Paddle Boarding on the River Teign

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For myself this sounded fantastic, but I can promise even for the less active it is a really enjoyable and relaxing sport. So my adventure kicked off late morning (yes let’s not get carried away, I’m on holiday and needed a lie in). With super friendly and enthusiastic staff talking my partner and I through all important safety bits and kitting us with wetsuits and buoyancy aids so we were nice and warm and also very afloat.

The centre is right on Teignmouth’s Back Beach so we were all set and ready to give this our best shot. The blue skies really added to the initial experience, with views from the Estuary down the sparkly Teign River all the way to the Moors.

We started on our knees as the instructor gave us a gentle encouraging push. Luckily the conditions were sheltered, making the water calm and reasonably easy to paddle on. So dodging through moored boats and sea kayakers and now up on our feet, we were off! To put it briefly, it seemed, to successfully paddle board you need to just keep paddling and not fall off. We paddled up the river and towards Shaldon Bridge, taking in the beautiful scenery and soaking up the winter sunshine. Throughout our time on the water, the young gentleman on the safety boat checked in with us, making sure we were happy and giving us a few basic but extremely helpful paddling tips.  

I know you’re wondering/ hoping… Yes I did fall in! Luckily right at the end and yes it was absolutely freezing. To make myself feel better, I also pulled in my partner, whilst he was kindly trying to help me back onto my board. This seemed like a sign, so we eventually decided it was time to head back towards the beach, we were helped in with the boards and got to warm up in the showers. We had a good chinwag with the instructors who suggested we return soon and try out their SUP Yoga, so we must have proved to be rather skilled! They also pointed us in the direction of a few local cafes, to grab a warm up hot chocolate. 

It really was a brilliant experience and a much recommend one, if you fancy giving it a go yourself or seeing what other activities are on offer, check out SeaSports Teignmouth.