I love a good adventure let it be hiking, camping, cycling… or kayaking. Sadly I don’t have the chance to do the latter very often as I don’t own a kayak or live next to water. I haven’t done any kayaking since my epic Norway road trip, and frankly I missed it. The UK is a great place for kayak and canoe holidays. The company Kent Canoes kindly hosted me and my boyfriend for a kayaking adventure at the weekend.
Meeting Point: The meeting point was at 9 am in Yalding. This is the end of the kayaking trip. At 9:30 a transfer bus picked everyone up and took us to Tonbridge, where the adventure began.
How to get there: We took a train from Victoria to Yalding through Tonbridge. It took us 1 hour 40 minutes. Originally we were planning to take a train from St Pancras, but that got cancelled last minute, so make sure you check beforehand and arrive early. There are many train stations that have trains to Yalding, so it’s really easy to get to.
The group: There were 9 customers, mostly retired people, but a few younger people as well. Our instructors Tom and Gordon were really nice. Funny, easy going guys and they always made sure we were safe and answered our questions when we had some.
The Route: We started the trip in Tonbridge around 10 am. The river was mostly really calm, so it made a relaxed kayaking experience. The only fast flowing bits were the canoe passes. There were 6 canoe passes and each of them got steeper as the trip went on. However there were always steps around these, if someone didn’t want to do them.
We had lunch half way through our journey. There was a nice picnic bench, where we could sit down and have a little chat.
After our lunch break we set off again. The Medway river is really nice all the way. I didn’t see any rubbish, and it wasn’t busy either. We saw some nice birds along the way. Kingfishers are apparently quite common as well.
We got pretty exhausted by the end of our trip. It was 8.2 miles from Tonbridge to Yalding. We got to the end of our journey around 3:30. This can vary as the speed of each group and the river flow can be different.
What to bring: Depends on the weather you can wear swimming costume or wetsuit if owned. Generally good to have a thermal top ideally made from Fleece/Polyester that dries quickly. Also you will need raincoat, hat and tracksuit or walking trousers.
You will need to bring your own packed lunch and bring some water or hot drink to keep yourself hydrated.
You will end up wet by the end of the trip, so bring some dry clothes to change into after the trip.
The kayaks have hatches so you can keep your stuff in there.
Equipment provided: The company will provide you with the kayak, paddles, life jacket, helmet and spraydeck.
I highly recommend this kayak trip down the Medway river. It’s a nice day trip from London and suitable for beginners.
The company also offers canoe trips and SUP boarding.
In fact, if you are considering buying yourself a kayak this could be a great guide.
This trip was sponsored by Kent Canoes but as always all opinion is my own.
Sources for the November 2026 update
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Must have been an incredible experience and HARD WORK :) I went kayaking in Zambia and even though we didn't go very far, I was super sore in my arms the next day!!! I wonder if the water is clean and just naturally that brown?
What a fun adventure! You must have been so tired after all that kayaking. I used to go fairly frequently, though never as far as you!
I love active adventures like this! We've kayaked down the Chicago river through the city and it's so fun!
Love kayaking! We go all the time in Michigan when I am home. It is pefect with all that freshwater! Looks like you had a great time!
I actually never did kayaking! But its seems like you had so much fun! If Ill make it to Kent one day I will definitely give it a try!
Lovely experience. Even I wanna go kayaking. Looks super fun!
8.2 miles of kayaking? That's quite a trip. Looks so peaceful and like a nice experience.
Awesome! Thank you for all the useful tips and tricks! Even though seems like a long kayak journey, I would looove to try it out!
I've never kayaked before! I'm not sure if this is a long trip for kayaking (8.2 miles seems so long!) but you got some awesome shots along the way so it looks like it was definitely worth it! I loved the video at the end of the post! Really gave me an idea of what it was like for you - I love the low lying branches over the water, too, must've been fun to navigate under them!
It looks like this was such a great day! I love kayaking as well and would love to try some kayaking in England!
I love adventures as well. Haven't been kayaking in a while either. The trip looks fun though! Makes me wanna rent a kayak right now!
That looks so fun!!!! I love that it was a whole day experience... sometimes when yo go on those things they feel too short. And the canoe passes look like they were really thrilling :D
It looks like you had great adventure and fun. Hope to see you enjoy more such rides
This reminds me.. I haven't kayaked for years! You had such a longgggg one this trip, arms must be aching at the end. Great job!
Kayaking is my hobby and I really enjoyed it.