Well what a surprisingly good weekend, and, dare I say it, not a kayak in sight.

The group consisted of Geoff, George, Frazer, Lewis and me, Tony.  The plan was to spend 2 nights wild camping on Coniston, do a trip and learn some canoe 3 star skills.

 We arrived at Rigg Wood car park on Friday evening.  Loaded up the boats and paddled across to Torver common.  We set up camp on a pebble beach under a canopy of trees.  After a warm, still night we got up for breakfast.  In the morning Geoff had planned that we paddle up to Bluebird Cafe for a brew.  His boast was that on previous trips they managed to get to the cafe before it opened at 10am.  Well he hadn't had the Hopwood's on any of his previous trips, and there were 3 of us.  Our need for a lie in and a bacon and egg butty before we start the day is a family tradition.  We managed to get to the cafe for about 11.30am for a quick brew (we were paddling into a head wind so not all our fault)  before paddling up to the northern end of Coniston for Lunch.

 Since we had been paddling into a head wind, that meant that we could set up sail and use the tail wind to take us south down the lake.  We set up a 5 boat raft.  One boat in front, with 2 behind it, and 2 more behind those.  Once we set off we just let the wind take us all the way to Peel island where we got the Trangia and Kelly Kettle out for another brew.  Once rested, we set sail again until we got to the southern end of Coniston, at the start of the River Crake.

We then paddled back to our starting point for our second nights camp, into a fairly strong head wind that caused a few problems for the less experienced paddlers.

After setting up camp, we cooked a meal and got a fire going.

We woke up in the morning to bright sunshine and after breakfast we broke camp and paddled back to the carpark to unload all our gear.  We spent the next few hours doing 3 star skills, finishing with capsize and re-entry skills.  We finished with another brew before packing up and going home.

I wouldn't say I am an open boat convert, but they do have an advantage over kayaks with somethings....  In kayaks you have to make your lunch and stuff it in to your kayak, and your butties are always squashed when you get them out. In opens you have everything with you so you stop, get the kettle out, make your sandwiches and put your feet up.

Thanks to Geoff for organising the trip and both George and Geoff for their good company.

Have a look at some of the images here 

Tony, Frazer and Lewis