River Leven

With painfully slow progress its easy to think that rivers access is going nowhere at all. However, yesterday I paddled the River Leven in the south Lake District. Ten years ago we could only paddle about a mile of this river. We would need to pay a pound for the privilege and be grateful.

These days the river is paddled regularly by small groups along much more of its length. Gradually, times are changing and hopefully more tolerant attitudes will help open up the countryside to more people.

Needless to say, our adventure on the river was a wonderful experience hopping our boats over a series of weirs and down chutes of tumbling, foaming water in rapids that I have never paddled before.