Last Sunday we were out training in our kayaks, the tide times and weather looked favourable to get out and do the Glasson loop, which being just a couple of miles from our house and a real good Sunday workout, was what we decided to do.

We loaded up our 2 boats and associated gear in the car and dashed off to Glasson Dock, just outside Lancaster, to launch into the estuary in good time to catch the tide flooding into the city itself, once this leg of a few miles is completed, boats are carried round Skerton Weir and paddled a short distance against the flow on the River Lune to the aqueduct. Then they are hauled up the steps onto the Lancaster Canal, that can be paddled through the city and back out towards Galgate, where a right turn is made onto the short Glasson branch and its several locks that need portaging around, which once completed, one arrives several hours later back at the start point. It is a loop of around 18 or so miles, of varied paddling, among great scenery and wildlife.

All was going well, it was my partner’s first foray onto the sea in a kayak, and a strong headwind made the estuary leg quit a challenge for a strong and experienced paddler, so as a relative novice she was making excellent progress. We both enjoyed the feeling of being ‘out there’, pushing ourselves against the elements while cranking out some great mileage in preparation for our Devizes to Westminster paddle next April.

Half way up the estuary, after nearly an hour of tough paddling we saw them, or rather heard them then saw them, people flying up and down the water on their jet skis, kicking out big plumes of water behind them. We thought this was bit of a blot on the landscape, but each to their own, what was more disturbing was the fact that as we got nearer to the shoreline line pub where these good folk had congregated, the estuary narrows and becomes very shallow, making it necessary to paddle over towards the main channel close to the jet ski area.

What then became very unsettling was to be sat very close to the water level, while large and noisy jet skis hurtled past us at seemingly breakneck speed, especially when compared to a kayaker battling against a stiff head wind, so close, its bow wave tosses your kayak around. Your hope is that at best the rider has at least seen you, will miss you, and pray they are not sadistic enough to ‘buzz’ you any more than they already are; several riders seemed to alter their course to come as close to us possible, scaring my girl silly.

So my question is this, what is the point and attraction of this activity, its seems to me as a kayaker/ climber/ walker/ cyclist etc, to be a noisy, anti social, gas guzzling thing to be doing, that both disturbs and frightens both wildlife and other water users. I want to be enlightened though – so riders please respond and tell me what pleasure you derive from twisting a throttle, hurtling over the water, disturbing and frightening everything in your path and all around you.

For the sake of a balanced debate, I have to examine the point of our kayaking, well we are both becoming extremely fit, strong and healthy the more we paddle, we make no noise or leave any trace of our passing , people wave to us and say hi where ever we come across them, we slide past herons on the shore without them taking off, we regularly see kingfishers on the canal, and salmon jumping around our boats, indeed it has become one of the joys of paddling, to get so close to nature and share the water with its inhabitants. And finally by completing the Devizes to Westminster event, 125 miles of paddling non-stop, that includes carrying our boat around 70 odd obstacles, we will raise a sum of money for The Eden Valley Hospice in Carlisle and help buy a Cold Cot for still born babies at Fullwood Hospital in Preston.

I will close this blog with a serious offer to any Jet Ski riders out there reading it, as a professional kayaking instructor, I will happily take anyone interested for several lessons on flat water, to learn the basic techniques involved in keeping a kayak the right way up and propelling it forward, as I have done with my partner, if you will teach her how to ride a Jet Ski in return.

Then one Sunday morning you can paddle with me up the estuary – while my girl rides past us as close and as fast as she can on-board your Jet Ski, sort of role reversal – please contact me via this website to arrange our first session.

The gauntlet has been thrown down any Jet Skiers going to take up the challenge that is the question! We desperately want to hear from Jet Skiers and other Kayakers please send you experiences via the contact page on the main site here: Contact Us.

Now open your eyes and find that you are surrounded by mountains, fast turning the grey and purple hues of dusk, you and your companion are alone on a vast stretch of inky black water, punctuated with the tightly packed ripples and waves caused by the vicious headwind. You might well be the last people alive on the planet!

Where would you be? Greenland, Tasmania, Greece – well this was us on Monday Oct 4^th 2010 paddling up and down Coniston Water in The Lake District, just 30 minutes from our house in Lancaster, building up our paddling mileage and fitness for the Devises to Westminster canoe race next Easter. It was also my 47^th birthday and I could not think of a finer way or place to be enjoying the occasion.

In this blog we – a Director of Adventures in UK Ltd (the company behind the Adventure Directory) and my partner will be sharing our everyday adventures with you, mountain bike rides, fell runs, rock climbs, wild camps, long paddles and days in the hills around our home in North West England, and we would love you to share your adventures with us.

Because we don’t think you need to travel half way round the world to have a top adventure!