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The weekend of 10/11th July saw us visiting Portland to sample some of the fantastic sport climbing the place has to offer. There are literally thousands of routes there, and we almost couldn't decide where to start. We spent the first day climbing some great routes at Blacknor in the fabulous sunny weather, though it did get a bit too hot as the sun came round in the afternoon. The place was very popular and very busy, so an early start was made on Sunday to climb some of the more popular routes without all the crowds. A thoroughly enjoyable morning was had, and in the afternoon we moved over to the east coast to climb in Dungecroft Quarry, and avoid the main heat of the day. We ended the trip here climbing the short powerful routes on strange flowstone rock. Only two hours drive away, the next climbing trip here will be very imminent indeed! Loved it!
The weekend of 3rd and 4th of July was spent climbing some superb routes down in Cornwall with good friend Jeremy van Riemsdyke. Saturday was dry and sunny with good conditions and dry rock, allowing us to climb some classic lines on the beautiful granite crags of Sennen. Sunday was overcast with periods of light rain, so we drove up to Bossigran and climbed the classic 700' Commando Ridge. Graded VD, we climbed it Alpine style, and had a super fun day out despite the far from perfect conditions. All in all, a fantastic few days climbing in a stunning location. Definitely planning to head back down for more of the same in the near future.
Sunday 6th June saw us paddling out from Lee Bay heading to Lundy Island in slightly misty conditions. Almost three hours out to sea we finally caught our first glimpse of the island, much to our relief! The mist did clear, but then a head wind picked up - reaching up to force 5, making the crossing hard work. After six and a half hours we finally made it! Lugging our camping kit up to the campsite was almost as much hard work as the crossing! Lundy is an amazing little island, teeming with wildlife - particularly sea birds and seals, that feast on the abundance of fish there. The next day we paddled around the island, seeing loads of guillemots, razorbills, manx shearwaters, seals, and other sea birds, including puffins - which we were really chuffed about. That evening we frequented the local tavern, where we ate a superb meal and added our names to the sea kayaking book they have there. The weather had been wet and overcast all that afternoon and evening, and we went to bed praying for good conditions for the journey home the following day. Our prayers were answered, and we had perfect sea conditions for the crossing home with no wind and good visibility too. After another long haul, we arrived that afternoon back in Lee Bay in beautiful sunny conditions - what a great ending to a fantastic paddling trip!
Having already paddled the entire coastline from St. Ives, round Lands End, The Lizard, and back to our home base in Brixham, our plan to kayak the rest of the North Coast of Cornwall finally came together over the last week in May. With a good weather window forecast for the next few days ahead, we set off from St. Ives on Monday 24th on a beautiful sunny and calm day. The water was a beautiful turquoise colour and glassy smooth, allowing us to cover the 6km to Godrevy Island in just one hour. Throughout the day we saw an abundance of wild life, including colonies of seals, flocks of guillemots, cormorants, oyster catchers and guls, as well as some jellyfish too. The cliffs around St. Agnes were stunning; with multi-coloured streaks, different rock types, colours and textures. At Penhale Point a thick mist came down, and we had to hand-rail it to Hollywell Bay where we set up camp for the night in the dunes. Tuesday was a little breezier, but still sunny and warm. The surf was only a couple of foot and easy to get out through, so landing at Newquay to check the weather forecast, and stop later for lunch at the stunning Bedruthan Steps was not a problem. At Trevose Head we encountered some large 'Overfalls', with relentless breaking waves up to six foot high. Fortunately, after a few minutes of bashing through the waves we were able to paddle off to the side and make for calmer waters. The headwind was tiring us out, and by the time we made it to Polzeath were pretty worn out. We realised that if we were to make Clovelly, as planned, by Thursday afternoon, we would have to put in some longer days, which meant only one thing - we would have to set off earlier each morning from now on. So, Wednesday saw us paddling out on the high tide at 0545! It was a little overcast this day, which actually made for better paddling conditions - a bit cooler. After a quick stop at the idillic Port Issac Bay, it was on to Trebarwith Strand for a spot of lunch. Tintagel was very pretty, and there was plenty of wildlife about too, including hoards of strange jellyfish. We covered over 45km this day, but the last long stretch up to Widemouth Bay was the slowest, or at least it seemed to take forever to get to the beach we could see for miles off. We slept well that night! Thursday saw another early start - on the water for 0630! However, we had the tide and a force 4 to 5 wind against us all morning, which slowed our paddling speed down to 4kph. The coastline north of Bude was really rocky with no places to land, and we ended up paddling for seven hours without a stop until we reached a small bay just round from Hartland Point. Here, in sight of Lundy Island, we devoured lunch, before heading onto our final destination - Clovelly. With the wind (which had changed), tide, and swell now in our favor, we sped rapidly and easily to the finish. What a perfect end to a perfect sea kayaking trip! Next - Lundy! :)
Pure Liquid Kayaking ran a BCU Three Star Sea Kayak Assessment on Sunday 16th May, paddling along the beautiful stretch of coastline from Brixham to Kingswear. The candidates were put through their paces in the rough and windy conditions, providing some challenging rock-hopping and open stretches of water for them to demonstrate their kayak handling skills in. Navigation, towing, and rescues were also completed before the last rough water leg up into the Dart Estuary, where we finally had some calmer conditions and a pushing tide aiding a speedy return to the finish in Waterhead Creek. Both candidates performed well throughout the whole assessment - fulfilling the criteria set out in the BCU syllabus, and were very pleased to receive a pass at the end of the day for all their efforts. We all agreed that it was a great paddling trip too, and the sun finally showing its face by the end of the day, was the icing on the cake.
Due to the superb sunny weather this month climbing has been the main focus, with plenty of bouldering on the moor going down, as well as some sea cliff lead climbing over Torquay way. Also, some time was spent un-earthing and re-equipping some of the sport routes down in the Churston Quarries locally. The best aspect of this was finding the route 'Monet for Old Rope', a 40 foot E2 5c that was probably last climbed over twenty years ago. It is a fantastic route, and super varied for its length. What a find, I love it!
Over-sleeping and setting off 2hrs late was not the best start to the trip. This meant that we had to battle the fierce tides across the entrance to the Solent and at the Needles. However, the journey along the south coast was much easier, if a little dull on the scenery front. We found a great little camping spot just past St. Catherine's Point for the night though. An early start was made on the second day so as to make best use of the strong tides, helping us make a speedy leg up to Bembridge. After a leisurely lunch and a tea from a local cafe, we hopped onto the pushing tide once more and sped our way up to Cowes. The tides here were really fast, maybe over four knots, and after breaking out behind a port maker buoy to let a speed ferry pass, we utilised the three and a half knot tide flowing down the Solent to make an amazingly fast final leg down to Yarmouth and then across to Keyhaven - in just two and a half hours. Our average speed worked out at eight kilometers per hour, or 4.5 knots! Not only were the tides in our favour, but the weather during the trip was fantastic too - lovely sunshine, and not too hot. Perfect!
