Cromford Mills Adventure Weekend - August 2022

Posted By: Mark Published: 31/08/2022

What a weekend to be at Cromford Mills.

The sun was shining, and the water was glorious, kids were smiling and the laughter was heard throughout the valley.

The Paddle Peak team are still trying to catch their breath after an exciting weekend down at Cromford Mills, where over 280 came and gave canoeing a go for the first (or maybe second) time.

This is the third time Cromford Mills has hosted an annual adventure weekend and each time it feels like it builds more and more momentum and gets bigger and bigger.

This year’s three-day event hosted a different canoeing discipline demonstration each lunch time, with the team from Matlock Whitewater SUP showing us what’s what with all things paddle boarding, from onboard yoga to headstands. Sunday the team from Viking Polo wowed the crowd in the make-shift polo area – something I’m sure would have entertained Sir Richard Arkwright if he were around today. Monday and to finish the event off the Great Britain Freestyle boys of Gav, Harry, Rob and Ibbo flaunted their stuff in the lock and educated the crowd with all things freestyle – including some new funky vocab!

The aim of this event is always to help inspire kids (and adults) to get into canoeing. It’s a brilliant sport and we love sharing it with the world around us here in Derbyshire. Seeing people jump in a kayak for the first time and getting out at the end of the session smiling and loving it so much they head straight to sign up for the next session makes the effort all worthwhile.

The sessions consisted of the newbies being kitted out with all the required kit to keep them safe if things were to get really wet, followed by a 30 minute paddling session which were ran by qualified coaches and involved some basic paddling tips along with some fun games.

This event was run by Paddle Peak on behalf of Cromford Mills with help from the staff at Manor Adventure (Willersley Castle) and Peak Paddle Sports.If you didn’t manage to make it over the weekend but you’re keen to give canoeing a go, head over to the Paddle Peak website to find out more.