Kayaks with children - Paklica

Have you been kayaking with children? We have, many times. Taking the opportunity of being in the area of Międzyrzecz we went on a one-day trip on the Paklica river. We had already been kayaking on the Obra river, but we had not paddled this small river yet. The trail that we chose was described as easy. Perfect.

We left our car in Międzyrzecz and went with kayaks to Jordanowo village. There, we got into the kayaks and started paddling.

Paklica River is a tiny river, which in the first stage of our journey led through fields. At the beginning, we paddled under the new S3 expressway. Then we reached the village of Szumiąca and further on the river led into the forest.

Around the middle of the route (next to Smolno Mill) we needed to portage the kayaks. The canoes had to be carried about 50 meters along the river. In the section of the forest we met several obstacles such as fallen trees, which added to the excitement of the trip. The last section of the forest, just before entering Lake Wyszanowo was almost entirely overgrown with reeds. Beautiful view.

The final stage of our route led through two connected lakes, Wyszanowo and Bukowieckie. At the end of the second one, in Skoki, there was a dam where our tour ended.

Fun fact: Lake Bukowieckie is man-made. It was created by damming the Paklica for a mill in Skoki, which was already mentioned in the 16th century as royal property.

A few words about how the children fared during the trip. For Kris it was fun, he is the oldest and had already been kayaking, this time he really wanted to help with the paddling. So we decided to divide like this: Kayak 1: Ann + Kris, Kayak 2: Philip + Agatha  + Justine.

For Justine it was the first contact with the kayak and such a long time on the water. You can see that she liked it. It is important to give children enough things to enjoy during the trip. Ideally, there are natural attractions (e.g. a spotted bird, attractive aquatic vegetation, or a dragonfly), but you must also be prepared for when no such attractions exist. Here, treats come to the rescue - they are perfect for kayaking. Children traveling in a kayak have a great opportunity to connect with nature.

Children's safety in the canoe is important. Life jackets must be worn and matched to the weight and height of the child. We, knowing our passion for canoeing, have already bought two life jackets of our own, which now go from child to child as they grow. It is also important that the child is disciplined and is able to keep almost all parts of their body inside the kayak - this is a useful skill for overcoming obstacles on the water. Children's life jackets have a special collar that keeps the child's head above the water and are equipped with a whistle.

Our children started their kayak adventures at the age of 3 and this is probably the earliest appropriate age to comfortably take a child along while kayaking.

The entire route length was 14 km. We went at a recreational pace (5 hours with a short break next to the mill).