Kayak the Danube!

The guys at Kayak The Danube have now started their epic journey along the river, starting off from Ulm, Germany and will eventually arrive at the Black Sea. Unfortunately John had to pull out at the last minute due to injury, but a new team has now been assembled and seeing as it was his original idea, there's no way the guys will let him down! Here's the first taster of the start of their adventure...


"So Me and Nick are finally on the mighty Danube and have experienced our first 7 days of paddling the Queen of the European Rivers. We have experienced some of the huge contrast it has to offer, and plenty of its surprises!

The Jeffcock brothers, John and Rob were absolute heroes driving us and the gear to the source all the way from Sheffield. John regrettably had to pull out of the expedition at the last minute, but as it was his original idea, and a main organiser, he will be here in spirit all the way to the Black sea.

We had a two day stop over in Freiberg with the brothers for some heavy R&R yet managed to eat our body weight in Schnitzel and Bratwurst.

Before arriving at Donaueshington, the source of the Danube, we were apprehensive about the current water level and as it turns out, rightly so! Regardless the kayak was unloaded and we said our goodbyes then turned to face the river which will be our home for the next few months.

It quickly become evident that the stretch of river we unloaded at was high due to a weir downstream, but once crossed the mighty river was no less then a stream at this point! Undeterred the first 3 days involved walking sections over the shallow river bed. Fortunately our Arrowcraft Kayak was able to navigate the shallow water, even when it was only 1m wide! Thankfully Streamlyte donated us carbon fibre blades, so even after days of this tough river, they remain pristine.

The landscape more then made up for the lack of river, as we progressed through meadows, mountains and epic gorges.

7 days later we are in Regensburg, and from here it seems comical that the river started so small. 3 nights of heavy rain and an extra 200km downstream have allowed the Danube to flex its muscles...and we are grateful!

From our fourth day we were able to tackle the growing rapids without getting out the Arrowcraft each time.

Day 5 brought the large hydro dams, which helped to remove this and steadied the flow to around 3mph along most stretches. Day 6 we encountered our first big boats, some 100m long, as they make slow progress down channels from Amsterdam. Today is our first rest day, where we are fueling up and relaxing our aching shoulders.

We expect to make the Austrian boarder in the next few days, but if we know the Danube, we can expect plenty of surprises along the way! We will keep you posted on how it goes!"

We'll be back with more news next time we hear from them!