Kevin (background of photo) said, “Follow me”. Alice (foreground) answered, “Are you kidding?” This story (quite true) serves as a perfect metaphor. This weekend, Alice marries Kevin and follows him into the black abyss of … okay, maybe that metaphor doesn’t work so well. Alice is posh, and used to work for the Queen. She is terrifyingly [...]
Archive for January 2008
Fellow Travellers #7 1 comment
Made in China Leave a comment
Heather and I have written and photographed numerous magazine articles in the past, although we’ve put this all on hold in the past year to work on the book. However, we were contacted last year by Xlife, which is apparently Hong Kong’s leading (only?) extreme sports magazine. Xlife sought permission to translate a few previous articles we’d [...]
Auks Leave a comment
I’m no birdwatcher (birder? twitcher? bird fan?) but I do like our feathered friends, especially those found along our coasts. I’m currently reading a wonderful book about Britain’s birds that my mummy gave me for Christmas. What a pleasure then today, to have one of my best bird moments* ever. *Yes I know that sounds vaguely [...]
Fellow Travellers #6 2 comments
Many crave immortality, yet few achieve it. Dave Surman (age 103) is truly a legend in his own bathtime. ‘The Surmanator’ has achieved near-mythical status amongst those privileged to know him, despite having no immediately obvious function or purpose in the grand scheme of things. I’m being very unfair … Dave ‘Rodeo Grandude’ Surman has actually [...]
Lies, Damned Lies … Leave a comment
98.7% of the research for South West Sea Kayaking has come from this indispensible little tome. Random extracts … St. Austell Brewery is Cornwall’s oldest and largest family-run business, owning 170 pubs and producing 30,000 barrels of beer a year. Visitors to Cornwall spend an average of £32 per day on food and accommodation, visitors [...]
Worst. Idea. Ever. 2 comments
The Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape received full World Heritage Site designation in 2006. This placed the two counties’ industrial wastelands alongside the Taj Mahal and The Great Wall of China! The new World Heritage Site encompasses a huge number of post-industrial mining ruins. They are clustered in ten different districts stretching from the Tamar Valley west to St [...]
Fellow Travellers #5 4 comments
Kevin is the reason I had a hangover yesterday. He’s getting married in a couple of weeks, so we all gathered for his Stag Night, which involved all manner of japes, such as … <edited – WHOTRSOTR> Anyway, Kevin is yet another whitewater paddler friend who likes to slow down and enjoy the sea from [...]
Hangover 1 comment
Apologies for the awful photo quality- these pictures were taken by a mobile phone and I had (have) a hangover. I crossed the road from our hotel on Brighton seafront this morning, to get some fresh sea air and clear my head. I was amazed to see wood strewn all along the beach and floating [...]
50 09.9N 002 02.08W 1 comment
Having drifted across Lyme Bay and past Portland Bill, the Ice Prince sank 28 miles south of St Alban’s Head (far headland in the above photo), indeed 32 miles almost directly south of my house. Apart from the aforementioned oil, she was carrying a cargo of timber, 5238 tonnes of it, to be precise. 2000 tonnes [...]
Ice Prince 3 comments
Recently, Brixham Coastguard, the French Coastguard, the Royal Navy, Whisky Bravo, and the lifeboats of Salcombe and Torbay have all been having a busy time offshore of Devon. The Ice Prince is now adrift in the English Channel, carrying 313 metric tonnes of oil amongst other hazardous things. It’s impossible not to feel a sense of déjà [...]
Fellow Travellers #4 Leave a comment
LIke most people I paddle with on the sea, Graham is a white water paddler moonlighting on the salty stuff. Indeed, I met him today for a run on the splendid River Dart. Graham runs Ringwood Canoe Club and has paddled whitewater all over the world. I’m delighted to say that he is joining us on [...]
Fellow Travellers #3 Leave a comment
Chris is known as ‘Tiff’, and lives in Calstock beside the River Tamar. He is currently doing a ‘gap year’ before heading off to Uni. From his front door he can paddle down the Tamar into Plymouth Sound and then out to sea. Indeed he frequently does so, and then paddles right back again. He has [...]
Ennui 8 comments
In 1997 I first paddled around the south west, and on subsequent occasions I have picked up the mantle of that trip and continued around the UK coast in stages; I hope to have completed the UK for my 40th birthday! Anyway, in 2005 I paddled the Irish Sea coast of Wales and England. I’d hoped [...]
Fellow Travellers #2 3 comments
Second in the mug’s gallery of paddlers who have joined us in the south west this year, is Liz. Liz has letters after her name (ooh, get her) but wears her learning lightly. Liz only first got into the salty side of kayaking this year, and has joined us on a doomed attempt to round Portland [...]
Fellow Travellers #1 Leave a comment
My wife Heather has suggested that I introduce readers to those who were good enough to paddle with me last year during my south west research. This was a more grinding experience than might be imagined; these folk had to put up with endless deviations and diversions, stops and starts and also, “Hang on …”s [...]
Trengrouse Leave a comment
In 1807, Henry Trengrouse witnessed the sinking of HMS Anson, 100m offshore of Porthleven Sands. To his horror, 120 men drowned before his eyes. This experience led him to spend ten years developing a rocket life-saving apparatus. Trengrouse’s ‘breeches-buoy’ invention saved 10 000 lives between 1870 and 1911, and was still in service around the [...]
Tread Carefully Leave a comment
They’ve screwed up Bournemouth Beach.
Not south west, nor sea kayaking 1 comment
Yes, this is a completely irrelevant blog post as it has nothing whatsoever to do with the subject of the blog, other than to provide a lengthy excuse as to why zero progress has been made on the book in the past fortnight. Heather and I flew to Spain to visit family, spending most of our [...]
