To start of with I am going to provide information on the Thames Valley as thats where I am from, and as things build we can start to look at the rest of the UK in stages. The Thames Valley in the UK has an extremely strong Community of kayakers. All disciplines of the sport are focused on, and this includes Freestyle, River running, Creeking, Marathon/Sprint, Polo, Slalom, Canadian, recreation and touring. All the whitewater kayaking in the Thames Valley is done on the River Thames, on the man made weirs that control the rivers flow. Again due to the shear nature of the features created only the introduction to whitewater, general whitewater strokes/techniques, Freestyle, and Slalom can be practiced. The Home of freestyle is Hurley Weir, you may have heard of the saying "there is nothing as good as Hurley" which is truly a false statement, but is more to represent the importance of this extremely good facility to the locals. The Home of Slalom is Shepperton weir, which has had several modifications to the surroundings to create an ideal training ground for the local paddlers. The River Thames has approximately 45 weirs on its stretch from the source in Gloucestershire to the tidal estuary, to the east of London. The Length of the River Thames is Approximately 200+ miles. Out of the 45 weirs only 11 weirs are safe to paddle and only half of those are regularly paddled, as most of the weirs require special levels and conditions.

Contacts for getting out paddling in the UK
The main reason people enjoy boating in our region so much is because there are a lot of very friendly helpful people that are keen to push the barriers and support their fellow paddlers. The sport is often taken too seriously, but in the Thames Valley it remains chilled out and Fun.