My uni canoe club are considering doing a Euro trip for around a month or two in length, we would probably start in the uk because thats where we live but can anyone recommend any good locations (mainly playspots, but maybe rivers too), for our trip. or recommend any other good bits of advice or tips.

thanks in advance

Seth

How about Iceland?

Lots and lots of stuff thereB)

Hawaii Sur Rhone is probably one of the top playspots in europe. Also, check out the Playak spots: playak.com/categories.php?catid=53

yeah, hawaii sur rhone is a must, were also thinkin maybe prague and switzerland, where the world cup was held, anyone know anything else?

For Switzerland, ask Jeroen, since he probably knows the most about Switzerland on Playak. Here is a link to Fluid Junction's article on the World Cup in Thun: www.fluid-junction.com/blog/index.php/po...Thun-World-Cup-Event

Seth - the (world champs) wave at Thun normally only works during the competitions (the weir gates need to be set) - unless you are really lucky. Otherwise for Swiss playspots there is obviously Bremgarten, and if you like cold water Sierre - both are spots described on this website. Obviously there are loads of rivers to run. Ian

With a month or two you can do a heck of a lot of kayaking. The alps offer quite a large range of opportunities. With that much time you could do an entire tour. It all depends on your skills and on the water. (a) I can recommend the Swiss Alps in spring, like all the classics around the Vorderrhein close to Chur, then Moesa, Versaca, Maggia in the Swiss Canton Tessin. Then there is some kayaking in the Martigny area and the valley of Valais (never been there though). (b) The Southern French Alps are terrific places with quite some classic rivers. Verdon, Drac, Ubaye, Esteron, Roya, Var, Durance, Vesubie... oh man don't get my started (check out the book White Water South Alps by Peter Knowles). (c) Italy Val d'Aosta (don't know much about it. (d) Austria like Loisach, Rissbach, Inn, Ötz and Venter Aache etc are more in fall... Then there is kayaking in the Pyrenees, in Corsica... So there is some stuff to run out there. Most rivers here have water in spring. As for playspots I know Bremgarten well as it is 20min from my place (ok, I am pretty lucky). Bremgarten is a wave from 120 to 160 m3/s and a hole from 170 to 205 m3/s (check www.hydrodaten.admin.ch/e/index.htm for water levels). Then there is Hawaii sur Rhone, but I heard the water level has to be just perfect and it's a pretty big thing and hard to get in. There is Rabioux (or so) on the Durance but that one has some pretty bad eddies. There is also a playspot on the Rhone at Visp, Switzerland. Just don't miss Bremgarten. Cheers.

If you check out Adrian's site, he has some pics from a few rivers in Europe. If you look at the first few sentences of this link, there are quite a few rivers mentioned. adrian.playak.com/index.php?option=com_c...=view&id=46&Itemid=5 . Also, you could try to plan your trip so that you can catch a competition at Thun and hopefully get a bit of time in on it.