BOOK REVIEW: 'Stand-up Paddleboarding in the Lake District'
Because paddleboarding is still quite a niche activity Jo Moseley's new book 'Stand-up Paddleboarding in the Lake District' is going to be super useful
Even if SUP is the fastest growing watersport, with a very keen set of fans, paddleboarding is still quite a niche activity.
Perhaps that’s not true in the holiday parts of the Lake District, which has 18.1 million visitors a year, and wonderful lakes for paddleboarding. You’re definitely going to spot a paddleboarder.
Catching up with these mystical paddle people to ask where I could rent a board for my own paddle adventure used to be a big part of my Lake District holidays, especially where wi-fi was a bit dodgy. But all too often it turned out that they owned their board, so my chase-to-chat was slightly embarrassing.
But now there’s a well thought out guide by Jo Moseley which contains all the info a paddleboard dreamer/planner might want. In fact, the book contains so much of what I need when planning a holiday that I pre-ordered my copy of Stand-up Paddleboarding in the Lake District. And that was despite my husband’s obsession with walking the 214 Wainwrights in the Lake District, which has meant this is where we’ve had family holidays for many years.
Stand-up Paddleboarding in the Lake District by Jo Moseley (Vertebrate, £22) Order from http://bit.ly/jomoseleysup
Trying it out
I love the way Jo Moseley’s guide to beautiful places to paddleboard in Cumbria is lush with photos as well as good advice. This makes it just as easy to dip into when you’re miles from the Lake District. And if you’re planning a trip, then you just turn to the relevant section. In fact if you ever used to confuse the many lakes in the area, this book might help you figure out how different they really are.
I’ve just returned from a rainy June week in Coniston and made good use of Jo Moseley’s book when planning what to do.
Like a lot of the Lakes towns, Coniston is a decent stroll from the lake shore. Thanks to the info in Stand-up Paddleboarding in the Lake District I ruled out lugging a board on the train from London (which included a change at Oxenholme), then on the bus and finally a 15 minute walk to the Coniston Boating Centre for launching. Instead I decided to hire.
Researching this trip via Jo’s book made me happy that she includes tips on how to get to the main centres by public transport (in this case the 505 bus from Windermere to Coniston, via Ambleside which also passes another useful rental spot at Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa on Windermere).
If you are a car driver with your own board holidaying in the Lakes then this book looks even more essential as it has clear ‘where to park’ info, plus carry time to good launch spots. It's clear that Jo did a great deal of research and the photos and place setting at the start of each section gives a voice to lots of Lake District paddleboard fans.
How far to the launch spot?
I love the way that renting – or even better having a lesson – in the Lake District is often the way people are first introduced to paddleboarding. It’s how Jo first got the paddleboard bug too.
For my June week near Coniston lake I pre-booked a couple of hours renting boards for myself, my daughter and her boyfriend, at £30 each (with no deposit). For another fiver we could hire wetsuits which in a lake as deep as Coniston seems a good plan. It also helped us all pack light and solves the challenge of where to dry kit in a rental cottage set up for bouji relaxing.
Given how many people rent a paddleboard with very limited knowledge about the sport (or safety) I was surprised that at Coniston Boating Centre we got very little local or SUP-specific info. When I also asked where to leave a bag the suggestion was ‘in my car’ (impossible as I don’t have one!), but staff were friendly and the centre does have roomy lockers where we could dump phones/bags (non returnable £1).
All too often I find I’m hiring lakeside from people who are super busy or aren’t really that into paddleboarding. That’s a big part of the reason why Jo’s book is so useful: it gives you the SUP insider info if the insiders aren’t telling you.
SUP joy
Last year repeating a section of the Coast to Coast walk I took a break to SUP and was totally wowed by Ullswater Paddleboarding, which is now based at Another Place Hotel. They’ve always been into SUP and are brilliant at introducing people with tours and first lessons. Plus, they have fancy changing rooms with underfloor heating which makes getting changed far less of a chilly trial. But finding out how to get from the Patterdale YHA (now shut) or even the nearby village of Glenridding to their base was so tricky. Not so anymore, thanks to the ‘technical information’ section in Stand-up Paddleboarding in the Lake District which flags up the 508 bus (which you leave at the Brackenrigg Inn).
And then there’s my obsession with Derwent Water which sadly now has slightly less rental options than it did before covid. It’s from here that I’ve twice taken an excellent and fun escorted trip with Lake District Paddleboarding down the river to Bassenthwaite lake (totally recommend doing this with a local guide). Plus, the great find of Nichol End Marina for renting boards while on family holidays in Keswick. But this all took me hours of research: now with Stand-up Paddleboarding in the Lake District this sort of info - and the character of each lake - becomes so much easier to figure out, saving SUP-fans hours on Facebook and Google.
Books can’t include costs because this info changes, but Jo Moseley has made an effort to provide clear info about often open snack bars, places to stay and things to do on those days when paddleboarding just isn’t possible.
The info I always need before any holiday to the Lakes is:
SUP hire cost?
Wetsuit hire options?
Is my dog allowed on the board?
Can I hire a board for the week?
Is there somewhere I can lock up a bike or store a bag?
Not all these questions are easy to answer, but what you’ll get from Stand-up Paddleboarding in the Lake District is enough info to make planning a spontaneous SUP trip (or longer) far easier.
I especially liked the way Jo sets the scene with her own paddle and then through that narrative, and practical info, encourages the reader to think of the Lakes as places you can do linear paddles (eg, by returning on a steamer/boat on Windermere, Ullswater or Coniston) or set yourself a more endurance-style circular route to leave you with the sort of stories that your hiking friends will have as they tick off their Wainwright fells.
The book is stocked in many local shops. I spotted it at Booths in Keswick; Fred’s Bookshop in Ambleside and the Lake & Country gift shop in Coniston. What I didn’t see on my wet week in June was many other paddleboarders. I’d like to think they were at work or home, or maybe even their rented cottage or YHA room, flicking through the pages of Stand-up Paddleboarding in the Lake District figuring out where to paddle when the sun came out.
Verdict: Buy for a friend, then borrow it! Also do recommend for your local library purchase.
More info
Stand-up Paddleboarding in the Lake District by Jo Moseley (Vertebrate, £22) Order from http://bit.ly/jomoseleysup
Read the interview with Jo Moseley here