Where to go paddleboarding: London and beyond

By Holly O'Mahony on 19/8/2020

Take a trip to any seaside town on a calm day and you’ll see them: paddleboarders standing serenely on their waterborne steeds, using an oar to help them glide through the waters. Once considered the lazy man’s answer to surfing, Stand-Up Paddleboarding (SUP) is, today, the fastest growing watersport in the world. It’s famously popular with people of all ages, loved for being a workout for both the mind (thanks to being a thoroughly relaxing activity) and body (due to its propensity to help you build core strength).
Paddleboarding isn’t the reserve of seaside dwellers, either. The less choppy waters of rivers, lakes and estuaries are often far more suited to the gentle activity – and there’s a growing number of companies offering paddleboarding lessons and equipment hire in London.
Here’s where to get your fix…

Paddleboarding London

Based in Camden, but with additional hubs in Regent’s Park, King’s Cross and Windsor, Paddleboarding London is ideal for central Londoners hoping to hop on a board without travelling far. The company offers a range of SUP adventures along the city’s canals and waterways. Those with some experience can hire a board and glide along the designated routes at their own pace, while tuition for beginners and SUP yoga (which follows a group class format and takes place on a stationary board), are also among the offerings.

Sessions with Paddleboarding London are also for a good cause; the company operates from the same base as The Pirate Castle in Camden – a charity dedicated to teaching children watersports – and a percentage of the cost of all paddleboarding sessions is donated to the charity.

Cost: SUP yoga from £38 / paddleboarding tours from £42

WHERE

Locations in Camden, Regent’s Park, King’s Cross and Windsor

The London Stand Up Paddle Company

From dawn patrols along the river to lazy sunset crawls, vigorous SUP workouts to beginners’ first paddles, The London Stand Up Paddle Company covers all grounds. Based in Richmond-upon-Thames, all sessions take place along this southwest stretch of the river, with longer tours taking paddlers up to Twickenham and back. Whatever your experience level, paddleboarding in this neck of the woods is a chance to glide under historic bridges and circumnavigate small islands, while admiring the local wildlife.

Cost: Hour-long sessions for £25 / 2.5 hour sessions for £45

WHERE

Meet Outside the White Cross, Water Lane, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1TH

Active360

Those in search of paddleboarding adventures beyond the standard river trails should look to Active360. The company has four London bases: the original at Kew Bridge plus a central site in Paddington, one perched on a tranquil, child-friendly stretch of the river at Brentford Lock, and a tourist hot-spot in Richmond.

As well as offering river tours, Active360 runs SUP yoga and Pilates classes, night paddles, bespoke birthday parties and – very excitingly for the environmentally minded – eco tours. The latter are two-hour guided sessions in which you can learn about the River Thames from an environmental perspective, get up close to its ecosystem and listen to its sounds using underwater hydrophones. And if this leaves you wanting to do your bit to help keep the Thames clean, you can book onto a Paddle and Pick session: a chance to paddleboard while picking up the river’s rubbish.

The Gutsy Girls organisation also hosts its women-only paddleboarding sessions and community meet-ups through Active360, an ideal opportunity for solo female paddlers to get into the sport and meet like-minded people.

Cost: SUP yoga from £25 / paddleboarding from £45

WHERE

Locations at Kew Bridge, Paddington, Richmond and Brentford

Wet’n’Dry SUP

Hoping to tie in some paddleboarding with a day trip out of the city? Wet’n’Dry SUP has several paddleboarding hubs in Essex along the Thames Estuary – and as far as the coast. For beginners, the flattest stretch of the estuary near Two Tree Island is an easy place to start your adventure, with or without a lesson from Wet’n’Dry, while the freshwater paddleboard launch at Paper Mill Lock on the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation offers similar shelter from the wind.

At the tidal stretch of the River Crouch at Hullbridge, you’ll find a beautiful conservation area alive with wildlife including unusual birds and grey seals. Meanwhile, the windsurfing beach at Chalkwell offers a sandy shore to launch from, especially on a sunny day, plus there are ample pubs at Old Leigh to paddle to from here. Wet’n’Dry offers SUP yoga too at a secret spot along the estuary.

Cost: £50pp for two hours

WHERE

Various Essex locations along the Thames Estuary

Back of Beyond Adventures

Laying firm claim to being ‘the original stand-up paddleboard company in Richmond’, Back of Beyond Adventures has had a base on the River Thames since 2012, and in Cornwall since 2007. Following a ‘choose your own adventure’ format, BoBA routes can lead you from the company’s Petersham Road base to pretty riverside pubs or around the river’s usually inaccessible islands, depending on what you fancy. Inexperienced SUPers can book in for a lesson, while those who already know the ropes (or lack of) are free to float at their leisure. BoBA also offers group meditation (aboard a paddleboard, of course) for £60pp, and detoxing wild camping trips for £197pp.

Cost: Group sessions and self-guided tours from £60 / one-to-one classes from £120

WHERE

Petersham Road, River Lane, Richmond, Surrey TW10 7AG

Lee Valley White Water Centre

So you want to learn to paddleboard in a controlled environment? The marshalled and mercifully clear waters of Lee Valley White Water Centre (where the likes of white-water rafting, canoeing and the gutsy-sounding hydrospeeding are also available) is a space where you can do just that. Here, those aged 16 can take a formal Stand Up Paddleboarding Development Programme, gaining the techniques, skills and confidence to venture out on a paddleboard solo. Sixty-minute casual paddleboarding sessions are also on offer, pitched as a chance to discover paddleboarding in a relaxed, family-friendly environment.

Cost: Sessions from £10pp / Courses from £75pp

WHERE

Station Road, Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire EN9 1AB