Any canoeists on here?

[Chris71]

I've been toying with the idea of taking up canoeing in some form for ages and decided to finally do something about it!

One of the main things is I'd like to get my girlfriend (who's a bit nervous on water) involved, and over the weekend I managed to coax her into a (hired) Canadian canoe for a few hours. The aim initially is to find somewhere we could get some training and have a bit of fun touring around in an open canoe (maybe explore a few local rivers and so on) and then maybe try kayaking later on.

So, can anyone give us any tips?

We're in North London and there seem to be a couple of clubs in the South Herts area, but mainly orientated more towards the white water side (which I'm quite keen to have a go at, but can't see the OH being keen!)

Also, looking ahead a little, and bearing in mind this is a car forum, how easy is it to transport the various types of canoe? I suppose a one-man kayak can be transported on top of virtually anything, but presumably a 2+ person Canadian canoe needs a fairly lofty estate?

[Chris71]

metro lover said:

they're all pretending to be dead

I get the distinct impression that's a reference to something I don't know about (not an uncommon feeling to be fair).

[Chris71]

pablo said:

i believe its a reference to the bloke who faked his death and went off to panama with his wife and screwed the life insurance company.

not a canoeist myself, but i really fancy the idea of a sea kayak holiday, there were dpozens of them in the adriatic when we went to croatia last year and it looked like such a good way of island touring. maybe somethihng of the west coast of scotland is easy to achieve but the adriatic was so nice!...

Doh! That'd be it.

For me I quite like the idea of touring rivers. I know the rights of access make it easier said than done, but I think it would be quite fun paddling along the waterways of England. White water looks fun to, but there's no way I could persuade the missus along for that one!