Learn to canoe this summer

Posted on June 28, 2010 @ 5:20 PM in

Learning to canoe in Northern Ireland couldn’t really be easier.  We are essentially surrounded by water; almost every house in Northern Ireland is within a few miles of a waterway whether it is the coast line, rivers or expansive loughs.

Couple this with a vast array of qualified canoeing providers and you have all the vital ingredients to learn this exciting sport during the summer.

Before you dash down to your local outdoor shop and buy all the gear let’s just take one small step at a time. As with any outdoor activity there is an element of risk but this is vastly reduced if you know what you are doing. 

Try it

Although most of you will have tried out canoeing whilst on schools trips or with youth clubs etc, it is best to start with a quick refresher.

So to begin with a ‘Have a Go’ session with your local canoeing provider is the best place to start.  These are typically 1.5 – 2 hour sessions on flat water; you will be grouped together with people of a similar ability and taught some basic techniques by a qualified instructor.  They will also supply all the necessary equipment; boat, paddle, wetsuit and buoyancy aid.

Here are some of the top activity providers offering ‘Have a Go’ sessions over the next few weeks:

 

Paddle Power for Adults

Clearsky Adventure Centre, Castle Ward Estate, Downpatrick, Co Down

Especially designed kayaking sessions for beginners on the beautiful Strangford Lough. No experience is necessary.
Takes place on evenings: 7pm-9pm. Pre booking is essential.
All specialist equipment & instruction is provided.

From £36pp

Every Saturday Go Canoeing

Mobile Team Adventure Shaw’s Bridge, Belfast

Held every Saturday (except July Fortnight) on the peaceful Lagan in the middle of Belfast’s parklands. Just turn up - no need to book!

9 - 11 AM Splash! Kids session (kids only)
2 - 4 PM Family open session - everyone welcome. Children (under 15) must be accompanied by an adult. (16+)
4.30 - 6.30 PM Adults open session (16+ only)

From £10pp children £15pp adults

Share Summer Extravaganza

Share Holiday Village, Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh

SUMMER EXTRAVAGANZA 2010 is the exciting and innovative summer activity programme available for visitors to Fermanagh and Lough Erne.

The programme offers regular canoeing and kayaking sessions ranging from 1-2 hours.

From £7.50pp

Summer Sessions: Canoeing

Action Outdoors, Delamont Country Park, Killyleagh County Down

Spend some time on Strangford Lough, learning a few strokes and enjoying the scenery. An ideal family activity.
From £10pp

This is by no means an exhaustive list so check out our canoeing events section to find a ‘Have a Go’ session near you.

 

Learn it

I have no doubt that you will enjoy whichever ‘Have a Go’ session you try so the next step is to sign up for a course so you can take your skills to the next level. 

Courses can range from one day, weekend or one evening a week for six weeks.  Joining in with a group of like minded people is not only a fantastic way to learn, it is great fun and an excellent way to make new friends.

Again you will be provided with all of the necessary equipment and taught all the essential skills such as paddling in a straight line, turning, stopping and capsize recovery.

Here are some of the top activity providers for learning how to canoe this summer.

 

Introduction to Canoe / Kayak Skills

Activities Ireland, Belfast

This 2 day non-residential course will give you all the necessary skills to be able to paddle a canoe or Kayak safely and enjoy the local waterways.  You will also work towards and receive a nationally recognised, Canoe Association of Northern Ireland, certificate.

From £65pp

Improvers Paddle Power

Clearsky Adventure Centre, Castle Ward Estate, Downpatrick, Co Down

For those with that little bit of experience, try out a range of modern crafts on the water and progress your skills.

From £49pp

 

6 Week Kayaking Course

Mobile Team Adventure, Shaw’s Bridge, Belfast

6 Tuesday evenings from 27^th July – 31^st August learning how to kayak on the River Lagan.

From £85pp

 

 

Taking it further

Once you have ‘graduated’ from your course then Northern Ireland has so much to offer.

You can take trips on one of Northern Ireland's Canoe Trails, with five currently on offer and with three more arriving in the spring you’ll be spoilt for choice.

The Canoe Association of Northern Ireland (CANI)  is well worth joining.  Among the many benefits you can avail of their recreational paddler which are really well organised, great social weekends, exploring Northern Ireland’s Canoe Trails.    

Perfect Family Canoeing Holiday in Northern Ireland

Posted on April 21, 2010 @ 5:05 PM in

Robbie from Scotand  tells us about his Easter canoeing trip with his family on the Lough Erne Canoe Trail ...

A frosty January night in Lochwinnoch........

Robbie: Stef, do you fancy a paddling holiday at Easter?

Stef: OK, providing there's plenty of fun stuff for the kids to do too.

Robbie: I've found a beautiful cottage owned by keen canoeists where we can paddle from the end of the garden. Will I go ahead and book it?

Stef: Sounds good. Where is it?

Robbie: Fermanagh in Northern Ireland.

Stef: Whit!

So started the planning for our Easter holiday on and around Upper Lough Erne, one of Britain's most beautiful spots that couldn't be better for family paddling. Given the fabulous canoeing opportunities we've had around Scotland, this is no small compliment.

We stayed at Cygnet Lodge, a self-catering cottage owned by Dawn and Robert Livingstone, on the shores of Upper Lough Erne, between Lisnaskea and Derrylin. The house was 2 hours from the ferry terminal in Larne and proved to be everything we hoped for: great value, with all mod-cons and a huge garden for the boys to play in.

The best thing though was that we could paddle from the jetty at the end of the garden, so we didn't need to bother with any loading and unloading onto the car when we wanted to go out on the water.

Dawn and Robert proved to be great hosts (their house is close nearby to Cygnet Lodge) and were a font of knowledge about local paddling places, interesting things to do for both kids and grown-ups alike and the best local eateries. After a first stop to visit the amazing Marble Arch Caves in Florencecourt and a food shopping trip to Enniskillen (O'Doherty's butcher shop has to be seen to be believed ) we finally got the chance to get out on the water for an evening's paddle with some pals who'd joined us for a couple of days at the start of the holiday.

We were blessed with calm weather and clear blue skies all week that made the paddling a pleasure. We alternated between days out on the water and days out visiting local places of interest. Our longest paddling trip was down and back to the Crom Estate, a beautiful National Trust property less than 2 hours paddling each way from Cygnet Lodge.

We beached the canoe at the landing slipway and stopped for a while to explore the grounds of the estate. The kids thought the famous yew trees were fabulous for climbing - like something straight out of Harry Potter! The café just above the slipway there was a great find and was just what we needed to fill up hungry children.



After lunch we headed back out onto the water for the return trip back up the Lough. We couldn't resist having a look around the Crichton Tower, a folly on Gad Island near the Crom Estate. We found that the threat of marooning the kids in the 'haunted' tower ensured their perfect behaviour for the rest of the day.

The return trip up the Lough was just as beautiful. We were treated to the sight of Great Crested Grebes performing their elaborate mating dances. The real surprise was the great hospitality we received from the members of the Hare Krishna community on Inis Rath, an island on the Lough, when we stopped there for a break. Fabulous custodians of a fantastic island!

A great highlight of the trip was doing a self-guided geology tour around Cuilcagh Mountain that straddles the border between Fermanagh in Northern Ireland and Cavan in the Republic of Ireland. The boys thought that the Drumod Sulphur Spa in Swanlinbar was great, mostly because it smelled like they do a couple of hours after dinner of beans on toast!

Ireland is a bastion of common sense where Health & Safety hasn't ruined the fun of adventure. This became evident when we explored Pollnagollum Cave near Boho. With head-torches on, we explored 200 metres into the cave - very Indiana Jones! Turning off the torches to experience total darkness and see whose nerve cracks first was great (the answer was of course 'Little Miss Feartie' as mummy was christened!).



The day on / day off the water continued as the week progressed. We had a great paddle north of the Lady Craigavon Bridge to explore the other end of Upper Lough Erne. We were most impressed by the courtesy of other water users. All the drivers of powered craft slowed down to a crawl as they passed us and the fishermen all gave us a cheery wave - how different from the experienced often recounted by canoeists on the Song of the Paddle website.

A great high point of the holiday was a full day in Enniskillen. A beautiful wee town with great shops, great eateries and lots to see and do. If you're ever there then a tour of the castle is an absolute must.

A favourite activity for our boys each evening was catching minnows off the jetty at the cottage. Dad decided to get in on the act and got the shock of his life when Percy the Pike leapt onto the hook!

So, would we go back? Definitely!

Would we recommend staying at one of Robert and Dawn's Lough-side properties? Certainly!

Would we recommend taking the time to explore Fermanagh and paddling Upper Lough Erne? Absolutely!

We'll certainly be back.

Paddlefest – a whole new world

Posted on March 23, 2010 @ 9:36 AM in

I discovered a whole new world of canoeing a few weekends ago via the Canoe Association of Northern Ireland (CANI).  You have to understand that is a very embarrassing statement for me considering I have worked very closely with key staff from CANI for the past few years.

 

To further the embarrassment I was previously a qualified Level 2 canoe coach and a fully signed up member of the aforementioned organisation. But enough of the confession and back to the whole new world.

 

Over the weekend 13^th & 14^th March I was at the Share Holiday Village in Co.Fermanagh for CANI’s annual ‘Paddlefest’ event.  I had always wrongly assumed that this was for the elite paddlers refining their well honed skills and that attendance by a mere mortal like me would be a waste of time. 

 

However on arrival it quickly became clear that the event was certainly not full of world beating paddlers.  This is not meant to be derogatory to those in attendance but rather as an encouragement for those, who like me, previously have not attended the event before to get along next year.

 

Paddlefest is CANI's annual paddlesport event to bring paddlers of all ages and abilities together to enjoy our sport. It is open to all abilities and disciplines and provides the choice to either develop existing skills or try a new discipline.    

The theme of this year’s event was flat water paddle sport and what better location than the Share Holiday Village, Ireland’s largest activity centre and situated on the shores of Upper Lough Erne.  The centre is actually a designated access point on the award winning Lough Erne Canoe Trail.

 

The sessions were delivered by top class coaches from across the United Kingdom and Ireland with intriguing titles such as:

 ‘Ray Goodwin – Open Boat King’

‘Nick Cunliffe – Sea Kayaking Legend’

‘Jim Morrissey – Marathon racer and expedition paddler’

 

However the session titles were much less daunting and very pragmatic.  For example

 ‘Turning your canoe’

‘Fundamentals of paddlesport’

‘Tandem open boat skills’

 can hardly be classed as elite sessions, in fact they are essential for people like me.  The weekend was rounded off with an opportunity to get out and explore with a trip on a section of the Lough Erne Canoe Trail on Sunday morning.

 

The on the water sessions were also accompanied by enlightening talks ashore, what can only be described as an ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ of new canoes, kayaks, clothing as associated equipment; and of course plenty of fun and games in the bar in the evening.

 

 

The event was certainly not intimidating, in fact it was the opposite and I would encourage paddlers to get along next year.  You don’t have to be a CANI member, although that will be strongly encouraged and with a full calendar of recreational trips being planned by CANI along the canoe trails for the summer then annual membership certainly seems an attractive option.

Getting out on Northern Ireland's Canoe Trails

Posted on February 24, 2010 @ 12:11 PM in

Getting out on Northern Ireland’s Canoe Trails

Northern Ireland was the first country in Europe to develop official canoe trails. CanoeNI.com has been delighted with the success of these trails as not only have they won awards – most importantly they have attracted people from all over the world.

But don’t just take our opinion. Following the launch of the Strangford Lough Canoe Trail in July 2008, Canoe and Kayak Magazine UK described Northern Ireland as ‘one of the must go canoeing destinations in Europe.’

Other advocates include:

 BBC Countryfile Magazine 

 The Independent Newspaper

 Canoeists on Song of the Paddle Forum 

 

If this is not inspiration enough then each trail has its own section on CanoeNI.com with trail guides, camping details, accommodation, canoe hire etc.

 

But how do you make Northern Ireland your ultimate canoeing experience?

How you venture out onto the canoe trails obviously depends on your canoeing ability but don’t worry there are plenty of options:

 

Learn from the best…

 

If you are interested in getting out and enjoying the canoe trails but don’t know one end of a canoe from the other then why not take some lessons.  Northern Ireland has a great range of canoeing providers  who can teach you all the necessary skills so you can make the most of future canoeing adventures.  Even if you want to just have a go before embarking on a course then why not check out our calendar of canoeing events  which can give you that perfect introduction.

 

Follow the leader…

 

If you don’t have the time for lessons or you’re just mad keen to get out there then why not sign up for a guided trip.  This option allows you to combine the local knowledge and safety provided by a qualified guide.  These trips can be booked by individuals joining together as a group or why not get your friends or family together.  Quite often these trips involve a night camping under the stars. Check out our range of day and short breaks. 

 

Just add water…

 

Maybe you already know how to canoe but don’t want the hassle of organising the trip.  Then contact a canoeing provider who can arrange an itinerary, rent equipment, drop off and collection.  All you have to do is turn up and start your adventure. The majority of providers will ask for a minimum British Canoe Union Three Star Award (or equivalent) for the craft you wish to hire.  Alternatively many will carry out a short pre-hire practical test.

 

Go it alone…

 

If you’ve got the knowledge and the gear then CanoeNI.com will provide all the information you need to plan your trip.  Each trail also has its own waterproof guide which can be ordered free online.

 

With so many options available why not explore one of our canoe trails this year. Each canoe trail is unique and will allow you explore a different part of Northern Ireland’s spectacular countryside.

Lough Erne Canoe Trail – What an Adventue

Posted on January 8, 2010 @ 5:54 PM in

Ashley Hunter – Coaching and Development Manager, Canoe Association of Northern Ireland shares his experiences of a four day trip on the Lough Erne Canoe Trail

 

Crom Estate to Trory –28 Miles 4 Day Trip

Having lived away from County Fermanagh for a number of years I could not wait to return along with some friends from University to spend a few days paddling on the Lough Erne Canoe Trail in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.  

As we only had four days available we decided to explore Upper Lough Erne – the smaller and more sheltered of the two lakes to the south of the main county town of Enniskillen.  The aim of trip was not to cover as many miles as possible but to enjoy what this beautiful part of the world has to offer – no better way than in our two open canoes. The Lough Erne Canoe Trail guide and www.canoeni.com made planning the trip easy.

 

Day 1

Start Crom (GR 370 238) to Smith’s Strand (GR 342 294) 6 Miles (5 Hours)

We had stayed with my parents in Enniskillen for a night before driving south to our starting point at Crom Estate, which is actually one of the 10 Access Points along the trail. 

We started at around 10 a.m. launching from the slipway beside The National Trust Visitors Centre and as soon as we hit the water it was like going back in time.  Peace, natural beauty and any number of historic buildings – maintained by The National Trust.  We spent a few hours exploring these buildings and taking in the history of the area.  Crichton Tower on Gad Island, the 17^th century Crom Castle ruins (destroyed in a fire) and the 19^th century Crom Castle which is the private residence of Lord Erne can all be viewed from the Lough.  However our favourite feature was the 19^th Century boathouse, formerly the headquarters of the Lough Erne Yacht Cub.

The area was really captivating but it was time to move on.  Travelling north in very sheltered waters we made good time.  The area was quiet and unspoilt and we passed very few other water users. 

We paddled to our overnight stop at the Share Holiday Village at Smith’s Strand (GR 342 294).  The camping facilities were excellent and there was a great atmosphere around the site.  That evening were prepared a feast on our disposable BBQ topped up with chips from the centre’s Fish n’ Chip Shop.

 

Day 2

Start Share Holiday Village (GR 342 294) to Carrybridge (GR 295 375) 7 miles 5 hours

Determined to keep to our pledge to enjoy ourselves we booked onto a climbing wall activity session before we left.  Although when I was 30ft off the ground last nights beer didn’t seem like such a good idea.  After our adventurous start to the day we continued our trip north at about 12 p.m.  We were again treated by another beautiful day with calm conditions meaning the going was good, by travelling south to north we were also being helped by the flow of the from Upper to Lower Lough Erne – although the locals reckoned this was negligible at this time of year it was still of psychological benefit to us. 

We stopped at Naan Island (GR 302 319) for lunch – Upper Lough Erne has a vast array of Islands and the Canoe Trail Guide is useful as it indicates were all the jetties and slipways are.  Then we left the relative expanse of Upper Lough Erne and made our way along the river–like section. 

On arrival at Carrybridge we set up camp on the north side of the bridge and east side of the river (GR 295 375) as recommended by the Guide, had a quick wash in the toilet block and then crossed the bridge to sample the “craic” in the Carrybridge Hotel – well I did say we were here to enjoy ourselves!!  We had some pub grub and chatted with local and tourists.  The bar / restaurant is a popular stop for hire cruisers – a Dutch couple we spoke to had been returning to Fermanagh for the past 10 years!

 

Day 3 Carrybridge (GR 295 375) – Enniskillen (GR 231 440) 10 miles 7 hours     

We had an early start which maybe was not ideal considering the late finish to the night before.  We continued our journey northwards towards the County town of Enniskillen in really peaceful river like conditions.  About half way along our trip we stopped at Bellanaleck Jetty (GR 236 391).  We took a five minute walk to Bellaneleck village to buy lunch in the local shop.

After lunch we continued towards Enniskillen and our campsite which is based on Castle Island right in the heart of the town.  The island is managed by Life, an Adventure Activity Company in Ireland specialising in Outdoor Acvitivites & Outdoor Pursuits, they provide a ferry to Enniskillen so we decided to take an evening stroll through the town before returning for an early night.  We are obviously getting too old for two late nights in a row.  The island provides an excellent camping facility near to the town – absolutely perfect for touring canoeists.

 

Day 4 Enniskillen (GR 231 440) to Trory (GR 227 477) 5 miles 3 hours

Enniskillen is an island town named after the ancient warrior Kathleen i.e. Inis (island) Kathleen so what better way to explore it than by canoe.  We spent an hour circumnavigating the town passing the beautiful 17^th Century Watergate of Enniskillen Castle.  We then continued through the Portora Lock Gates into Lower Lough Erne. After about 1.5 hours paddling we reached Devenish Island (GR 223 468), which was once the centre of Fermangh’s cultural and spiritual life – a monastic settlement was founded here in the 6^th century.  Climbing the inside of the 81 feet high round tower built during the 12^th century was a great way to round off the trip.

We reluctantly headed off to our pick point on the mainland at Trory (GR 227 477) and loaded our kit up to head home.  We had our own equipment and my parents to do car transfers but this can all be arranged through a number of canoeing providers in the area, again these are listed in the guide and website.

Lough Erne has got to be one of the best touring venues in the British Isles, even as a native of Fermanagh I discovered so much more about the area than I did not realise was there.  The range of places we saw and the interesting people we met made this more than just a canoe trip but an overall experience.  We choose to stay at relatively busy campsites and enjoyed the night life on a few occasions but if this it not for you do not worry as the Lough Erne Canoe Trail guide provides numerous camp sites off the beaten track so you can enjoy a wilderness experience.

We only managed 2/3rds of the Lough Erne Canoe Trail but we will definitely return in the future to explore the area further or maybe even have a look at some of the other Canoe Trails available in Northern Ireland.  Check them out on www.canoeni.com   

Although we had our own gear and I am an experienced canoeists don’t feel this is the only way to get out there.  The are a wide range of providers offering tuition, guided trips, canoe /equipment hire – all you have to do is turn up.