My SUP Stories

Being on the water is easily my happy place.
Launching onto my SUP immediately calms me down. My breathing slows. My shoulders drop. The world just becomes a better place. I don’t really know why it works, but it does. Every single time.

Urban paddling adds another layer to it. I notice more, partly because I’m not rushing and partly (as my partner would probably say) because my face isn’t buried in my phone. These tiny glimmers – a funny sign, wildlife, a moment of human kindness – are fleeting, but apparently they nudge us towards feeling happier overall. So I’ve started noticing them more intentionally.

Here are a few that made me smile:

A proper paper map

There’s something grounding about unfolding a paper map before a paddle, huddling around it with friends and working out the day’s route. It keeps me off my phone and feels wonderfully old-school.
Heron Maps Waterways Series is my favourite, they specialise in Britain’s inland waterways, and they’re brilliant.

Camden personalities

Camden on a sunny weekend is… an experience. I love the buzz, the energy, the eau de Camden, the characters. I can never resist Zombiepunk’s famous appeal “Help a punk get drunk”, just need to remember to have some cash on me. And then I’m equally happy to escape onto the water and the tranquility of Regent’s Park. The contrasts.

Nature is resilient

Nature has serious resilience. This coot built its nest inside the tyre that’s being used as a fender. And by law, if birds are nesting on a boat, that boat can’t move until the chicks have fledged.
Also: I can finally tell coots and moorhens apart.

The sketcher at City Road Lock

On a busy day in Islington, I paddled past a lone man sitting cross-legged at City Road Lock, completely immersed in his sketchbook. Thousands of people around him on the towpaths and he didn’t register any of it. Headphones on. Total focus. I still wonder what he was listening to.

Secrets views in Primrose Hill

Some of London’s prettiest houses and gardens can only be seen from the water. St Marks Crescent in Primrose Hill is one of those spots: elegant houses, colourful gardens and, quite unexpectedly, a life-sized cow statue on a balcony. I asked a resident once why.
“Fresh milk,” they said.
Fair enough.

New friends on the water

SUP friendships form quickly. Maybe because you skip the small talk and go straight into doing something together. Well suited to a Finn like me. Spending the whole day paddling with strangers and ending up sharing snacks in peaceful silence… it’s a very special kind of lovely.

A bookswap at Enfield Lock

At Enfield Lock there’s a little bookswap box. One afternoon an elderly gentleman arrived with a packed lunch and chose to eat by the water instead of at home. He chatted with passing boaters and paddlers. I imagined him browsing the books afterwards and walking away with a new read.
There’s even a map of London’s bookswap boxes if you want to explore.

A sign translated into dog

Canal & River Trust translated a towpath sign into “dog language”. CRT get criticised a lot, but it’s worth remembering they look after 2,000 miles of waterways, much of it Victorian infrastructure, dealing with modern-day climate change. There are humans behind these signs.

Canalboat living

I love narrowboat names. They’re tiny windows into the owner’s personality. Add the rooftop gardens, bikes, pots, pets and the occasional slightly chaotic storage system and it’s an entire world to observe. One cold day, I passed a little boat garden with a buddha statue tucked into it. It felt like a private moment of calm.

Street art truths

“I hope you never fit in.”
I took it as a positive reminder to stay a bit weird, stay curious, stay myself. I probably needed to hear it that day.

Final thought

Maybe that’s why paddling makes me so happy; it slows me down just enough to notice the tiny things that make life feel richer. The quiet, odd, surprising, funny and human moments that are easy to miss on land.

What’s the last small thing you noticed on the water that made you smile?

If you’d like more London paddling inspiration, my book Paddle London is now available to pre-order.