Perth is moving.

No not the city, out Brookbank Store in Perth is shifting about 200 yards up the road. expanding and adding a store in store from Escaperoutes so you can now buy a bike, and a boat in the same building. if you are passing, why not drop in. They are having the grand opening on the 9th and 10th of June.

Remember, our  Water day is on the following Sunday the 17th at Talkin Tarn, Near Brampton

Calm before the storm

Its nice and calm this morning in the shop. following last weeks rain, and two lost kayaks, things are back to normal. this is all set to change later today.

This afternoon it will be a different story as we have our first big lorry delivery of the year. With Perth getting their new store ready to open, plus their Loch Ore Demo event, all our normal vans have gone up north to support them for the weekend. Instead, to keep the boats moving we use a big lorry (we normally use it to get collections from the big suppliers - Perception and Dagger) to move your boats north.  Fortunately we are splitting the delivery with Lancaster, as we would bust if we took all 100 boats it can take.....

In the mean time here is a few views of the shop in calm mode!

we have some new racks in from HF retailing at £24.99 simple effective and strong great for storing up to 3 smaller kayaks in you garage, or shed (or on the side of your van!

the infamous Croco Kayak crosseyed and sold!

The new range of Palm gloves have sold really well. Its the start of the paddling season for our local Canoe Clubs, so we always see our glove sales spike at this time of year.

Expect these aisles to be a bit smaller this afternoon! bring on the boats!

The warehouse has also just recieved a container of Novacraft Canoes, please give us a call if you want one - they are selling fast!

Staff Training - Sea kayaking

We are quite lucky at Brookbank Carlisle, we can have a go in most of the kayaks available in the Uk within a couple of weeks, and we do attend our fair share of white water, open canoe or sea kayak specific events. However it is very rare to be able to jump in all the sea kayaks available to us and go for a night out wild camping, with staff members from the rest of our shops.

This last weekend we had two separate training overnighters on the Isle of Anglesey, due to the weather forecast Olly Sanders from Rock and Sea Adventures (our guide) was able to find water suitable for the mixed group of paddlers. one group were based at the south end, the other at the north end.

The aspects we covered included packing the sea kayak, wild camping skills, paddling a laiden and unlaiden sea kayak, rescue skills, paddling in tide races, as well as seal watching! for most of us it was a reminder, and for all it was a great opportunity to try all the latest sea kayaks we stock , from Valley, P&H, North Shore and Tahe Marine, 

more photos coming soon from a better camera! (isn't amazing, by 4 year old "waterproof"camera no longer seems to be anywhere near as good as my new DSLR, which was sadly left at home, as for videos.....

Kyle Canoe Club demo day

Last weekend Antony and I with some members of Carlisle Canoe Club went up to provide boats and kit for a Demo event for Kyle Canoe Club.

Based at the south end of Ayr, it was a handy base for parking, and getting on the water, being right at the mouth of the river. When we arrived the sun was out, but later in the day it was a bit on the nippy side.

we managed to get 23 boats in and on 3 cars, mostly creekers, as that was what we were asked for,  but a few touring boats and playboats too

Flipping and dipping.

sandy beach, stompers, diesels, nomads, mambas, jefe, project and rock star

Good to meet you all, see you on the water. if you are looking for a smaller more specific demo day, rather than the big Loch Ore Meadows or Talkin Tarn even, just get in touch,

Caledonian Canoe Trail

A couple of weekends ago (when it was warm and sunny) Pete Joined Cam (manager from the Perth Store) to help at a launch event for the Caledonian Canoe Trail. With improved signage for portages, as well as low level pontoons, canoe and kayakers will find it easier to use than ever.

we took a small selection of our kit, and spent the sunny days chatting to customers anf giving out our new brochure

there were several importers there too, and I had a quick chance to take a few pics of some of the new kit

wenonah boats  -2x ultralight boats, a pink tuff weave prospector 16 (£100 more than royalex, and quite a big weight saving - other colours available!) plus prospector 16, 15, and argosy all in royalex

Our Touring cags, and BAs from Peak, Palm and Yak

Our Stand - in the cool of the morning!

The New North Shore Aspect LV for the smaller touring paddler

New Valley boats fresh from the mould - the Geminis

 the top boat is a Gemini SP, with more rocker for playing (sports Play), the boat below and left is the Gemini ST (Sports Tour) with a bit less tocker. both about 15ft with the normal quality outfittings. available in the next couple of months

phones at carlisle

Hi all

sorry if you have had problems getting through on the telephone to the Carlisle Shop today.
please use our temporary number 01228 672098. untill further notice
we are in the middle of switching broadband suppliers, and one of the companies was a bit too enthusiatic......

normal service to resume by the 13th March at the latest.....

by the majic of the interweb, our email and tills are still up and running, Or why not just pop in and see us

Cheers

Pete
Shop Manager

PS new paper copies of our brochure will be in store for collection from Friday

2012 Catalogue available to view

With the Catalogue imminent, we now have the online view available if you are impatient.... click here to go there.

Or to order your paper copy click here