Welcome to my Sea Kayaking (b)log
Having left the Mull of Kintyre behind us, we ended up just north of Oban, near the airport. The weather was not looking great, with stronger winds and heavier rain forecast well into next week. If I was going to get a final Scottish paddle in, this holiday, I had to make the most...
Friday, 15th September was a wet, wet day. Having been to Campbeltown in the morning to buy some whisky, I decided to go for a quick paddle out into Carradale Bay to see if I could catch some Mackerel for tea. Earlier that morning, before setting off to Campbeltown, I had been walking the...
Having left Arran via the Lochranza ferry, we headed down the single track road on the Mull of Kintyre to Carradale. The first night we were there there was an almighty storm, but the following morning the winds eased and I was able to get out in my boat. It was still fairly windy,...
For todays paddle in Lamlash bay, having made sure I was well outside the "No Take" zone, I had a little fish for some mackerel. My rig is very simple, a weight, with four lures on a hand spool of about 40 meters of mono filament line. On my first cast, I let the...
The $100 Million super yacht Sea Eagle II was visiting the beautiful island of Arran. I had a paddle out to her in Lamlash Bay before circumnavigating Holy Island. Lamlash Bay, Arran and Holy Island are stuningly beautiful. I will be going back. :-) My boat is better than yours! Distance: 6.4 nm Time:...
The Sugar Boat, or correctly named MV Captayannis was anchored off Greenock at the Tail of the Bank waiting to unload a cargo of raw sugar from East Africa for processing at the Tate and Lyle refinery when, on the night of 27th January 1974, a fierce gale caused her to drag her anchor....
This year, every time I've planned for a date to do the Anglesey circumnavigation, something would happen; mainly the weather ie. far too windy, or family stuff would clash. All the dates I had planned for this year just came and went. This year hasn't exactly been great for me getting to the coast...
Friday Lunchtime: I had some time to kill before setting off for home from Dunbartonshire. With it being a public holiday weekend for King Charles Coronation, I didn't see much point setting off at lunchtime, only to hit the holiday traffic below Preston, Manchester and Stoke on the M6. Setting off much later, say...
2022 was a bit of a weird year for me. It started off fairly normally, but from July I was increasingly busy with some family bereavements. Apart from my IOW circumnavigation and the Oban Sea Kayak Race which had been previously pencilled in on the calendar, if I did get any time to go...
Due to lots of non kayaking family related issues (its been a bit of a year!), this was going to be my first trip on the sea since the Isle of Wight circumnavigation in July! Despite hitting my local stretch of canal hard, you really cannot beat a good sea trip for upping the...
Easter weekend and Me and Mrs T decided on going away to the Llŷn Peninsula in the van for a few days. We had decided on a campsite at Llanbedrog with a plan of not doing a great deal, just walking and chilling, with maybe a bit of paddle boarding. I had a two...
As you may, or may not have noticed, having bought the "Carrot" (An Orange Tiderace Pace 17 Tour) at the end of August, I did not take her to Anglesey for my paddles with Si, Wenders and Tom. I guess I wanted to check her out first, without rushing. Besides paddling in the Pace...
Another beautiful day... Tom Carlisle joined us today and once again we decided to head for Cemlyn Bay for the tide assisted push across the top of Anglesey. I also needed to get off home at Lunchtime, so we decided to paddle to Porth Wen (The Brickworks) , where I'd then paddle solo, back...
Another blazing hot sunny day in Devon. This time at South Milton. What a cracking day and best of all I get to have a paddle to the Hopes and to explore the Bolt Tail. It was a busy day at the beach with lots of people on Stand Up paddle boards on the...
On holiday with Mrs T in the South West and I get to go for a paddle! The first time since January, no thanks to Covid. Bigbury was flat calm, despite all the surf boards being carried to the beach. I opted to take my Valley Sirona. It was a blazing hot sunny day....
Well into my second week of my holiday, I finally got to paddle my Valley Sirona. We were touring Devon and Cornwall, in the campervan, and had worked our way to the end at Sennen Cove, then worked our way along the north coast of Cornwall. We were now beginning to make our way...
About ten miles from Holyhead on the Friday night, it started to rain. I think drizzle was expected, but certainly not this. Anyway I parked up at Dafarch for the night and settled in for a good nights rest. Early the next morning, it was fairly dull, but at least it was no...
For some time now I've been thinking about paddling around Anglesey. Having read the various blogs out there, by various paddlers who have completed this challenge, I decided I must have a go. Besides, there are just two small sections of Anglesey I had not paddled, so if anything, it will complete the missing...
This was a short paddle around the Plymouth Breakwater and Plymouth Sound whilst on holiday. The breakwater wasn't as interesting as I had imagined, but was worth doing all the same. Interestingly, I was stalked by a motor launch (MOD?) for quite a while as I think they thought I had intentions on landing...
Ages ago I booked myself onto Sea Kayaking Cornwall's incident management week, not realising this was part of the courses week following their symposium weekend. At the time of booking, I thought I can travel down on the Saturday, taking it nice and easy, stopping overnight in the van if I need to. And...
