This is the reason I love living in Carlisle. We finished moving some stuff from house to house and then decided to take the kayaks down into the lake district, 45 minutes later and we were unloading the boats from the van, not many cities in the country where you can do that.

One of my friends offered me the use of his 2 kayaks that he bought a while ago and has never had the chance to use them, so I took him up on it. Proud, Grave and me took to the water after helping a chap from huddersfield carry his dingy down to the water front (turned out he owned one of the boats in front of Sharrow Bay).

Onto the water and then a mission over to the other side, then a stop in the middle for a chat, then back over to the old chaps boat (Laurence was his name!) We got chatting and he asked us if we fancied a coffee or tea, so jumped aboard (and didn’t fall in!) got cold, jumped back in the kayaks and sat in the van for half an hour using my new stove to make a few brews! Winner! I think I will be going kayaking a lot more in the future, it is good fun and quite a good social activity.

Sidenote: Long Kayaks do not fit in short wheelbase transporters!