ANY craft on the Dee.

ANY craft on the Dee. Well, it is an open trip (13 June 2026) by Mike A

Any craft on the Dee.

The peer trip had been advertised in the open canoe section of the excellent message board forum on the club website as a half-day (might be more) session at TNR, where we would work upstream and then work the features back down. It was only a rough half day as I was hoping to paddle my WW kayak at the end of the session – it hasn’t seen moving water since early 2018, so I was a little nervous at the thought of not being in my canoe or sea kayak.

Anyway, what was an open canoe trip somehow turned into a canoe trip that was open to any type of craft.

Ruth and I arrived with canoes (and kayaks for later), Adya arrived with her SUP, and Jackie arrived in her new half slice kayak. As there was another LCC group paddling WW kayaks, I offered Adya and Jackie the opportunity to go and run the river with the kayaks, but they naively stated they wanted to stay with us.

Why naive? Well, it begins with the fact that we were working upstream against the strong flow. The team was really game, as we worked up the rapids from TNR to the railway bridge. I’m not sure if Jackie has ever been on a trip where she has been in and out of her kayak so much.

Reaching the railway rapid, we quietly gazed at the cute ducklings before getting stuck in. Ferry gliding, reading river flow, S crosses, S crosses with eyes closed, surfing, on purpose rolling, the team did it all in the lovely sunshine. Top job!

Hours quickly passed, so it was time to start working back for lunch. At the next rapid we ran on sight, then got out to scout a different line and run it again – everyone aced it!

Then, down to Tombstones rapid, everyone was taking different lines, but all paddlers easily cruised their chosen lines. The cushion wave is deceptively powerful, and Adya’s smile was beaming! 😊

A quick stop for lunch, and for Ruth and Mike to change craft – a 2.2 / 2.4m ww kayak is a bit shorter and more reactive than a >5m canoe, it felt like there was nothing behind me – then it was back on to the surprisingly strong inner channel. Here, Jackie was getting her tricks in, surfing the wave and working on some stern squirts, before back finessing breakouts and reverse ferries (plus when or when not to use). Adya was impressing the French paddlers by just looking so cool as she was smashing the waves whilst standing on her SUP. Then it was down bottom wave for some fun crosses and surfs.

Realising it was past 4 pm and we were getting tired from working so hard, we sadly made our way back to the café, where we relaxed over coffee and cake.

A superb day! Thank you to the non-canoeists for being so game for our upriver adventure. Great to see so many LCC paddlers on the river!

Ruth (canoe & kayak), Mike (canoe & kayak), Jackie (half slice kayak), Adya (SUP)