INTERVIEW: Jo Moseley on Lake District paddleboarding
Paddleboarder Jo Moseley has made a name sharing paddleboarding good vibes. Here we find out more about her newest book, a very welcome SUP guide to Lake District paddles.
Jo Moseley is unassumingly author glamorous on our Thursday morning Zoom call – brushed blonde hair, stylish framed glasses, elegant navy merino neck warmer and a jumper which has some rather nifty thumbholes. Jo laughs when I point this out, saying she’s in Yorkshire and needs these woollies for warmth, but also that she was wearing this exact outfit under her cagoule on her most recent paddle as it’s “warm and not sweaty”.
Style wise, there are many things I could learn from this woman, who like me is 60 this year, but more importantly there’s a lot that paddleboarders generally can learn from Jo, whether that be in her books on great SUP routes to try in the UK, or a generosity of spirit which sees her showcasing all sorts of paddleboard voices in her articles, including her SUPM column, and Joy of SUP podcast.
“There’s always been someone to pat me on the back, get me back on the board and have some fun.” Jo Moseley on the joys of paddleboarding
As Jo says on the first Joy of SUP podcast, “We rise by lifting others [this is] to encourage you on your paddleboarding journey and to bring some sunshine to your life…” Like many stuck-at-home and off-the-water paddleboarders I listened to lots of Joy of SUP episodes during lockdown. I still quite often revisit the interviews, which are predominantly with women about paddleboarding.
But right now, I want to know more about Jo’s new book, due out in May, which looks set to help us all have better paddle adventures in the Lake District. The book was commissioned by the same publisher as her 2022 best seller Stand-up Paddleboarding in Great Britain, and has a very similar feel – stories, tips, directions and an absolute love of place and paddle. But Jo admits it was no easy task getting the second book deal.
Despite a busy lifetime working, first with her husband then after divorce, in the early 2000s, as a single mum of two boys (now 23 and 27) as a practice manager for architects and at an engineering company, Jo always had writing dreams. “I always thought I’d write a book. I’ve tried lots of novels, but never followed through. I never thought I would be writing travel guides as I enjoy storytelling the most,” she says.
“The success of my first book encouraged me to think there was an interest in a guidebook that told stories as well, rather than simply turn left and right. My style is quite different,” says Jo. Luckily the publishers, Vertebrate Publishing, agreed.
Q: Why the Lake District?
“The Lake District is where I took my first paddleboarding lessons, so it’s very special to me. It’s so beautiful and it needs looking after. I wanted it to be like my first book - a paddleboarding book that has lots of environmental info. Not everyone who comes to the Lakes understands biosecurity, or even if you park on grass then you are parking where sheep feed. I live close, so I can spend a lot of time going up there and in a book, I can share those messages. It’s our playground and we need to protect it.
“The Lake District was the final research chapter in my first book, Stand-up Paddleboarding in Great Britain. It felt like I was passing the baton from one book to another!” she adds.
For fans of her first book, you’ll be familiar with the format, info and lots of great photos.
“The difference is that with the first one I took 95 per cent of the photos with my iPhone, this one I worked with a local photographer so people can grasp how different the lakes are, Wastwater has these amazing screes, but there’s a gentleness with Grasmere and parts of Coniston. I was really keen we had big shots taken down the lakes,” she says adding that no drones were used. “There’s a lot more info in this book about camping sites and things to do if you cannot paddle, because you need a back-up plan in the Lakes,” says Jo adding that a favourite is the wet or windy day trip to the Pencil Museum in Keswick.
Q: Who is your Lake District book for?
“My books are aimed at recreational paddlers. I did paddle the length of Windermere with Debbie North, the Government’s Disability and Access Ambassador for the Countryside, and I know you can do endurance paddles in the Lakes,” says Jo, but, “I aim it at someone who wants to enjoy themselves, not crush themselves.”
As a result, the book is perfect for those of us who don’t know the Lakes super well, and need a friendly guide because the waters there are huge, the weather changeable and the wind can make or break a day.
Q: Is there a green message?
“Paddleboarding is a new sport and not all paddleboarders understand their impact. I don’t think environmentalists have been too harsh, but people hear different voices and relate to different people. Matt Staniek from Save Windermere speaks in a campaigning way, and then there’s me saying just remember to pick up litter, this is how go to the toilet in the countryside, and why not take the bus? I also include local providers so people can hire or have lessons,” says Jo.
Here’s a link to Matt’s film Upstream Battle with United Utilities
Q: What should a new paddleboarder (or new to the area) do in the Lakes?
“I’m a massive advocate of getting lessons and supporting the industry. YouTube is great, but nothing beats somebody showing you how to stand up or turn, and you’ll get lots of local advice. Safety is paramount to me too. It took me five visits to paddle the length of Wastwater because the wind was so strong at the times I visited. I saw some really hairy things in the Lake District researching the book. At Wastwater I was standing on the shore line and saw a woman sitting on a paddleboard – she was not leashed, had no buoyancy aid and the waves were white tipped. She was shouting that she ‘couldn’t hear me’ when I suggested, ‘you really should get off the water’. If you get blown over to the screes, there’s no simple access for rescue people.”
Q: What about more experienced paddleboarders?
“Go somewhere you haven’t been and try and do a perimeter or a length challenge, try and test yourself. Grasmere you can circle in less than 2 hours - it’s beautiful and I love it. If you want to do an A-A or A-B try Ullswater, Coniston or Windermere and use the boats – cruisers, steamers and gondola. They all say that if there is space and you deflate the board you can go back with them, so paddle the length of Ullswater then come back on the boat! Explore more and maybe go a little bit further. The other thing is to go in different seasons. There’s a lovely place on Windermere called Cockshott Point, right next to Bowness [tourist hotspot on Windermere]. In summer it is heaving, in winter with the right kit it’s gorgeous because it is opposite Belle Isle with the round house [and the largest and only inhabited island on Windermere]. It’s a lovely spot on a quiet winter’s morning.”
Q: What are your summer 2024 SUP plans?
“I’m going to the SUPFEST (24-27 May), that’s John Wilson’s Lake District paddle festival on the River Eden. There are lots of speakers including high profile endurance people who’ve done world record breaking paddles. I’m speaking about how to prepare for small adventures and what kit to take, hydration and also writing those adventures in advance into your diary so you can say, ‘No, I’m going to do this’.”
“To promote the book, I’m going to walk around the Lakes doing some bivvying, staying in campsites, and going to bookshops. I’m calling this my Lake District Book Round, a play on the Bob Graham Round (a 24-hour fell run) or the 30-mile George Fisher Tea Round. I’ll be walking, paddling, swimming and camping to promote the book. But I have a job and I want to spend time with my Dad who is 91 this year, so I will do this in chunks through the summer. I’ll get a bus to most of the Lakes and ask if people want to do bits with me.”
Q: Have you got a favourite paddling spot in the Lake District?
“I love Wastwater, but it’s quite overwhelming. I really like Coniston, it’s an elegant lake overlooked by the Old Man, and It’s got the gondola, the Bluebird and Brantwood where Ruskin (the artist/art critic) lived.
Q: Your first film about paddling Coast to Coast was called Brave Enough. Do you still need to draw on bravery reserves?
“I don’t think I’m naturally that confident so I do have to make an intentional decision to be brave. When I see other people doing stuff, I think how courageous.” Watch the film using this link https://www.jomoseley.com/projects
“I think on Instagram and in adverts there’s an idea that paddleboarding belongs to the young. But people paddleboarding are all ages, and all sizes, and a big chunk of us are middle aged women,” says Jo who was made a #ShePaddles ambassador for Paddle UK (British Canoeing’s new name since April 2024) in 2019. “It’s important that I show other women that they can do these things. It’s quite interesting that a woman of my age, 60 in December, has written these guidebooks, and Lisa Drewe in her 50s has written two paddleboarding books, including Paddle Board South West England (published April 2023), so by doing this I hope I will encourage other women. We need more voices, novels and newsletters!”
Q: Do you prefer podcasting (eg, with your Joy of SUP) or writing books?
“Podcasts I do all on my own and I’d love to have some technical backing! With the writing you have the publisher by your side. I think I love both. With a podcast I can have a conversation and share stories. Writing demands a huge amount of time and I spend a lot of time on my own, thinking ‘Did I get that word right?’, ‘Did I share that story right’, each have challenges and rewards.”
Summing up
It’s been a real pleasure to hear more about Jo Moseley’s 2024 paddle plans and be treated to some insights into her new book which will definitely upgrade my own Lake District holiday. Stand-up paddleboarding in the Lake District is not out yet, but you can always pre-order.
If you are travelling to the Lakes with a friend who is paddle-wary can I recommend my husband Pete May’s own love letter to the Lake District, Summit for the Weekend, which charts the ups and downs of walking every one of Alfred Wainwright’s 214 favourite fells in a bid to create the perfect wallchart. Pete May has also written Man About Tarn: how a Londoner learned to love the Lake District - beer and mountains definitely helped!
Find out more about Jo Moseley’s books, book tour and podcast on:
Instagram @jomoseley
To order Jo’s first book, about beautiful places for Paddleboarding in Great Britain and also Paddleboarding in the Lake District use this link
And finally
Interviewer Nicola Baird’s new book, Not That Deep - probably the first ever novel about paddleboarding people - is published on 2 May 2024. Links will be shared in due course!