This was the sight which greeted me coming home from work yesterday; a grumpy cat wondering where her dinner was. However, it’s what’s behind which is perhaps more telling; the large oddly shaped blue garden accessory is my creek boat. The fact that it has almost become part of nature gives away the fact that [...]
Archive for May 2011
Welcoming Committee Leave a comment
The Islands of Fleet Leave a comment
These three tiny Islands of Fleet are another gem of south-west Scotland. They are hidden in the shallow Fleet estuary; some of them can actually be walked to at low tide. Approach quietly and sensitively; the islands have significant populations of nesting seabirds. Just speaking hypothetically; if you were to launch late in the day, [...]
Back to the Future – paddling in the Indian Himalayas, India 2006 Leave a comment
Another magazine article; this was a 2006 trip to the Indian Himalayas which was very much in ‘exploratory’ territory; many of the rivers we paddled had seen few or no descents, and there were certainly no guidebooks. I’ve paddled white water in India four or five times now since 1998, it’s a bit of ‘thing’ [...]
Liminal Zones Leave a comment
Carreg Samson cromlech, Pembrokeshire How did the people who constructed this now-eroded burial monument ‘see’ their world and their landscape? Why was it constructed and how was it used? What was the significance of the cromlech’s coastal location? How did it relate to the surrounding landscape? No one living can definitively answer these questions. The fact is, that [...]
Smarter than the Average Bear (but slower) 1 comment
A magazine article from 2003, about paddling in the central Rocky Mountains of Alberta and British Columbia, Canada. ————————————————————- Smarter than the Average Bear (but slower) I’m plodding along a hot remote forest track somewhere in the ‘Bugaboo Wilderness’ of western Canada’s Rocky Mountains. I hear it a long way off; a vehicle coming, the [...]
South West Sea Kayaking Meet 2011 – camping spot 1 comment
This is the field that we’ll be using for camping at Corfe Castle for the South West Sea Kayaking Meet this year. I snapped this on my phone whilst mountain-biking home from work. The field isn’t the flattest (consider coming early to get the better plots along the treeline!) and only has a water tap by way of [...]
I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the Skye Leave a comment
Magazine article from 2004… ———————————————- I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the Skye Heather Rainsley You know how it is, after only one day back at work, the holiday already seems to be a distant fact, something you did years ago. So there I am, at home, on [...]
Imagined Isles – Sea Kayaking Brittany 2 comments
This article is about a trip to the rather lovely coast of south Brittany, back in 2004. Heather wrote this one… ————————————————————————————- IMAGINED ISLES Sea Kayaking Brittany Have you ever found yourself doing something amazing? Something new and special, that you’ll always remember. The exceptional thing for me about sea-kayaking is that this seems to [...]
Kayaking Desolation Sound, British Columbia Leave a comment
Another magazine article, this one from 2003. Heather and I spent the summer in eastern and western Canada, paddling white water. We finished up on the Pacific coast near Vancouver, and thought that we really should do some sea kayaking, seeing how we were there… ————————————————————- The Sound of Desolation …sea kayaking without anoraks, British [...]
The Tibet of the Americas – White Water Bolivia 2 comments
This article was published in 2005. Our trip to explore Bolivia’s rivers was perhaps the finest white water trip I’ve ever been on. Amazing rivers, scenery and culture – but best of all, great times shared with great friends. ———————————————————————————- The Tibet of the Americas – White Water Bolivia “Where am I? Oh man, my head [...]
Mingulay and the Bishop’s Isles Leave a comment
I’ve just been sorting through old files and have found a large pile of old magazine articles that have never been posted here. I’ll put some up in the weeks to come; this one was published (2004?) in the now-defunct ‘Paddles’ magazine. Hope it’s useful/ interesting. ————————————————————————————— Mingulay and the Bishop’s Isles What care we [...]
The Rhins of Galloway 3 comments
The Rhins of Galloway is the long thin strip of land stretching north-south in the far south and west of Scotland, parallel to the nearby Irish coast. When I paddled around Scotland, I passed through here, of course; although I paddled in dense fog and feeling rather ill, I saw enough to realise that there is some truly [...]
Pure Wight Leave a comment
This month’s Canoe Kayak UK magazine includes a ‘sea kayaking’ supplement, with various trip articles within. Actually there are several sea kayaking articles in the main magazine every month, but don’t knock it, the more the merrier! The supplement contains an entertaining article by Lizzie Garnett about our icy trip around the Isle of Wight [...]
Hut Circles Leave a comment
‘Hut Circles’ are a common sight along our coasts, often denoting the site of a Iron or Bronze Age prehistoric settlement. They are particularly prevalent within Promontory Forts. Sometimes they are delineated by rocks around the edges, more usually they are recognisable as simple circular indentations in the ground. I passed a draft book chapter about ‘Prehistoric [...]
Ramsey Island Leave a comment
Ramsey Island is a rather fine isle located just west of the St David’s peninsula, which is basically the last bit of Wales before Ireland. The narrow strait between Ramsey Island and the mainland sees tide flows of 7 knots or more, when these tides spill over a volcanic rock ledge, they form the famous Bitches tidal rapid. We [...]
Ailsa Craig Leave a comment
Photos from an Easter day trip to Ailsa Craig, in the Firth of Clyde. Heather and I launched from Lendalfoot and crossed nine miles of open water to get there. As pre-arranged, Kate D arrived to meet us with a crossing through the heat haze from c20 miles south; improbably, we managed to co-ordinate our arrivals to [...]
Es Mi Primera Ves! – How and Why to paddle in Portugal Leave a comment
The following article was published in Canoe Kayak UK magazine a few years back, in a the wake of a WW paddling trip to Portugal… ————————————————————————————- Chris W on the Rio Paiva Es Mi Primera Ves! How and Why to paddle in Portugal The things I don’t know, you could write a book. Not so [...]
Retail Therapy 2 comments
This weekend, I was down in north Cornwall for a friend’s stag party. Thankfully the weekend wasn’t all about beer and bad behaviour, as we’re all getting a bit old for that sort of thing. We spent most of our time at the beach. I hired a longboard and tried my hand at surfing, a first [...]
South West Sea Kayaking Meet 2011 – Corfe Castle 8 comments
This is Corfe Castle, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. Apologies, I couldn’t find a photo without snow, but you get the general idea…it’s a castle. Corfe Castle is right in the centre of some of Britain’s finest coast. This is the location of the 2011 South West Sea Kayaking Meet, the fourth such event [...]
Will and Kate 2 comments
We had hoped to celebrate the Royal wedding on the island of Lundy with friends; a 4.30 am launch from North Devon would have seen us on Lundy and propped up in the Marisco Tavern nicely in time for Kate to walk down the aisle. The windy weather killed this plan (in the event, H [...]
