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Present-day touring canoes include folding models, which are relatively costly because their serviceable life is limited to fifteen years or less; rigid canvas and wooden decked craft, often completely home-made or constructed from ‘kits’ of parts already assembled; glass-fiber canoes of assorted shapes and sizes; and the traditional but larger Canadian-type canoe made of timber. The latter are often built of molded plywood. Anyone making his own boat cannot do better than to use one of the many constructional plans sold by various firms for ‘do-it-yourself’ enthusiasts who want river worthy craft.

For normal cruising a single-seater should be about fourteen feet long and a little over two feet wide; while a two-seater can be between fifteen feet and eighteen feet in length with a beam of two-and-a-half feet. If adventuring down small or fast streams (generally having sharp comers and shallow rapids) a single is strongly advised; but for negotiating wide rivers and crossing large lakes then a two-seater, with its greater stability and extra space for kit, is the ideal craft.

Canoe sailing is not the popular pastime you might expect it to be; nevertheless there are some folk keen on this branch of canoeing. Besides sail and mast, they need such additional and weighty items as lee-boards or a telescopic metal keel to strap on to the hull in order to guarantee lateral stability; a rudder for steering. which should be easily and quickly detachable; and inflated tubes which attach along the gunwhale as a safety precaution. Outriggers are seldom seen in Britain.

Over the last decade the folding canoe has to a considerable extent lost its appeal (which it owed mainly to easy portability). having been eclipsed by the glass fiber type with its longer lifespan.

Any kind of canoe can conveniently be conveyed about the countryside on a car’s roof rack, which is the usual method of transport to and from starting and finishing points on a tour. This gives rise to an operation known as ‘car shuttling’ which means organizing vehicles available to ensure that at least one is parked at the intended stopping place for the return of other drivers to their cars afterwards.

What generally happens is that as soon as the party has assembled where the canoes will be launched. as many cars as possible are taken to the canoeists’ destination (preferably near a road or a bridge). with their drivers coming back to their boats in one or two cars, which must be recovered later. as I have said.

This whole business of shuttling is extremely time-consuming and irritating for non-drivers who must wait about before the cruise starts. A twenty-mile journey by car is frequently necessary for a day trip; while a shuttle during a weekend meet will double that distance.

More enjoyable ways of getting back to a car are by walking or cycling. since rivers often flow in pleasant valleys away from main roads. I have done a lot of both and regard a seven-mile walk or a fifteen-mile cycle ride as the right sort of distances to travel for car recovery purposes. Such exercise. too. serves to prevent or delay the onset of middle-age spread!

A cycle can be stowed in the boot of most cars. Sometimes it has to be left unattended in the country after being deposited near the finishing point of a canoeing cruise. To minimize the risk of theft. I use an old cycle and conceal it under bracken or beneath a river’s bridge after deflating the tyres. Quite a good place to leave a machine without having it disappear is behind the back of a little village church.

In the absence of any other cars. cycling or walking back is nearly always necessary for solo canoeists. Alternatively. they must hitch-hike or catch a bus. since a train journey is rarely possible in

England now that so many branch lines up river valleys have been closed.