Thank you for picking up this book and welcome to the joy of paddleboarding in the Lake District. I am so thrilled you are here.

Tell me, where did you fall in love with paddleboarding?

This is a question I also love asking my guests on The Joy of SUP – The Paddleboarding Sunshine Podcast, and friends I paddle with.

For me it was on Derwent Water, the ‘Queen of the Lakes’, here in the Lake District.

On 24 September 2016, I took my first lesson with Bo from Lake District Paddleboarding. After a wobbly start I finally stood up and looked out across the water. It was a grey, overcast day, but that didn’t dampen the sunshine I felt in my heart. I immediately knew that SUP (stand-up paddleboarding) was going to be something very special to me.

Having injured my knee at the start of the year, my spirits were low. The nourishing and positive impact of movement I’d rediscovered in 2014 when rowing a million metres on a rowing machine (over the space of a few months) and rowing a marathon (in one day) for Macmillan Cancer Support in memory of my mum had been lost.

On 1 September 2016, I set myself a challenge to spend 30 minutes outside each day moving my body in the hope it would not only heal my knee but also lift my soul. I had heard about the benefits of paddleboarding for our physical, mental and emotional well-being. Being a full-body but low-impact workout, I was hopeful this might be the start of a new chapter.

‘For the first time in months, I felt like a warrior not a worrier,’ is how I described the afternoon of my first paddleboarding lesson. I couldn’t stop smiling as we made our way home.

Perhaps you know the feeling?

In bed that evening, with my body tingling and my heart full, I wrote in my diary: ‘Dreams do come true! First paddleboarding lesson in the Lakes. I loved it!’ Having spent holidays in the Lake District as a little girl visiting a close family friend, a new world here on the water had opened up.

Since that September day, I have experienced many moments of joy, courage, friendship and gratitude while paddleboarding.

In 2019, I became the first woman to paddleboard coast to coast from Liverpool to Goole, a journey of 162 miles along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the Aire and Calder Navigation. I was picking up litter and fundraising for two causes: the mental health surf charity, The Wave Project, and environmental charity, The 2 Minute Foundation.

A film about the adventure, Brave Enough – A Journey Home to Joy, was created by the award-winning filmmaker Frit Tam of Frit Films. The film has been selected for prestigious film festivals, including Keswick Film Festival and Kendal Mountain Festival in the Lake District, plus sell-out online screenings.

Having experienced such wonder on the canal, I wanted to find a way to share the stories of other paddleboarders and the health and happiness it can bring us. On Christmas Eve 2020, I launched a podcast called The Joy of SUP – The Paddleboarding Sunshine Podcast. My first guest was Cal Major, whom you’ll meet in the Derwent Water chapter; she was later followed by Anna Little (Derwent Water), Adya Misra (Ullswater) and Fiona Quinn (Wast Water).

A few months later, in the summer of 2021, I set out on my travels with my board Grace to research my first book. Stand-up Paddleboarding in Great Britain: Beautiful places to paddleboard in England, Scotland & Wales was published in 2022 by Vertebrate Publishing; it is the first and currently only guide dedicated to paddleboarding and the SUP community in England, Scotland and Wales.

I recounted my adventures sleeping on a beach on Great Cumbrae off the south-west coast of Scotland, exploring caves and estuaries in Cornwall, spotting dolphins and huge jellyfish in the blue waters of Wales, and discovering SUP in the cities of Liverpool, Bristol, London and Nottingham.

Serendipitously, Ullswater was where I completed the final part of my research, paddling with Amira Patel of the Wanderlust Women, in the same national park where I had taken my first lesson five years before.

Writing and sending SUP Great Britain, as it is affectionately known, into the world was, and always will be, one of the greatest honours of my life.

With so much of my heart and love for paddleboarding in the book, it was also one of the most nerve-wracking experiences as I awaited the response from readers, the wider SUP community and industry. I paddled out at sunrise and sunset at Runswick Bay on the Yorkshire Coast (one of the places featured in SUP Great Britain) hoping that I had done our sport – and the places and people I had written about – justice.

Thankfully, I had.

SUP Great Britain was nominated for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Awards and shortlisted for The Great Outdoors magazine Book of the Year in 2022. It went to reprint within months and created some incredible opportunities for me to be on the TV and radio. I spoke at Alpkit’s Big Shakeout, Southampton International Boat Show and at many bookshops, including Stanfords in Covent Garden in London and Verey Books in Pooley Bridge, just by Ullswater. From SUP instructors and schools to those just starting their paddleboarding journeys, the response was amazing.

One of the most moving reviews of the book was when a reader said:

As a result, I also now write a column for SUP Mag UK called ‘Paddleboarding for Good’, alongside podcast guests Sarah Thornely and Emma Love. I share stories on environmental issues, making SUP more inclusive and accessible, and the mental health benefits of our sport.

Derwent Water and Ullswater were therefore very special to me before I began the research for this book. Grasmere was too as I reflect upon a note I wrote in my journal one very blustery and wet weekend in January 2020 when I visited for a weekend of walking and reading.

As we left the village and made our way along Red Bank, glimpses of the lake came into view across the fields, and we passed a small signpost telling us that the lake was half a mile away. However, there were also Private Land signs and everyone I asked – locals and visitors – seemed unsure as to whether paddleboarding was allowed on the lake and where the best access was.

After a fruitless search on the shelves of Sam Read Bookseller and Heaton Cooper Studio, that evening I wrote the following in my journal:

Of course, life took a very different turn for us all just a few weeks later, and I didn’t return to the Lakes for another year.

I am very grateful therefore for the chance to intimately explore a place which was not only special to me as a child but which also changed the course of my life in ways I could not have imagined back in 2016. It is also a joy to finally answer the questions I posed in my diary in 2020, not just for me, but for you too.

‘Which is the best lake to paddleboard on?’ is a question I am often asked. While I do share the areas of each lake I personally love, my goal however is not to simply tell you where I think is the best but to share the unique personality of each lake along with all the information you need to find your own favourite spots and special moments on the water.

And in the meantime, whether you are new to SUP or highly experienced, an offcomer (visitor) or call the Lake District your home, I hope that as you turn the pages of this book you will feel you are having an adventure alongside me and the wonderful people I paddle with.

The Lake District is where I fell in love with paddleboarding. My hope is that you will fall in love with it too.

Safe paddling and wishing you all the joy and wonder of this magical place.

Jo x

The Lake District