November Update

November was a good varied activity month for me again. 

It started off with some really good solo Upper Dart runs in my ZET kayak in some fantastic washing over the slab levels. Such a blast!

I did manage a little bit of DWS but most of my climbing was spent indoors again due to the weather. 

Scored some great surf down Bantham though, some of which was on my longboard and 8'0" retro board, but I also had a really good session down there in my surf kayak too - ripping it up in some nice solid headhigh waves. Wicked fun! :)

I also scored some pretty decent and well overhead surf down Cornwall too, getting some chunky and adrenaline fuelled rides that stoked me right out. Woohoo! :)

The other thing we managed this month due to some particularly heavy rainfall was a spot of riverboarding on the Dart on our boogie boards. I had a great time with Carl surfing the top wave on the Loop as well as running the whole section down to Holne Bridge, plus a nice top wave session with my friend Chris in which I managed to surf not only the boogie board but also a skim board, a knee board and a small foam surfboard stood up on the wave. I lasted about 30 secs of stood up surfing on the top wave which was pretty good as the wave is quite bumpy and tricky to ride like this. 

All in all, a few really good months of crazy fun! Excellent! :)

October Update

October was a bit of a mixed bag really. The weather wasn't generally as good as September but I still managed to cram a variety of different activities into the month. 

I managed some nice DWS sessions at Berry Head early in the month before the weather forced me indoors and some training on my home wall again. 

I also managed to score a bit more surfing in too, some on the longboard locally, but also a few fantastic bodysurfing sessions trying out my new DaFin swim fins and the handplane I'd shaped myself. It was a wonderful feeling swimming into some clean three to four footers with minimal equipment and gliding down the line using my body as a surfboard. Getting so close to the wave was an awesome and amazing experience, and I'm definitely going to do more of it from now on.

Right at the end of the month I scored a mad coasteering session with my mate Josh in some pretty rough conditions off Berry Head. Getting sloshed about by some big waves added quite a bit of excitement to the day. Following another session with my mate Carl again I'd managed to get enough footage with my new GoPro camera to make up a short movie which I uploaded to YouTube. The link is here:

http://youtu.be/52IHHYE5ICg

Enjoy! :)

September Update

With great weather for the most part during September along with a series of quality swells coming through which also coincided with a few weeks holiday, the whole month turned into a surfing, deep water soloing and coasteering extravaganza!! 

When the winds were from the North and West and the sun was shining I was up at Berry Head smashing out my favourite DWS routes, with the odd coasteering session thrown in for good measure.

Once the wind was offshore on the North Coast of Cornwall and the swells were starting to hit I was soon back down to my favourite spots to make the most of the perfect conditions. I scored plenty of excellent surf sessions during this period, with a few almost epic days of quality overhead and clean surf in which I bagged some awesomely wicked rides. Stoked!

On one particularly good day myself and surfing buddy Carl borrowed a GoPro camera and managed to get enough footage for him to make up a short movie of our day of quality waves. The only down side of the GoPro is that the fisheye lens makes the head high surf look about two foot! Anyway, the link to the YouTube video is here:

http://youtu.be/9Rea5FVBCow

Enjoy! :)

August Update

Busy and tiring would be two words to describe August for me. I ended up working 7 days a week throughout the entire month, fitting in lots of freelance work for Sea Kayak Devon in amongst my regular work. 

On top of that I spent a fair amount of time either side of work deep water soloing at Berry Head, due to the run of pretty good weather for the majority of the month. It was great to get back on all my favourite routes again and free solo in the sunshine over the aqua-marine seas. I was loving it! 

I smashed out all the classics and spent plenty of days beasting myself on all the super-steep routes to build my power endurance, with the aim of crushing more classic routes over at Portland and Swanage later in the month, or early September. 
However, spells of rain and continuing work commitments put pay to that towards the end of the month. Gutted! 

Hopefully I will get a bit of free time in September, either before or during our holiday, to tick some routes off my wish list and fulfill my climbing aims for this year. Where there's a will, there's a way! Haha! Super-psyched for it now! Bring it on! :)

Photos: Me soloing Cod Tympani, 7a+, Berry Head, pictures: Pete Saunders.

July antics

A good run of super hot and sunny weather throughout most of July meant that we were able to get out pretty regularly to enjoy a variety of outdoor activities. 

In saying that, the first part of the month was dedicated to doing a bit more work on the van, in which I fitted a wind driven roof ventilator and a window in the bulkhead, along with a few other bits and bobs. 

With a rapid rise in sea temperatures this month, to almost 20 degrees celsius, the main focus after that was predominantly water based, including regular swims in the local cove and a number of adrenaline-fuelled coasteering sessions over at Berry Head. 
On one of these outings I finally did a huge jump I'd been eyeing up for a while now, which I believe to be in the 70 to 75 foot range. Things had been going well that day and my jumps were, on the whole, almost textbook, so when I arrived at the big jump (which I hadn't actually planned to jump that day) I was super-relaxed and it just felt right to give it a go. It was pretty much; walk up to the very edge, look down, shout 1,2,3 and just launch off it. The drop was a lot longer than I'd expected and I did let out a few expletives halfway down before tensing my body in readiness for the pencil landing at the bottom. What I discovered was that hitting the sea from a 70 foot, 2 second, drop at over 45mph resulted in a huge impact on my body. Although I entered the water dead straight and super-ridgid, the impact forces were massive, forcing my legs up into almost a frog-like position and pummeling my body from head to toe. There was no notable injuries though, much to my relief, and I emerged from the water whooping for joy and laughing my head off. It was such an adrenaline rush it was crazy! 
As a result more coasteering sessions are being planned so I can get my fix again! :)

One of the other water-based activities that I managed to make the most of was a spot of surfing down at my local beach. An overnight swell produced some nice clean three foot plus peelers and I was in the water at 0630 to score a bunch of good rides for an hour before work that morning. Super-stoked with that! :)

When conditions and tides allowed, I managed to bag a handfull of deep water soloing sessions over Torquay in preparation for the Berry Head season which kicks off on the first of August. As well as scoring some nice sessions around the Meadfoot area and over at the super-steep Black Head, I also had a couple of good days down at Longquarry Point in which I succeeded in climbing a fantastic route called 'Once a Swinger', graded 7b. It is a brilliant juggy upsidedown route through the roof of a low hanging block, and is climbable in both directions, although I did feel the route was more like a solid F7a, not 7b as in the guide. 

Along with plenty of DWS at Berry Head this August, I am also planning a few trips to Lulworth and Swanage to try and climb a few of the classic routes over there too, so I'm really looking forward to that. I just hope the run of good weather continues. Fingers crossed! :)

Work-wise, I've been helping the local canoe club out by running a BCU three star sea kayak course, as well as doing a bit of freelance work for Sea Kayak Devon in Dartmouth. 

Looking forward to much of the same next month really and planning to make the most of things as usual. Long may the summer continue! And as for July, as the Looney Tunes would say; "That's all Folks!" :D

Photo: Me jumping off 'Colossus' 70'

Scotland Seakayaking Trip

Finally the trip we'd been looking forward to for ages came around and we were on the incredibally long drive to Scotland heading for Oban. After about nine or ten hours on the road we eventually made it, passing the Falls of Lora on the drive into town. 
We called into Seakayak Oban, the main sea kayaking shop in the area, to pick up a tide tables and some flares we'd not managed to purchase prior to the trip. Stuart, the guy in charge and good friend of Ben who we freelance for back in Dartmouth, was a really nice guy and really generous and helpful with knowledge and advice on the area we intended to kayak in. 
Filled with excitement and anticipation of our adventures ahead we finally left Stuart's shop and headed over to the local Lidl's to stock up on food for the trip before driving out to Seil Island, where we intended to start our journey, to eat dinner and do our final packing and preparation. 
One of the first things we found out was how friendly the locals are, being befriended almost instantly by the couple who owned the cottages next to the carpark, who offered to look after our van while we were away, allowed us the use of their outside tap for water and pointed out the local otter who was frollicking in the shallows on the other side of the small rocky bay.

Next morning we loaded up the kayaks, managing to cram what we thought was enough food into them, and set off around 10am paddling south down through the Sound of Luing in a strong ebb tide with the sun blazing. We stopped off at the Grey Dogs tide race to witness the seriously strong flows through there before continuing on past the entrance to the mighty Corryvreckan and down the first few kilometres of the east coast of Jura. We'd set off a little late having struggled to get up and moving earlier in the morning, so we pitched camp early (due to the tide turning against us) on a nice pebble beach overlooking the sound and the mountains beyond, cooked up dinner, and went to bed early to avoid the midges and get some sleep prior to our proposed earlier start the next morning. 

The weather held well the following day and we made better use of the tide to put in a longer run all the way down to a superb little camping spot near Craighouse at the bottom end of Jura, with the northwest winds increasing throughout the afternoon helping us along a bit. 

Strong winds on day three limited mileage to a measley nine kilometres, but at least it brought us a little closer to the Sound of Islay which we intended to paddle through early the next morning, with the added bonus of seeing some sea eagles up close and camping on a beach next to a deer. 

We discovered the tides moved extremely quickly through the sound of Islay covering the 25km to the NE tip of Islay from our camp in just three hours! With a light ESE wind in our favor we made the decision to continue on our journey with an 11km open crossing to the islands of Oronsay and Colonsay. A quick pit stop by the lighthouse was undertaken to munch some sandwiches, re-fill our hydration bladders and plot our bearing, before setting off again for the low and distant-looking islands ahead. It only took us 1hr 50mins to make the crossing, landing safely on an idyllic little beach on Oronsay, where we had a few brews and a bit more food in the baking sunshine, overlooking seal colonies on some rocky islets just offshore, with the Paps of Jura in the far distance. It was beautiful! After a well-earned rest we paddled around the southern tip of Oronsay, past huge atlantic grey seal colonies, and up to a sheltered little camp spot on the north side of the island. With water levels running low we hiked up a nearby small mountain in search of a stream to top up by but had no luck - the streams were just boggy ditches with almost stagnant water in them. At a nearby farm we were informed that there was a spring (where they got their water from) over by a beach not far from the one we'd landed on earlier in the day. Typical!!! One extremely long walk later we were back at the tent cooking up dinner with a much needed brew in hand. We slept well that night!

It was very windy the following morning from the east, but the forecast gave slightly lighter southerlies later in the day, so we decided to paddle to a nice looking beach on the NE tip of Colonsay that afternoon and explore the west coast of the island. Rain and mist spread in that afternoon and it was pretty miserable breaking camp in such awful weather, but the sightings of huge colonies of seals on the low rocks and large numbers of sea birds nesting on the cliffs on our paddle northwards more than made up for it. That evening we landed on our intended beach, which was indeed very scenic, and set up camp on some lovely soft grass at the back of the dunes. 

Strong SE winds were shaking the tent when we woke the next day and a quick look out to sea showed a mass of white-caps and confirmed our thoughts that we'd be having a rest day instead of doing any paddling today. At least the sun was out again though, allowing us to dry out all our soggy gear from the previous day and catch up on a bit of chart work, reading and more importantly - sleep! That evening we went for a walk along the beach and up the craggy hill to the south to gain a VHF signal and listen to the weather report. With force three to four southeasterlies forecast we made plans to have a crack at a crossing back to Jura in the morning, aiming to land at the entrance to Loch Tarbert before exploring a bit further up if possible. 

An early start in dry and windy conditions, producing some SE wind chop, saw us slowly making our way south towards Scalasaig where we intended to re-stock our food and water supplies at the local store before setting out on the crossing. By 10.30 we'd bought plenty of food supplies for the next week, re-filled our water bottles at the ferry terminal and were paddling out of Scalasaig on a bearing of 145 degrees heading for Loch Tarbert. For the first couple of hours of the crossing things went well, happily enjoying bashing our way into the force 3 wind and waves. However, it was short-lived as soon the wind increased to a solid force 4 with prolonged gusts of force 5 which severely slowed our progress and turned the crossing into a real battle. Three hours in, with an hour to go, we were feeling pretty shattered but couldn't stop paddling or else we'd have been blown backwards wasting all the precious energy we'd expended. We slogged our way slowly on into the strong headwinds, barely feeling like we were making any progress at all, and feeling totally demoralised. Finally after four hours of paddling, with the last two being at our limit, we made it to the safety of land and came ashore on a small beach at the foot of the mountain Beinn a Chaolais, part of the Paps of Jura. That was it paddling-wise that day - we were totally shattered and spent the rest of the afternoon just lolling around sleeping, reading, eating and drinking tea. And we still slept like logs that night! 

Next morning we were still aching, but luckily the wind had increased to a solid force 5 with gusts of force six, meaning we could have ourselves a well-earned rest day. The morning was spent chilling out and in the afternoon we took a walk over to the next bay, about 3km away, where we met a couple of guys who'd hiked the Paps and had a nice chat with them for a bit before returning to our camp for a late dinner and some hot drinks by a driftwood fire we build and watch the sun set.

We'd been paddling and living out of our kayaks for over a week now, and were starting to fit in well with nature and the movements of wind and tide. It felt blissfully easy as we sped off up Loch Tarbert in a pushing tide and following wind and swell in beautiful sunshine. Soon we'd navigated our way up through the narrow inlets to arrive at what seemed like an inner lagoon only a few kilometres from the east coast of Jura as the crow flies. Here we had a leisurely lunch waiting for the tide to turn before paddling back down the Loch in the ebb tide to arrive at the Cruib Lodge bothy where we ended up staying for the night. It felt strange to be in a building rather than the tent but it was nice to have chairs and a table to sit at for dinner, with the added advantage of a ringed plover nesting right outside the front door. At least it was a quiet bird, not like the noisy cuckoo's and oyster catcher's that we'd experienced at most of our other camps, constantly crying out with piercing and repetitive calls. And then there was the eerie wailing of the seal colonies that we'd experienced too. The seals and oyster catchers we learned to live with, almost not noticing their calls after a while, but the cuckoo was just plain annoying. Luckily they weren't at it all day and night though.

The next leg of our journey was to paddle up the west coast of Jura, heading for the mighty Corryvreckan. We'd not managed to get a VHF signal for the last three days but the wind seemed to be coming from the west, which would aid our progress northeastwards up the coast, so we set off from the bothy on the morning ebb tide and cruised easily down Loch Tarbert in blazing sunshine, paddling without our cags on for a change. After a two hour break on a beach at the entrance to the loch waiting for the tide to turn we set off again paddling up the west coast of Jura on glassy-smooth waters. On this section the weather gradually closed in on us bringing patchy drizzle and a fairly thick sea mist by the time we arrived at Glengarrisdale. We raided the bothy here of supernoodles and hot chocolate, which we cooked up on the beach, before setting off again around 8pm for the tip of Jura and the Corryvreckan. Arriving about half an hour before what we thought was the slack tide it was still flowing really strongly so we pulled out and hiked up to the top of the hill overlooking the sound to get a better view. It looked like a river in flood with strong downstream vee's and large wavetrains charging between the offshore rocks and small islands. Out in mid-channel there was less turbulance but it was still flowing really fast - too fast to paddle against. Elisabeth didn't like what she saw before her, but back in our kayaks I led her through the last few fast shutes and broke out safely in the calmer waters of the last cove, right at the narrowest point of the Corryvreckan sound. By now it was getting a bit gloomy in the fading evening light and what with the fog, the tide still flowing strongly, and the reality that we'd be ending the paddle in the dark if we continued, we decided to leave the crossing until morning and set up camp in the midge-infested cove for the night instead. 

We dragged ourselves out of the tent around 9.30 the next morning and after deciding to give the crossing a go due to light winds we were packed up and on the water in just over an hour. I'd been confused as to why our tidal stream charts didn't seem to match what we were experiencing on the water last night until I'd realised, once in the comfort and dry of the tent, that I'd put the tide tables in the waterproof case the wrong way round and I'd been looking at July instead of June's, and it was out by one hour! Arriving at the large rock at the entrance to the cove smack on 10.45 (the correct time of slack water) the race did indeed seem to be easing off, with just gentle currents and flows swirling around in different directions, so we set out across the Corryvreckan heading directly for Scarba island 1.5km away through the faint mist and fog. After about 15 minutes of paddling we'd completed the crossing, finding it to have been pretty smooth and uneventful in the end, much to Elisabeth's relief. We paddled hard around the west coast of Scarba and made it up to the neck of the Grey Dogs tiderace, between Scarba and Lunga, to find some fun looking surf waves in the three-foot range there. I couldn't wait to get out and have a go at riding the wave, and it wasn't long before I was in amongst the action surfing my fully-laden Xcite; getting some great rides for about ten minutes or so before I started aching and we headed into a little cove on Lunga for a brew up and a bite to eat. Mid-afternoon we set off up the west coast of Lunga and Rhuba Fiola, crossing the sound of Luing on the last of the flood tide, to arrive at Cullipool on Luing island around 1630. Here we topped up our dwindling water supplies in the public toilets before paddling the last kilometre or so north to a reasonable camp spot in a grassed over disused quarry where we stayed for the night.

By the time Saturday morning had arrived we'd had a re-think on what to do with the handful of remaining days left of our trip, and as we sat drinking tea and munching our breakfast we discussed the final plans for the following days ahead. Instead of seeing out the remainder of our trip exploring the small islands just south of Oban, we'd come up with the cunning plan to catch the ferry out to Coll and Tiree with the aim of circumnavigating both islands before we had to drive back home on the Wednesday or Thursday. It was a tight schedule, and we'd have to rack up some serious mileage to complete it seeing as it would be about a 110km round trip, but the idea of ending our scottish adventures with a challenging journey around some beautiful islands really grabbed us and appealed to our competitive and motivated nature. Half an hour after getting back on the water that morning we were back at the van and unloading our kit, and not long after that we were down at the ferry terminal in Oban booking tickets for our crossing to Coll. We'd missed the only ferry that morning unfortunately, so we booked ourselves onto the 0845 ferry for Sunday morning instead and then drove off to the supermarket to re-stock on supplies for the trip. That afternoon we had a pleasant paddle up Shuna Sound, past Shuna Island and up around Torsa Island, before returning to the van to re-pack and prepare for our mini-expedition to Coll and Tiree. To cover the distances required, in the now shorter timescale, we really had to travel as light as possible. Out went anything we hadn't used over the last week and a half, out went most of my clothes and spare kayaking thermals, out went most of the spares and repairs kit, and out went pretty much anything we could really make do without. Food-wise we only took enough just to cover the three days now available to complete the journey, as with food being generally quite heavy we couldn't afford to carry any more than we needed. 

Sunday morning was quite hectic for a few hours; dropping the kayaks and kit off at the ferry terminal early, parking the van up and hiking back, packing the kayaks with all our kit and provisions for the trip, and then loading them onto the ferry, but soon we were sat up on deck relaxing and admiring the views of Mull and the surrounding mountains as the ship sailed out of Oban heading for Coll on a beautiful sunny morning. Three hours later the ship docked at the jetty and we unloaded our boats onto the stunning island of Coll, super-keen and full of excitement for the adventure that lay ahead of us. By the time we'd lugged both the kayaks a kilometre and a half from the jetty to a suitable launching spot near the centre of town in Arinagour our enthusiasm and energy levels were starting to wane a little to say the least. A favourable tide sped southwards, but by the time we'd eaten lunch, donned our kayaking gear, loaded the kayaks down in harbour and got ready to eventually paddle off, there was little if any of it left, and it was four O'clock in the afternoon! Even though the tide was now against us a little, at least the brisk NW wind and shelter of the rugged granite cliffs and small white-sand bays aided our travel southwards and compensated for it a bit. We had a wonderful paddle for a few hours, exploring the rocky inlets and small coves dotted along this section of coast, and not far before reaching Gunna Sound, (the stretch of water between Coll and Tiree), I saw my first Otter! We'd stopped for a snack-break and I was just drifting across a small cove in the wind when this otter just popped up infront of me, stared at me for a moment, and then dived underwater again. A few minutes later it re-appeared, only this time it hung around a bit longer, floating on the surface of the water with his/her head up looking at me, only five feet from my kayak, allowing me to see the whole of him/her really clearly. It seemed quite relaxed and slightly curious of me and seemed in no rush to swim away. Then with a flick of its tail it was gone as quickly as it'd arrived. An amazing experience! :) Arriving at Gunna Sound we discovered the tide was flowing against us fairly strongly and it was late in the day, so we re-traced our steps to set up camp for the night on a grassy bluff next to a small sandy cove overlooking a tiny little island where a ewe and her two lambs were stranded having been cut off by the incoming tide. After planning tomorrow's journey and proposed early start, we cooked up dinner, washed it down with a few brews, and then turned in for the night.

Despite a short paddle the day before we still struggled to get going in the mornng and it was 0700 before we were packed and on the water, half an hour behind schedule. The sheep had made it safely off their island we noticed as we paddled away, and it wasn't long before we'd crossed Gunna Sound on slack water and were heading southwestwards in the ebb tide, past Soa Island, heading for the small harbour in Scarinish. We had a quick half-hour pitstop here to top up water levels and grab a quick bite to eat, before continuing onwards in good flows to cross Hynish Bay in a brisk cross-wind and round the southern most tip of Tiree. The force 4 headwind across Balephuil Bay slowed progress a bit but we battled on to land through small clean surf onto the western end of the beach in the shelter of the high cliffs for more food and a wee-stop. The expected rough conditions up the western end of Tiree in the strong northwesterlies turned out not to be, as the wind weirdly dropped right off providing an easy paddle north in smooth waters with a slight swell, past huge colonies of sea birds nesting on the high cliffs there. Finally we rounded the northwest tip of the island, past more huge seal colonies, and started the long journey back along the north side of Tiree and Coll. We were hoping to at least make it back onto Coll by the end of the day, but we were feeling shattered by now and the distance yet to cover looked quite daunting and almost unattainable by that point. However, we got lucky once more in the way of the brisk northwesterlies returning again, and soon we were whizzing along in the strong flood tide with the wind on our backs. Arriving at Gunna Sound for the second time in one day, at 1730, we encountered the flood tide belting out through the entrance and clashing with the prevailing wind and tide to produce some rough and exciting conditions for us to paddle through. It didn't really phase us though, and after bashing our way through it we continued past Gunna Island and on up the west coast of Coll in the now overcast, gloomy and rough conditions, with waves crashing over the rocky cliffs behind us. The visibility also started to deteriorate as we rounded our last headland of the day, squeezed through a gap in the rocks, and paddled into the safety and shelter of Feall Bay. With 60km under our belts we were done for the day, and we crashed out on the rocks at the side of the bay, totally knackered, to cook up some much needed food and get a brew on. Having been sat paddling our kayaks for ten and a half hours, and on the go from launch to landing for eleven and a half hours, I had no intention of trying to make it to the next bay further north as we'd discussed earlier in the day. Sod that! After dinner we set the tent up in a lovely sheltered grassy hollow, planned a stupidly early start for the following morning to make use of the tides and avoid the wind that was due to increase during the day, and then crashed out in our sleeping bags and went straight to sleep.

Three hours later the alarm was going off at 0230 and we had to get up in the dark and start packing and loading the boats again. Tired wasn't the word for it! It was a struggle but we managed to get away by 0425 in the early morning light and started bashing our way northeastwards up the coast in a brisk headwind and fairly lumpy sea conditions. At times the early morning mist and fog was so thick we had to continue paddling on a compass bearing with no sight of land at all, and progress felt painfully slow despite a favourabe flood tide. After three hours of paddling we'd managed to cover the 15km to the tip of Coll, so progress had been reasonable actually considering the headwind, and we weaved our way between some of the offshore rocks with views of the lighthouse and the distant islands of Muck, Eigg and Rhum and Ardnamurchan Point to the north, before landing on an idyllic sandy beach at the northeast tip of the island. By now the sun had broken through and it was turning into a beautiful day, so we spent a couple of hours chilling out on the beach, munching food and drinking tea, and enjoying the spectacular views of the islands to the north and Mull to the east. Eventually we re-launched the kayaks and started out on the last leg of our journey paddling south in a tail wind for a change and making use of the strongest part of the now ebb tide. We sped along, cag-less, in the sunshine, deviating only slightly, to explore some of the rocky inlets and small coves along this section of coast. We passed plenty of seals again, and the highlight for Elisabeth was in finally seeing 'her' Otter, which she spotted in the very last cove hopping along amongst the boulders, and pretty close up too! 

All good things have to come to an end at some point, and so it was we turned our final corner and took our last paddle strokes up to the harbour at Arinagour after a 30km day, having circumnavigated two stunningly beautiful islands. What with seeing the Otter's and paddling around some amazing coastline in mostly wonderful weather conditions, it had been the perfect ending to a perfect Scottish sea kayaking trip. We agreed that Coll was the nicer of the two islands, and vowed to return and explore the area in more detail on a return trip in the not too distant future. After a night camping in the ferry terminal's carpark, we caught the ferry back to Oban, grabbing a shower onboard ship, and picked up some presents and some maps for our next trip to the Isle of Skye in town, before hitting the road south and the long drive home. 

To be honest, we didn't really want to come home, what with the nice weather continuing and there being hundreds more islands and miles of coastline to explore up there, but then I suppose they're not exactly going anywhere so we've got plenty more adventures up in Scotland to plan and look forward to in the future. Scotland is indeed a sea kayaker's paradise, if you can ignore the damned midges that is.

Back home various plans are underway for our next trip, the problem is going to be; where to start! Watch this space! :)

May Update

May was quite a varied and fun month, partially due to the mixed weather we had. 
Rather than get fed up because it wasn't consistently good for one particular activity, I decided to grab the bull by the horns and throw myself into whatever pastime the weather allowed.

Climbing-wise, I spent a fair portion of my time training indoors but in saying that, I also made use of the handfull of hot and sunny days with some superb deep water solo sessions over the Torquay area. It was great to get out on real rock and climb over the sea again.

The other activity that I got back into this month was the super-exciting and adrenaline-fuelled coasteering. First off, I took a few mates to Long Quarry Point for a fun-filled afternoon of mad jumps, traversing and aquatic pot-holing. Next up, a group of five of us visited an area we'd not tried before - the section of coast from Berry Head to St. Mary's Bay. What we discovered was; this is a fantastic area for coasteering, with a large quantity of jumps of varying height, some amazing caves to explore and some great traversing too. We had a super morning in calm and sunny conditions and it almost felt like a summer's day, except for the fact the water was still a tad on the nippy side. 

Then there was the sea kayaking of course, once I'd repaired the hole I discovered under my seat on our recent trip to Pembrokeshire. The first trip was just out around Berry Head to test that the repair was watertight, then I spent a couple of evenings coaching for the Ibex Canoe Club on a three star course - doing some sea kayak navigation and rescue skills. This month I also did a bit of freelance work for Sea Kayak Devon who are based in Dartmouth taking some families who were down on holiday out sea kayaking on guided trips for the day. Some days the weather didn't allow us to journey out of the shelter of the estuary, but on others we made it out to the Mew Stone and back in sunny and calm conditions in just a morning, even seeing some seals and plenty of bird life en route. 

Now May is coming to an end and we are looking forward to June because this is when we head off to Oban for our sea kayaking holiday among the wild and beautiful islands that make up the west coast of Scotland. This place is a true sea kayaking paradise and I literally cannot  wait to get up there and set off on our adventures exploring this region. 

Check out the blog at the end of June for a full write up of our Scottish sea kayak travels! :)

Cornwall Surf Trip

Less than a week after our Pembroke sea trip I was checking the weather and surf reports and noticed that conditions were coming together for some potentially quality surf down Cornwall way for my two days off. A solid swell with light offshore winds was looking realIy promising! I started getting excited and eagerly packed the van for a few days away in the land of pasties, ice cream, sun and surf. I couldn't wait!

Following a wicked bouldering session at Dartrock climbing centre I was soon on the road travelling west with our dog Guinness, praying that the surf would be as good as predicted.
Arriving around lunchtime on the Wednesday I discovered that the surf was pretty big and a little messy in the cross-onshore winds with no-one out, which was a bit of a give away that it wasn't very good. Still, it was the Thursday that was meant to be the best day, so I bided my time with a few coastal walks with the dog and crossed my fingers that it would be better by morning.

I wasn't dissapointed when I checked the surf first thing in the morning; it was solid overhead and super-clean in a light offshore wind - perfect! I was so amped to get out there, but first I had to walk the dog while I waited for the tide to fill in a little bit. The sun was shining and it looked to be a beautiful day!

I paddled out mid-morning on what I ended up calling 'Epic Thursday', and surfed for over two hours in superb conditions. The set waves were big and powerful and I scored plenty of top quality rides, mostly on the long reeling lefts that rolled through. I took some super-late drops, cranked some awesome bottom-turns and blasted at high speed along some big fast walls of water, dodging the odd section and carving a few cutbacks when the waves allowed. I was hooting for joy and had a massive smile on my face at the end of each ride - super-stoked! Woohoo!!! :D 

I didn't really want to come in but I had to grab a bite to eat and take the dog for a quick stroll before I could get out and hit it again. The great thing was; it wasn't all that crowded, with maybe a total of a dozen surfers out at one time, and they were spread out too which allowed me to catch pretty much any wave I wanted, which was fantastic!

I surfed again for another couple of hours in the afternoon with the conditions remaining pretty much the same as the morning session. I was in my element scoring one awesome wave after another, getting some insane rides, and even getting other surfers woop-wooping some of them too. I was buzzing! I didn't really want  to come in, but eventually the tide dropped out causing the waves to close out somewhat, and by that time I was basically shattered anyway, so I caught a last good ride in and hiked back to the van for much needed cuppa and a bite to eat again. 

Later that evening I took a long walk along the beach with Guinness and watched the sun set over the sea, reflecting on all of the good rides I had that day, and day-dreaming of more quality surf sessions like that in the future. It had been an epic and awesome day of surf for me and I was super-amped for more! :)

Next morning I had a quick surf in some not quite so good conditions before heading off on the long drive back and an evening of work. Still, at least I could mind-surf some of the rides I'd had to get through the shift, and I was still on a massive high so it all went pretty well really.

Can't wait to ride some more waves like that again so I'm regularly checking the surf forecasts now in eager anticipation of scoring some more super surf in the not too distant future. :D

Pembrokeshire Sea Kayaking Trip

Early April saw us heading off to South Wales for a week to do a spot of sea kayaking along the wonderful coastline of Pembrokeshire. Our aim was to kayak around the majority of the Pembrokeshire coast, including St. Davids Head and St. Govan's, as well as the main outer lying islands of Ramsey and Skomer. 

For the first few days there the weather was far from ideal, with winds reaching force six or more accompanied by large swells and crashing seas, so we spent a couple of days at the start of the trip prepping our gear, going on coastal walks, and even managing a spot of climbing at the intimidating Mother Carey's. 

Eventually the weather window we were looking for appeared and we decided to give the trip a shot. The main problem with kayaking around Pembrokeshire is the number of military firing areas along the south coast, rendering paddling these sections out of the question until the weekends when the firing ceases. The other issue we had, was the fact that the bus service we were relying on to do the shuttle back to the van at the end of the trip didn't run on Sunday's. This meant that we had to paddle this section on Saturday, come what may. 

So, to make best use of the tides, we set out from Fishguard in the dark at 0515 on Thursday morning, complete with head torches and glowsticks. We rounded Strumble Head just before 0700 into a fresh westerly headwind and slogged our way down the coast for a couple of hours to arrive at Porth-gain for a sheltered and much needed break and bite to eat. Not wanting to waste the favourable tide, we were back on the water within half an hour and making our way towards St. Davids Head. As we drew nearer to the headland and it's accompanying mountains the sun slowly started to make an appearance, and before long we were rounding the head to get our first views of Ramsey Island. We tried to push on southwards through the sound but the tide was already turning against us quite strongly, so we opted to call it a day and pull in to Porthselau for the night instead, ending our 35km paddle for the day by 1130. The afternoon was spent chilling out on the beautiful little beach, drinking tea, and plotting the next days trip. 

We were on the water for 0630 Friday morning, and with trepidation we headed out towards  Ramsey Sound which houses the infamous 'Bitches' tidal race. However, we needn't have worried because arriving on slack water as we'd planned the race was practically non-existent, bar a small section of breaking waves far across the water from us near Ramsey Island itself. Soon we were speeding southwards in the ebbing tide with the wind on our backs in a following sea. Progress was rapid to say the least, and we covered the 15km's across St. Brides Bay  to Jack's Sound between the mainland and Skomer Island in just over two hours, clocking an average speed of over 7kph. Rounding Gateholm Island we pulled in to Marloes Sands for a welcome brunch break around 10am. Being so far ahead of schedule we allowed ourselves an extended one hour stop, soaking up both the sunshine and the breathtaking views in the process. By 1200 we had arrived off Ann's Head, and after waiting for a couple of tankers and a ferry to pass into, and out of, Milford Haven, we crossed the shipping lanes safely to arrive at our last section of coast for the day towards Freshwater West, right on the edge of the military firing area of Castlemartin. With live canon-fire booming off to the south of us and paddling in through 4 - 5 foot crashing surf, it really felt like we were on a secret mission into a proper war zone. Still, I caught a wicked wave from way out back and had a brilliant surf all the way into the shore on it, arriving right on 1330. Woohoo, stoked! We soon established a camp in the dunes at the back of the beach and spent the afternoon sunbathing, chilling out and doing the essential route planning for the final day of the trip. A slightly longer 38km day today meant we slept soundly despite the sound of surf pounding on the beach through the night.

The wind had backed to a fresh to strong southwesterly by Saturday morning and under overcast skies we launched out through the surf at 0745 and slogged our way on towards Linney Head. Conditions off the head were quite rough and choppy due to a mixture of wind-swell, ground-swell, and backwash off the cliffs, and even on the section of coastline down to St. Govan's Head we experienced a great deal of clapotis. However, the wind and waves were a little more in our favour now, and with a favourable tide we made good progress once more along the stunning and distinct cliffs that make up South Pembroke. In the shelter of a small cove near Broad Haven we stopped for a food break and a cup of tea around 1030, before setting off again at 1115 to pass Church Rock and head east towards our final destination of Tenby. Arriving at Lydstep Point around 1300 we noticed that there were red flags flying either side of the rifle range at Giltar Point, so we decided to head out towards Caldey Island to hopefully get out of the firing line a bit (if they were actually firing at all). Here we discovered the tidal flows were quite strong, possibly almost 3 knots, and we only just managed to break out behind St. Margarets Island after a furious ferry glide to get there. After a quick breather we set out for the ferry glide back to the mainland, and after an exciting and energetic paddle in some choppy waters we managed to pull in behind Giltar Point and into the calmer waters of Penally Burrows. With the tide still in our favour we sped easily onwards to Tenby, arriving just after 1400 into the safety of the harbour with another 35km under our belts for the day. 

After a two and a half hour bus journey, followed by an hours drive in the van, I was finally reunited with Elisabeth again, and after loading all the boats and kit up we walked into town for a much-deserved fish and chip supper, which we devoured back down at the tranquil and pretty harbour side. What a great end to a great journey! 

The last day of our trip was spent surfing our sea kayaks at Freshwater West and meeting up with some old friends at their farm just up the road. Oh, and thanks to Pete and Lydia for the omelettes and copious amounts of tea! Much appreciated! 

Due to the strong winds we experienced in Pembrokeshire, either side of our kayak journey, we didn't manage to get out and around Ramsey and Skomer on any day-trips to view all the wildlife out there as we'd planned, so there's still what I'd call unfinished business up there as far as that goes. We'll be back to Pembroke for more, so watch this space! :)

March Update

Early March saw me notching up my 26th Solo Upper Dart run, followed by a sociable 2nd run with paddling mate Jez. Shortly after this the rains eased off and the river levels dropped, putting an end to all the river kayaking for the rest of the month. 

With drier weather towards the middle part of March, I turned my attention back to a spot of climbing for a bit. With the bird ban in effect from the 1st of the month at Berry Head, this rendered most of the best Deep Water Soloing out of bounds there, so instead I focused on a couple of trad routes at the Red Wall area instead - a great HVS 4c, climbing a shapely arete, called 'Cod', followed by 'Oggie', a HVD in the groove next to the arete. It was kinda weird climbing with ropes again and I didn't like having to put trust in 'equipment', so on the last steep section of Cod I just pretended I was soloing the route and blasted relaxed and easily to the top. 

In fact, there is a more direct version of Cod that goes at F6b+ as a DWS route, staying true to the steep arete all the way up called, funnily enough, 'Cod Direct'. About a week later saw my return, in a perfect weather window of high tide and sunny conditions, to climb the route. First I inspected the route on a top-rope and chalked up a few of what I thought looked like holds, as being both 14 metres high with a fairly small splash-down zone and at the end of winter with sea temperatures at their coldest, I wanted to minimise the risk of falling in as much as possible. Once off the rope I started up the steep lower part of the route, climbing relaxed and smoothly through a bouldery section, followed by some cut-loose jug swinging with a massive grin on my face, to arrive on a ledge below the last 6 metres of the route. I didn't hang around here for long, maybe less than a minute, before blasting on up the steep juggy arete to a nail-biting finish on slopers, as I topped out high above the icy cold sea. Woohoo! What a great route! :) Then I realised I'd left a sling on the sea-washed ledge at the bottom of the route, so I ended up abb'ing back down to retrieve it and climbing the whole route for a second time. Well why not, it was great climbing!?! :)

When I wasn't able to get outdoors climbing, ie; most of the month really, I spent a great deal of my time training on my home wall - doing power endurance circuits and lots of pull-up training. Regular sessions saw me racking up 48 minutes of 'climb-time' in the roof on the power-endurance days, followed by sets of over 260 regular pull-ups and 14 one-arm pull-ups, each arm, on the strength training days. Bring on the summer DWS!!! Yeeharr!!! :)

The other main focus for me this month was my van. Having decided to spend more time this year ticking off DWS routes here in the UK instead of abroad, to save money, I realised I ought to finish off getting my van kitted out so I'd have a nice comfy mobile home to base myself from. Already I have wired lights and power into the back of  it, finished off the insulation and padding in the roof and walls, sealed up the leaky back doors, and fitted a decent mattress in the back to facilitate a good nights sleep. Now all that's left to do is; fit a wind driven roof ventilator to reduce condensation build up, fit a window in the bulkhead to gain a bit of natural light into the back, and to carpet it out so it's nice and snug and cosy. Hopefully this will all be completed by May, just before the main DWS season starts here in the UK! Can't wait! :)

Well, that's all for now. Next month should see us, weather permitting, heading off to South Wales for a spot of sea kayaking around the stunning and dramatic coastline of Pembrokeshire, including a clash with the infamous 'Bitches' tide race. Super excited! Watch this space folks! :D

February Update

With persistently wet and windy weather continuing for much of February, this meant that the river levels were up a lot of the time, allowing plenty of kayaking activity on the Dart. By the end of the month I'd notched up my 25th solo Upper Dart run this winter, as well as having enjoyed plenty of playboating sessions on the Loop. One particularly good day was when I'd forgotten my helmet funnily enough. I borrowed Elisabeth's helmet for a superb run down the Upper, before handing it over so she could run the Loop. Then I hiked up to meet Elisabeth at Triple Falls to take pictures and some video footage, but it wasn't long before I was squeezing myself into her tiny kayak for an absolutely wicked session in the bottom wave - surfing, spinning and carving it up with a massive grin on my face! Awesome fun! :) 

Some of the stronger gales we experienced during this time produced some reasonable waves on some generally quite sheltered beaches locally, allowing me to score a couple of nice surf sessions on my new surfboard which was fantastic! Got the stoke back! :)

Most of my climbing training during this period was undertaken indoors on my home wall. However, only a couple of days before the bird ban came into effect I managed to bag a quality DWS session at Berry Head, smashing out a bunch of great routes in the sunshine in my boardies for a few hours! What a perfect end to the month! Happy days! :D

January Activities

Most of my time during January was spent either kayaking on the Upper Dart or Deep Water Soloing at Berry Head. I will finish a more detailed write up over the next few days - watch this space!