This photo shows a paddle around Hayling Island, about a year ago. It was freezing cold, and because we didn’t bother to double-check the tides beforehand, it was a very slow paddle! Halfway through the planned trip, we were running out of daylight, not equipped for night navigation and most crucially, not getting any warmer. We hopped ashore in the middle of some amusement arcades and curtailed our trip in a most undignified manner…by taxi.
We definitely weren’t in the south west. Or, were we? The ‘South West Sea Kayaking’ book that I am working on provisionally covers the English coast from the Needles to the head of the Bristol Channel, but will also definitely cover all of the splendid Isle of Wight coast. Truth be told, I can’t decide where in the south coast to begin defining the south west. Given that I am including the Isle of Wight, do I include the Solent Coast as well? Or just half of it? Or None? Answers on a postcard…
Just a postscript…I think I’m going with the original plan of starting at Keyhaven for the coast, and also including the IOW but not the Solent coast.