Paddleboarding spots in Cumbria

This put-in is on the River Leven close to Newby Bridge, where the river leaves the southern tip of Windermere and runs about 8 miles to Morecambe Bay. The upper stretch towards Haverthwaite is used by whitewater paddlers as a grade 3 to 4 run.

Cartmel Fell put-in

This slipway sits on Windermere's shore at Storrs, within the civil parish of Cartmel Fell and close to Broad Leys, home of the Windermere Motor Boat Racing Club. The bay in front of it doubles as the club's race course on event days.

Glebe Road slipway (Bowness-on-Windermere)

This slipway on Glebe Road launches onto Windermere, England's largest natural lake, within Bowness Bay close to the town's promenade and the Windermere Lake Cruises piers.

Windward Way slipway (Bowness-on-Windermere)

This slipway launches onto Windermere's eastern shore off Windward Way, a residential road on the southern edge of Bowness-on-Windermere. It sits among private lakeside plots rather than a formal public launch site.

Coniston Water put-in, Blawith Common

This is a whitewater canoeing put-in on Blawith Common, on the western shore near the southern end of Coniston Water, where Black Beck reaches the lake. Paddlers typically launch here and head down the lake to where it narrows into the River Crake.

Roa Island slipway, Tower Street

This slipway sits on Roa Island, a former tidal island linked to Rampside by an 1846 causeway, and launches onto Piel Channel at the mouth of Morecambe Bay. The island lies within the South Walney and Piel Channel Flats SSSI, noted for its seal colony and wintering wading birds.

Roa Island slipway, Foulney Street

This slipway is on Foulney Street, Roa Island, close to the causeway to Rampside, and launches onto Piel Channel at the entrance to Morecambe Bay. The area lies within the South Walney and Piel Channel Flats SSSI.

Barrow Lifeboat Station slipway, Roa Island

This slipway serves the RNLI's Barrow Lifeboat Station on Roa Island, which covers Morecambe Bay and the Irish Sea and has operated since 1864. It launches onto Piel Channel; as a working lifeboat slipway, access for other craft may be restricted around exercises and callouts.

Walney Island west shore slipway

This slipway opens onto the Irish Sea on the west shore of Walney Island, near Vickerstown and North Scale. Broad sands are exposed at low tide, and the neighbouring Earnse Bay is used through summer by a kitesurfing school and other watersports.

Workington put-in

Workington Harbour sits where the River Derwent meets the Irish Sea on the Cumbrian coast. Alongside the commercial Prince of Wales Dock, the harbour includes a tidal leisure harbour used by small leisure and fishing craft, with the whole port run by Cumberland Council as the statutory harbour authority.

Siddick put-in

Siddick is a small coastal settlement on the Solway coast about two miles north of Workington Harbour, backed by the long sand and shingle stretch of Siddick Beach. A slipway here gives access to the open Irish Sea coast, away from the harbour and its shipping.

Workington put-in

Workington Harbour sits where the River Derwent meets the Irish Sea on the Cumbrian coast. This slipway is mapped as an official small-craft facility on nautical charts, close to the harbour's Tidal Leisure Harbour section used by small leisure and fishing boats.

Whitehaven put-in

Whitehaven Harbour is a Georgian-era harbour on the west Cumbrian coast, developed from 1634 as a coal-exporting port and now home to a marina with around 400 berths. This slipway sits on North Beach, on the open coast just north of the harbour's North Pier, separate from the enclosed harbour basin further along the shore.

Whitehaven put-in

Whitehaven Harbour is a Georgian-era harbour on the west Cumbrian coast, developed from 1634 as a coal-exporting port and now home to a marina with around 400 berths. This slipway sits at the southern end of the harbour close to a near-identical mapped point, likely recording the same launch spot twice.

Silecroft Beach slipway, Whicham

This slipway opens onto Silecroft Beach on the Whicham parish coast, a gently shelving shingle-and-sand beach facing the Irish Sea with the Cumbria Coastal Way running along it. Free parking sits beside the beach, with toilets and village pubs nearby.

Armboth slipway (Thirlmere)

A slipway on Thirlmere reservoir's western shore, reached from the Armboth car park off Dam Road near Legburthwaite. United Utilities, which owns the reservoir, lists canoeing as permitted at Thirlmere but does not permit paddleboarding there.

St. Bees put-in

St Bees Beach is a broad sandy beach on the Irish Sea coast at the southern end of the Cumbrian coastline, beneath the red sandstone cliffs of St Bees Head. It is the traditional starting point of Wainwright's Coast to Coast Walk, and a slipway here gives access to the beach for launching craft.

Silloth coast path slipway

A slipway on the concrete coast path north-east of Silloth, on the stretch of the King Charles III England Coast Path heading towards Grune Point. It fronts the Solway Firth's tidal sand and mudflats, which shift daily under one of the UK's largest tidal ranges.

Silloth pier slipway

A slipway beside a small pier on the concrete promenade path north-east of Silloth, on the King Charles III England Coast Path towards Grune Point. It launches onto the Solway Firth's tidal sand and mudflats, which are exposed and re-covered by one of the UK's largest tidal ranges.

Silloth RNLI slipway

A slipway at Silloth's RNLI lifeboat station on the Solway Firth, on the north-west Cumbrian coast facing the Galloway hills across the water. The Solway has one of the largest tidal ranges in the UK, with spring tides at Silloth rising and falling by around 8.4 metres, so the exposed sand and mudflats here change fast with the tide.

Seascale put-in

This slipway sits on Seascale's beach on the Irish Sea coast, next to the seafront car park. The beach shelves from shingle at the top to a wide expanse of sand at low tide, with toilets and a convenience store nearby.

Parton put-in

Parton is a small coastal village on the Cumbrian coast about two miles north of Whitehaven, overlooking the Solway Firth. A slipway gives access to a beach that is mainly pebbles and rock, with sand exposed at low tide, reached from the village via a tunnel under the railway line.

Hodbarrow Outer Barrier slipway, Haverigg

This slipway is on the Hodbarrow Outer Barrier near Haverigg, a sea wall over a mile long built between 1900 and 1905 to keep the sea from the former Hodbarrow ironstone workings, and opens onto the Duddon Estuary. The estuary forms part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest and is Cumbria's second-largest after the Solway Firth.

Hodbarrow Lagoon slipway, Outer Barrier