packraft

River Eden misadventures

Posted 1st January 2025 by sloeburn

20/09/24 Appleby – Kirkby Thorne

A fine forecast so possibly the last packrafting day of the year for this fair-weather paddler. Low water levels so quite a few rock gardens to get stuck in and/or walk through. Very quiet with no sign of anyone else. Lots of yellow wagtails, several kingfishers, a dipper, a noisy buzzard, and even a bat skimming the river for flies in the middle of the day.

Start at Appleby – over the bridge and through the park

A stepping stone crossing at Colby Laithes was quite a challenge to get over (not sure I’d like to walk the crossing either) and could be a hazard in high water.

Progress was slower than I had hoped, after starting off from Appleby around 12 pm I finally reached Bolton Bridge at 2.30 pm and had a long overdue lunch on a patch of stones under the bridge.

On reaching a bridleway ford near Kirkby Thorne I thought I had better get out and walk back to Appleby rather than press on for Langwathby which was still some distance off. I don’t yet have much of a feel for speed on the packraft (well, maybe I have a better idea now). A tractor crossed the ford but then it was deserted again and I was able to get changed without causing any passers-by offence.

There is a straight bridleway along an old Roman road to Appleby, however to get to it avoiding the A66 involved a detour via Long Marton.

I spotted a footpath along a stream which looked nice and would cut off a corner following the road. Alas on crossing a stile I put my foot in a hole and went over on my ankle. My rucksack provided a soft landing, but I could tell I had done some mischief straight away. I struggled over a couple more stiles to the road, and made a walking stick out of half of the packraft paddle, and very slowly limped to where the road met the A6. My ankle had swelled up immediately and was very challenging to walk on. Managed to get a taxi back to Appleby and even made the train I was originally looking at.

A visit to A&E the next day showed it was not broken, but I left with a foam boot and crutches, putting an end to any further adventures for a little while.

10 km paddling, 7 km walk/limp

Apperley Bridge

Posted 1st January 2025 by sloeburn

11/08/24

Train from Kirkstall Forge, and got in and out under the (new) Apperley bridge. It was warm and there were people swimming in the river – possibly they knew about the sewage outlet as they were wisely upstream of it.

There was a big bank with sand martins coming and going, a nice quiet stretch where I stopped and watched kingfishers flitting up and down the river, and even saw one make a catch next to a strange nice-looking stone outlet, which I haven’t been able to identify on the map.

4 km

More Aire

Posted 5th March 2023 by sloeburn

13/08/22

Another hot day, so walked to Armley ‘beach’ and went as far as the weir near the industrial museum, then back upstream to find somewhere to get out. Carried the raft to the canal for the return trip.

Managed to get over this boom by taking a run up

Messing about in boat(s)

Posted 5th March 2023 by sloeburn

22-23/06/22

A great thing to do in a heat wave.

A venture slightly further afield, cycled to Calverley Bridge and got in the river near the packhorse bridge. Tried loading some kit inside the raft for the first time – must remember not to include the inflation bag! The river was too shallow to get much further in either direction.

Segment One

Posted 26th February 2023 by sloeburn

I live near the river Aire and the Leeds-Liverpool canal, and when I moved here I thought it would be great to be able to explore them on the water, but I don’t have a car so a traditional kayak or canoe is impractical. I had a vague memory of seeing a crazy folding bike and inflatable boat adventure, (Alastair Humphries, the initial story I remember seems to have disappeared)), which led me to learn about packrafts, and then how expensive they are. Then I found DIY packraft, and after some research, ordered a Skeena kit.

The kit comes as scored pieces of fabric, which are cut out and heat sealed together using a dodgy-looking instrument called a leather iron. It took a long time to build but I really enjoyed the process, it was great seeing it come together. The guidance on the website are really good, including videos, images and written instructions.

Rear half of inflated packraft showing seat

Inflated packraft and paddle on grass bank.

The maiden voyage was on the canal, nice tame water but getting in and out was a bit difficult.

Small bottle of prosecco 'launching' the packraft on its maiden voyage

I want to add an extra top-up valve somewhere accessible while afloat, as the temperature of the air inside drops as it cools in contact with the water so they usually need a few puffs after a while. Also required are some more attachment points at the rear for some line to grab on to. In future I might add a removable spray deck – I think my paddling technique has room for improvement as I do a lot of dripping, which gets on my legs in onto the floor, but I am quite short so I think that might have something to do with it. But I kind of like the simplicity of it being open.

Paddle is from https://www.celticpaddles.com, ‘Mania’ model; it splits into 5 pieces so no sections are longer than the blades, and is length and feather adjustable. Buoyancy aid/PFD is an Astral V-Eight, I haven’t tried out its full function yet.