Carlisle Canoe Club 

Where to find us

River Eden, behind the Sands Centre in Carlisle.

We have a club room round the back of the Sands Sports Centre beside Hardwick Circus in the centre of Carlisle. We have an agreement with the fishermen to paddle the section of river and rapid through Rickerby Park on club sessions. An OS map from Multimap is available here. There are breakwaters creating still water for beginners, and an easy rapid with a fast eddyline which was once used for the Northern Region slaloms and is now ideal for playboating (cartwheels, front-enders, back enders, bow stalls) and learning ferry gliding, breaking in and out, etc. Lots of playboating pics are online here.

Trinity School Swimming Pool, Carlisle

Our pool sessions are in the Trinity School Swimming pool which have been recently redeveloped.(map).

The Lower Caldew.

We occasionally paddle downstream from the club to the (lower) Caldew, or drive to Denton Holme or Dalston and paddle back to the club (map). It is grade II with a few playspots (grabby stoppers), it needs a bit of rain, and there is weir at Denton Holme which we portage (apparently there are metal spikes - there is a vertical drop of about three metres). There is also a concrete weir 100m above the bridge upstream of Dalston consisting of four one-metre-high steps (which has been run). The best playspots are two stoppers about 100m from its confluence with the Eden.

Ray Petrie, Mark Thomlinson and the 2002 intermediate (3*) group, about to get on above the Sands Rapid, September 2002.

Kenny ferrygliding across the Sands Rapid

Biggsy playboating on the Sands rapid (doing a Bow Stall)

Ray beside the Sands Rapid, September 2002.

Playing on the eddyline

Lots more playboating pics are available here.

Anyone got any more pics of the sands? Please send me () them!