My target at the start of 2020 was quite simple – to try and visit as many if not all of the UK National Parks. There are only 15 and some are quite close together so I figured if I try and organise a trip per month somewhere it should tick them off nicely through the year.
So I made a list of all the national parks with the aim to tick them off and note down what I had done there, so I would remember.
Things got off to a good start as the New Years Day paddle was planned in the The Broads, so day one of the year and already got one National Park done.
This was a nice but chilly paddle along some Broads, where everyone brought along spare Xmas food to share before paddling back
Next up Lake District 25/1/2020 Ullswater walk, a random trip up North gave me an excuse to pop across to the Lake District, although this was not the only time I visited the lakes in 2020 this was the first. A walk round Ullswater and a visit to an Alpaca farm/shop.
Moving into February and ticking off Yorkshire Dales – 15/02/2020 where I was based for the first of a few OC1 (open canoe one) courses I had planned this year. It took me to some new sections of rivers and places in the Yorkshire Dales I had not seen, thanks to Bobby and Adie for looking after me and giving me the confidence to take an OC1 out on the water.
Since I was on a role with the National Park hunt I thought I would tick off another in February. Dartmoor 22/02/2020 – helping out on an epic charity paddle in which several kayakers were aiming to paddle the Upper Dart for 24 hours – link to article
here.https://www.peakuk.com/index.php?route=blog/blog&blog_id=284
This did include a nice bit of kayaking for me and some friends. Although we were nowhere near as confident as the team charging down the river three of decided to have a break from support crew to give it a go and managed to pick out way down quite nicely. We did then have a flying lap of the upper in the afternoon with a few of the more experienced people even if they were sleep deprived and exhausted they still managed to persuade us down the whole thing without stopping. (oh year there was also cupcakes involved)
So only 2 months in and 4 parks ticked off – things were on track. I had plans to go up to Scotland later in the year to tick those off and I am sure I could figure out some other trips to get round the others.
Then as most people in the UK are aware March rolled round and a national lockdown occurred which on and off continued for most of the rest of the year.
There was a brief window in the middle of summer when things calmed down and I managed to get to Snowdonia for a weekend
5 ticked off 10 to go.
So the task continues to try and visit all the National Parks – I will wait and see what the state of lockdown is in 2021 but will not be rushing to get anywhere soon. It just means I have more time to plan and whenever I get there hopefully appreciate it slightly more.
Mike's Travel Adventures 