The Jolly Wobbler
The Jolly Wobbler is where my love of being on the water was rekindled, purchased in August 2024 with a couple of mates. To start with she was indeed very wobbly, hence the name, but that was more down to a complete lack of any talent on our part having not been in a canoe of any kind for the best part of a combined 100 years!
We kept her for a year, having taken her out on several adventures on various stretches of the River Thames upstream of Maidenhead. Pretty much every trip being choreographed to arrive at a pub for refreshments at the halfway point of course.
She was purchased for the 3 of us to go out on some adventures but more often than not we had an empty seat on outings. She was also very heavy and filled up half of my garage, so we sold her in August 2025 and replaced her with a couple of much lighter single seater craft.
Spongebob Wet Pants
Spongebob Wet Pants is my current vessel of choice. She is a Cambridge Kayaks Quest, purchased in August 2025. As you can see it is a sit-on-top kayak. Being a novice, I opted for a sit-on-top mainly for safety reasons, but also for the payload – she can carry 180kg and I alone take up over half of that allowance so anything smaller and I would be having more than wet pants!
Even though my pants are generally soaked through after a trip I love her. She is easy to paddle, manoeuverable and has plenty of storage for a few tinnies, chocolate bars, clothes etc…
She has had several outings on the Thames since I’ve had her and plans are afoot to take her on The River Wye in the summer of 2026 and tackle the famous Symons Yat rapids!
Weighing in at 22kg and being 10ft long (4ft short than The Jolly Wobbler), the Quest is easy to put on and off the car roof by myself making solo adventures a possibility also now. I can also store her vertically in my garage so I have much more space again.
- Payload = 180kg.
- Length = 10 feet.
- Colour = black & red.
- 1x sealed compartment.
- Rear cargo well.
- Adjustable foot rests.
- 5x Fishing rod holders.
- Back support/seat included.
- Paddle included.
- Grab ropes included.
- Rear bungee straps included.
- Cost = £359.00.
- Purchased = August 2025.
- Sold By = Cambridge Kayaks
- Value for money = hell yeah!
The Crafty Old Boater Live Action Movies!
River Thames & St Patricks Stream By Kayak October 2025
River Thames, Upstream From Thames Valley Business Park, Reading - 06/04/2026
On this trip, me and my mate GP launched from the river bank by Thames Valley Business Park in Reading (video 1). There are a couple of nice “beaches” that make launching a breeze. We set off upstream with Caversham the destination (video 2), via a quick detour up the Kennet & Avon Canal as that joins on to The River Thames a mile or so upstream.
As we entered the Kennet & Avon (video 3) the flow was noticeably faster than we had experienced on the way up to it, so we battled our way upstream against the flow to Blakes lock and the weir along side (video 4). I believe Blakes lock is unmanned so a DIY job and there is a portage point alongside.
The downstream leg was achieved in about a third of the time (video 5)! Just after re-joining The Thames and heading back upstreamm towards Caversham we made a pit-stop for to stretch our legs and to refuel with bacon and sausage baps! The landing point can be seen in video 4 below. The bank was shallow but a bit muddy and slippery but it was the best portage point we could find. Stepping off my kayak my feet slowly sunk about 6 inches into the soft river bed. Ordinarily I wouldn’t care but today I had my fleece-lined wellies on and the water spilled over inside! AT least I was able to disembark by myself, GP required a little helping hand to come ashore (video 6)!
Sustenance taken, we re-boarded and set off on our merry way again towards Caversham Lock. Caversham Lock had a lock keeper on duty so we could just paddle straight on in, rise up and paddle straight out the other side again. It’s not the biggest lock but we were the only ones in it. On the way up to the lock we did notice an even better landing point on our port side for a break, which we made use of on the return leg.