The Canoeists code.

The Canoeists code, is intended to help people enjoy the river without reducing the enjoyment of others or damaging the environment. It is expected that canoeists follow the code on all river trips.

Care for Wildlife

• Avoid disturbing nesting birds along the river banks, particularly in spring time.

• Avoid damaging beds of waterweed.

• Stop your activity if you are clearly disturbing wildlife.

Stay Safe

• Use the river in a safe fashion and ensure that you have the appropriate safety equipment.

• Ensure that any groups of young novice boaters are led by suitably experienced responsible persons – preferably a qualified instructor.

• Don’t drink alcohol during and just prior to your trip on the river.

• Follow instructions given to you by your canoe hire operator and/or group leader.

Help Keep a Healthy River

• Take your rubbish away with you.

• Avoid damage to banks, the riverbed and bank side vegetation - this can lead to erosion. You can help by only launching and landing at purpose made launch points.

• Avoid dragging boats and equipment over rock slabs and stones.

Be Fishing Friendly

• Pass anglers with as little noise and disturbance as possible.

• Keep away from banks being fished and fishing tackle.

• Avoid loitering in pools if anyone is fishing.

• Comply with reasonable directional requests.

Consider Other People

• Park sensibly without causing obstruction, do not block gateways or load and unload vehicles in awkward places.

• Keep noise to a minimum.

• Get changed out of public view.

• Whenever possible come ashore at recognised landing places; do not trespass on private property or moorings.

For more details about the Leicester Outdoor Pursuits Centre

How safe is rope?

written by Chris Murnin, Deputy Manager and Head of Ropes at Leicester Outdoor Pursuits Centre

“What if the rope breaks?” is one of the most frequently asked questions once you get a group onto the high ropes course, this is always met with the answer of “It won’t”, but rather than using the classic cliché your parents used time after time of “because I said so”, I thought I'd explain a little bit behind the science of the ropes we use.

The most common rope used at LOPC is what is called “Dynamic” rope of a thickness around 10.5mm. What makes this rope dynamic is its ability to absorb shock by stretching a little bit, (around 10-15%, but it is designed to be able to stretch up to 30%).

But what people really want to know is how strong the rope is. Rather than spouting off numbers and statistics I like to put it into terms of what it could lift. Well we know it can hold a full grown adult, but could it hold 2? Yes. What about 5? No problem! In fact we could support an entire group of 10 adults on one strand of the safety rope, but as you can imagine this would be impractical and hugely uncomfortable. The standard is around 22-30kN or 2200-3000 kg, that’s more than the weight of your average family car!

So now you are reassured by that knowledge, I'm going to drop a bombshell, every time you put a knot in a piece of rope it makes it weaker! The standard mountaineering knot- the figure of 8, reduces the strength of the rope by 20-25%, the Bowline (not used at LOPC) by as much as 25-30% and the clove hitch 35-40%!!

BUT!!!! Before you start panicking, it’s worth noting that even a 40% weakening on a 22kN rope leaves you with over a tonne to play with.

And it gets better, modern engineering practices dictate the use of a 'Factor of Safety' of at least 2.0 for anything that it is designed for, essentially, saving somebody’s life. This means that the ACTUAL design strength of your rope is closer to 60kn. This translates to 6000 kilograms.

So next time you get tied onto a rope, you can rest assured it's UNLIKLEY that it will break.

*PLAY to save the world*

“If we learn to enjoy being in wild places, we will look after them better.” Ray Mears

Take a look at this nice article...

https://naturalpathways.wordpress.com/category/benefits-of-bushcraft/

 

A whole weekend of fantastic activities one for all, all for £1!!

It is our 2015 open weekend next weekend 15th and 16th May - from climbing to kayaking to City Skylines Aerial Challenge, Olympics and much more! and it only costs a pound of which is fully refunded if you kindly complete a questionnaire!

Here's to a greener, cleaner future!

Some jolly good work from our River Litter Picking team last weekend - 40 bags collected over the weekend. Plus a trolley, a tyre, a very long pipe and various bits of scrap metal. A big thank you to the LOPC team, the scouts and our alternative education group for all their hard work. 192 bags in total so far this year! Here's to a greener, cleaner future!!

*News Soars in*

Leicester Outdoor Pursuits Centre has just adopted part of the River Soar. This is part of a partnership agreement with the Canal and Rivers Trust to actively help look after the section from Belgrave Lock to Birstal Lock.
As part of this we will be carrying on our efforts with the River Litter Pick Team and also help to control invasive species such as Himalayan Balsam and Floating Pennywort.

For even more information on this, please visit our website : http://www.lopc.co.uk/get_involved/riverlitterteam/

cLimBInG cLUb!

Come along and enjoy our brilliant evening climbing sessions.

Every Tuesday Evening : Juniors (8-13 years)  & Family members @ 18:00 - 19:30
                                         Adult Members (14-18 years) & Adult members @ 19:30 - 21:00

Annual Membership cost £7.50 and it is £5 per session

For further details or booking, please email volunteer@lopc.co.uk, alternatively you can call the Centre on 0116 268 1426