Heather and I had been stuck on the island of Rousay for three nights straight, waiting for the wind to drop. We were getting frustrated with our wait to head up into the North Isles of Orkney. One evening we returned to the tent and found that the wind had dropped… Within an hour we’d packed [...]
Archive for the ‘Open crossings’ Category
Shipwrecked on Muckle Green Holm Leave a comment
Traffic Separation Scheme Leave a comment
Crossing between the mainland and the Isles of Scilly… The Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) will certainly give you something to look at. The TSS crosses the middle third of your voyage, a massive maritime motorway. The two ‘lanes’ that you cross (north going, then south going) are each 4.5km wide with a 3km ‘central reservation’. [...]
Sark Lighthouse Leave a comment
Passing Sark’s lighthouse early one morning; if I remember rightly, we were due to be at the northern tip of this Channel Island at 0746 am exactly, to begin an open crossing.
An ill-advised open crossing 1 comment
Here’s an account of my crossing to the island of Islay this summer, which was previously posted and discussed on UKRGB. Several ways to end your days – an ill advised open crossing Just thought I’d relate an interesting experience I had earlier in the summer – my crossing from the mainland to the island of [...]
Casquets Leave a comment
An island too far … we had crossed 26+ miles from Sark to the island of Alderney, negotiating some epic tidal flows en route. Another eight miles out from Alderney were the Casquets Rocks, with their lighthouse guarding the southern approaches to the Dover Strait. Reaching the lighthouse on these rocks would involve crossing some of the strongest [...]
Alderney crossing Leave a comment
Claire and Heather finally closing on the Channel Island of Alderney, towards the end of a long (26+ mile) open crossing from the island of Sark. A big swell and very powerful tides had slowed us and pushed us off course, but we really didn’t care. Perhaps this image will suggest why…
Flannan Isle Leave a comment
This photo was taken on our last night in the Western Isles. We were stood on the cliffs looking out west to the Flannan Isles, around twenty miles offshore. These uninhabited isles are known as the ‘Seven Hunters’ due to the toll they have exacted on ships. There is a lighthouse on Eilean Mor (‘big [...]
Bishops and Clerks 3 comments
We launched at dawn from Whitesands Bay in Pembrokeshire, ferrygliding west past St David’s Head, the most westerly point of the Welsh mainland. After an hour we reached the Bishops and Clerks, a chain of rocky islands inhabited only by seals, puffins, razorbills and guillemots. We explored each of these islets in turn, finally reaching [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
And now for something completely different… Leave a comment
Last night, I found myself east of London, down in the south-east for the London Kayakathon. I took the opportunity to visit Red Sands Forts, nine miles offshore in the Thames estuary. I was joined by Jen, who was dauntingly fit and fast as she’s doing the 126 mile Devizes to Westminster Race next week. [...]
West of Wales 1 comment
Just returned from a productive few days based at St David’s in Pembrokeshire. When the weather was dodgy, we worked. When the weather was good, we paddled… The photo above shows us a few miles out from St David’s Head, the westernmost point of the Welsh mainland, just after dawn. Pictured below is South Bishop [...]
Foula – The Edge of the World 3 comments
The westernmost point of the Shetland Isles is the Isle of Foula, about 20 miles offshore. You can see the jagged outline on the horizon in the above photo, and indeed you can see this tall island from spots all over Shetland. We had to go there. Our first attempt (in dense fog and heavy [...]
Shetland Images 1 comment
The December issue of Canoe Kayak UK magazine has a photo-feature about our fantastic trip to Shetland, last summer. Hope it’s of interest. There are also some pics of our trip here…
Holm sweet Holm 2 comments
This weekend saw a quick dash across the powerful tides of the Bristol Channel to visit Flat Holm island. Flat Holm has the distinction of being the only part of Wales included in my guidebook South West Sea Kayaking. Flat Holm is actually part of Cardiff, officially. The wardens of Flat Holm were as welcoming [...]
Dry Run Leave a comment
Apologies for the underexposed image…but when I took this picture at around 7 am this morning, I was less preoccupied with photographic perfection, and rather more preoccupied with the tide race I was in, a rather cold NE wind, an encroaching container ship and the fact that I was just setting out on a 21 [...]
Channel Hopping 1 comment
The following article was originally published in Canoe Kayak UK magazine. It describes our splendid Whitsun trip to the Channel Islands. Enjoy… ——————————————————- Channel Hopping Exploring the Channel Islands of Guernsey, Harm, Sark and Alderney by sea kayak Gannets! Thousands of ‘em! The sky is crowded full by our largest seabirds. Tidal rapids drag us [...]
Channel Hopping 3 comments
In the early hours of this morning we returned from a wonderful trip to the Channel Islands. It was all the more excellent because in truth, we had had no idea what to expect and what we found was a real revelation. Below are a few hastily scribbled notes about what we’ve been up to, [...]
A Week of Scillyness 4 comments
Below is an article that I wrote about last summer’s trip to the Isles of Scilly, located off the far west of England’s mainland. It was previously published in Canoe Kayak UK magazine. Enjoy… A Week of Scillyness – A jaunt to the best sea kayaking location in the World. Ever. “Arguably the most exotic [...]
Bloody Orkney 7 comments
Below is an article that I wrote about last summer’s trip to the Orkney Isles, located off the far north of the Scottish mainland. It was previously published in Canoe Kayak UK magazine. Hope it’s of interest… ———————————————————————— BLOODY ORKNEY ‘There’s nothing greets your bloody eye But bloody sea and bloody sky … In bloody [...]
