup #paddleboardingadventures
The sound of the rain was almost deafening, perhaps amplified by the silence of paddle boarding on this remote deserted glacial lake, surrounded by the misty mountains of the Canadian Rockies. . #therockies #albertacanada #rockies #discovercanada #visitcanada #travelcanada#lovetheoutdoors#exploreoutdoors#adventureislife#chooseadventure#banffnationalparkcanada#banffalbertacanada#banffcanada #alberta#rockymountainnationalpark#suplife#paddleboardingadventures#suptour #supadventure #wonderlust #livetoexplore #heavenonearth #livelovelife #beautifulsight #ilovewater #supaddict #rainlover #raindance #suptherockies #wildsup
The Iron Bridge, over the Gorge on the banks of the River Severn in Shropshire, UK is a 100-foot cast iron bridge built in 1779. It was the first of its kind, and is an important symbol of the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. It was spectacular to pass under it on our SUP adventure from Ironbridge to Bewdley by stand up paddle board. #paddleboardinguk #standuppaddleuk #supuk #SupAdventure #bridgnorth
So lucky to have this only an hour away. Perfect for a relaxing scenic paddle on a hot sunny day 😎😌🏰.
Wild Wastwater in the west of the Lake District is a slate black glacial lake in the shadow of Scafell Pike, with dramatic sliding scree slopes some 2000 feet long leading down to the water. It’s the deepest lake in England at about 260 feet and although small - only 3 miles long - it’s very exposed. Monday began as a lovely but then unexpectedly challenging paddle with Samantha Coopey. We headed to the bottom of the lake with a mild headwind, which promptly reversed direction as soon as we mounted our boards to head back. Suddenly we had unexpectedly strong winds, and bouncy, white tipped chop and we battled through the wind to get back to our starting point. (To the smart arses who say it looks pretty smooth in the pics, when you’re paddling hard in headwind and crosswind on open water in breaking waves you’re too busy to take pics of that part 😅). Thankfully we’re both strong experienced paddlers so we kind of enjoyed the challenge! Big thanks to Sam for being super welcoming and meeting me for a paddle 💙
Had a great day paddling the Wye from Brewardine Bridge to Hereford rowing club yesterday. It was a lovely warm day with quite a lot of sun, and a really beautiful stretch of river. There were patches of moving water in the shallows which add a bit of fun. I love that I feel so confident crossing them these days, thanks to being a more experienced stand up paddle-boarder and my balance being so much better now. That’s the strength training paying off, I have a much stronger core. There are plenty of natural beaches which provide scenic lunch stops, we always #leavenotrace.I’m super sociable and enjoy getting to know more people who share my passion for SUP. On this occasion I tagged along with @sup__sweat_and_cheers, @ursula_beck and @gilllegras who were very welcoming and great company. They’re preparing for their Great Glen Way adventure in a few weeks’ time - so excited for them and of course it was a chance for me to reminisce my own trip last year and share some tips. Although to be honest I think they have it all covered!Our end point was @herefordrowingclub, they’re super friendly and you can park for £5 a day plus a £1.50 landing fee. They have overnight camping too if you want to do a multi-night Wye paddle - that’s definitely on my list.Their clubhouse was perfect for a post paddle pint, although mine was a G&T!
Had a great day paddling the Wye from Brewardine Bridge to Hereford rowing club yesterday.
It was a lovely warm day with quite a lot of sun, and a really beautiful stretch of river. There were patches of moving water in the shallows which add a bit of fun. I love that I feel so confident crossing them these days, thanks to being a more experienced stand up paddle-boarder and my balance being so much better now. That’s the strength training paying off, I have a much stronger core.
There are plenty of natural beaches which provide scenic lunch stops, we always #leavenotrace.
I’m super sociable and enjoy getting to know more people who share my passion for SUP. On this occasion I tagged along with @sup__sweat_and_cheers, @ursula_beck and @gilllegras who were very welcoming and great company. They’re preparing for their Great Glen Way adventure in a few weeks’ time - so excited for them and of course it was a chance for me to reminisce my own trip last year and share some tips.
Although to be honest I think they have it all covered!
Our end point was @herefordrowingclub, they’re super friendly and you can park for £5 a day plus a £1.50 landing fee. They have overnight camping too if you want to do a multi-night Wye paddle - that’s definitely on my list.
Their clubhouse was perfect for a post paddle pint, although mine was a G&T!
#riverwye #standuppaddleuk #visitherefordshire #shepaddles #suptour #standuppaddleboarding
Our first SUP adventure of 2023, on the Peak Forest Canal. To keep things simple, we did a 20k out-and-back route from Bugsworth Basin.With views opening up to the rolling landscape of the Peak District, it was a really stunning route, with a number of swing bridges that are really fun to pass under, it was a good chance to engage my core and practice my plank and so much easier than a portage. We were so lucky with the weather as it felt decidedly spring-like, right until the last leg home when the heavens opened and we were glad to work on our racing pace in training for the Trent 100k stand up paddle boarding team endurance challenge in July. I’ve mentioned before that canals are great for training as you have to earn every metre of distance, so our 5k pace would easily be much faster on the flow of a river. Thankfully we’d all brought food and drink with us, which was just as good since there were no pubs at all on the route. Everyone we passed on narrowboats and walking, running of cycling along the path was super friendly and happy to pass the time of day. From their comments, paddle boarders much be quite rare on the canal, although we did pass one friendly SUP-per on the way back. #peakdistrictnationalpark #canallife #peakdistrictphotography #springiscoming #paddleboardinguk #standuppaddleuk
Paddling through The Backs of Clare College and Kings library on the River Cam in Cambridge. Think I mentioned previously that we had to get up really early before the Punts, that Cambridge is so well known for, took over the water.
Been playing with a few new techniques for Reels… this one’s a bit edgy but it kinda works - what do you think?
#supuk #makelifefun #cambridgeuniversity #outdoorsygirls
