Looking into what gear you need to keep your stuff dry there’s various options – many canoe-hire companies will give you a big blue plastic barrel which seals around the top with a metal clasp and that takes care if it. In a capsize event the barrel will be buoyant and worst case it’ll float off down the river and you can grab it later out of a tree as you go by, but your stuff all stays dry.

But that means traveling with a giant toxic waste barrel in your boat – I’m not a fan of them on that side – they’re big bulky and inflexible, make a lot of noise banging around and if not the noise then I reckon the sight of a chemical barrel coming down the river is enough to “spook wildlife and fish”….

So what choices? The standard canoe/kayak drybags like those from SeaLine or Ortlieb are mostly PVC which is tough and usually shaped in a long tube with a roll-sealing opening at open end.

These are good and can be carried in and out of the boat easily, stow well, and will be waterproof of course, if they’re well made and the seams last. But the downside is you’re forever trying to reach down into the sac to get things out through the narrow hole – you can bet the stuff you really need suddenly is right at the bottom – it always is! Also the narrow shape ‘tube’ doesn’t fit a lot of odd-shaped items, although it’s great for clothes, so you still end up with stuff you can’t put away. I’ve had the same problem with my usual gear choice of a classic ex-army ‘kit bag‘ (with drybag liner) – the shape just isn’t that great for being in an out of all day…

When it rains you have to get your stuff out one by one and put it to the side where it gets wet while you get the one thing you really wanted out, then put it all back in again! In a canoe you don’t want tonnes of stuff sitting in the bottom of the boat

So I’ve been looking for more of a holdall shape, and found the Lugga Cargo 90 on sale at the giant outdoor store GoOutdoors.com.

Made of tough PVC and with plenty of straps and a big opening with a splash cover, I reckon this would be ideal – the barrel shape will squash into the bottom of the canoe easily, and it gives a possible ‘one-bag-for-everything’ approach. GoOutdoors has a sale on which makes this a ‘budget bushcraft’ buy at only £22.99 (with the discount card) down from £39.99.

So I’ll get one of these and do a trip – hopefully this will work out well. But its not totally waterproof of course – for that we found this: the UK-made Lomo 150L Monster Drybag!

150L it’s a huge cavernous amount of space, and has the same holdall like shape (although it does open at the end not at the top – but the opening is a lot wider than most so it should be OK, and it’s helped by a see-through plastic window. At only £22 it’s even cheaper and 150L should be enough for everyone!