Since the season is about to start again, I thought I’d do a reintroduction! Hello, I’m Julie but my Brownies call me Bumblebee. I’m a Brownie and Ranger leader (and sometimes Guide leader but not currently) coming up on my 18th anniversary but for the purposes of this blog, we’ll focus on a different Girlguiding … More Hi, I’m Bumblebee: a reintroduction for 2025
Winter is a really bad time for a summer paddler to try to maintain a paddling blog. I swore back in January that after missing all of December and most of November, I’d get back into it and keep it up until I got back out on the water and had new stuff to blog … More My journey into sea kayaking
At last, at last, new blog material! Last weekend I went out on the water for the first time since September and that means I have a story to tell! There’s a company in London – most sensibly named the London Kayak Company – who do kayak trips in London and I decided to go … More I kayaked all the way across London!
Well, it’s actually been nearly 11 years since my first trip out in a double sit-on-top where I capsized six times in ten minutes and not quite 8 years since the second attempt and well under 6 since I started paddling semi-irregularly but I’m going to average all that out and call it ten years. … More 10 things I’ve learned in 10 years of paddling
When I started this blog, I started an Instagram account alongside it and so I curated a whole list of paddlesport or paddlesport-adjacent accounts to follow. There’s a whole blog post in how difficult it is to find kayakers to follow who aren’t into whitewater, as I’m not, but that’s not my point. SUP accounts … More You don’t have to be competitive
I haven’t got a clue what order these are supposed to go in. It would make sense to do them in the order they went on the towel but apparently they were on swimming costumes before they went on the towel, which means they’ve got out of order. Ok, let’s start with something easy – … More Let’s look at my swimming badges
Walking and swimming are, generally, my exercise of choice. Paddlesport in the summer, but that’s for fun, not for exercise. And since it’s still the middle of winter, although you wouldn’t guess that by the blue sky and sunshine outside right now, let’s go paddlesport adjacent and I’ll tell you about my swimming routine. It’s … More I like swimming
It’s very early but we’ve now had our first boathouse meeting of the year! We do this in January – get a tide timetable, go through our calendars and our requests and put all our boat club and unit sessions in so everyone’s ready for the summer term. Unfortunately, it does mean that anyone who … More Getting the boathouse back together for 2025
This is a sewing post! I suppose technically this counts as MYOG – make your own gear – but it’s not technical or kayaking gear or anything like that. It’s a suit of clothing to put on after kayaking and it’s possibly the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever made. I do occasionally make things. They’re … More My post-kayaking suit
I’ve neglected Bumblebee Paddles terribly! I’ve missed nine blog posts in a row and I haven’t touched Instagram since early December! It’s because I’m a fair weather paddler and I have absolutely nothing to say in the winter. But let’s say it anyway. Let’s start nice and easy with some reflections on paddling in 2024. … More Back on the blog! Highs & lows of 2024
Bumblebee Paddles 