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 ‘Tide races’ Category
Shipwrecked on Muckle Green Holm Leave a comment
Lighthouses of the Isle of Wight 1 comment
There are only two on the Island; the Needles (above) and St Catherine’s Point (below). Both are spectacular to paddle past, in exposed locations and overlooking significant tide races.
St Alban’s Head tide race 3 comments
The tide race off St Alban’s Head, this morning. A great Christmas Day walk (taking in the Square and Compass pub at Worth Matravers!) but I would rather have been out on the water…
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 [...]
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 [...]
Fair Isle Leave a comment
The picture above is borrowed from a splendid blog about life on Fair Isle. I’ve just been enjoying some photos on the blog of this remote island in winter. But, given that one of my pet hates is blogs simply reporting what other blogs say (or websites about other websites, etc) I’d better offer something original… [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Orkneyinga Saga 3 comments
Last summer, Heather and I spent a few weeks exploring the wild and wonderful Orkney Isles by sea kayak. Our trip did not cover much distance due to persistent poor weather, but this actually allowed us to explore the area in depth. This vast area of islands is located off the northern tip of Scotland [...]
South West is Best (2) 1 comment
This is the second (and final) part of an article by myself was published in Canoe Kayak UK magazine last Easter, to promote the launch of the book … Ten Great Reasons to sea kayak in South West England … 1. Lighthouses Ticking off all 26 of the South West’s lighthouses by paddling past them [...]
Heartland 3 comments
A perfect weekend! Hartland Point is the centrepoint of about 20 miles of truly astonishing coast, straddling the North Devon/Cornwall border. The rock strata along the cliffs are contorted into vertically inclined zigzag patterns, with a jagged reef extending into the sea. Sandy beaches are few and far between, and landing is rarely easy or [...]
The Trap 3 comments
In the Hurst Narrows, the kilometre-wide gap between Hurst Spit and the Isle of Wight, the tide squeezes through at speeds of 5 knots and beyond. A number of tide races form, the race nearest to Hurst Spit being known as ‘The Trap’. On the ebb flow, ‘The Trap’ can be an entertaining roller coaster propelling paddlers out towards the [...]
The Race Leave a comment
I am shorebound with a lousy cold, so I’ve spent today at the keyboard. If this was supposed to help me recover, it’s been a failure because the thumping headache that I awoke with has since been multiplied tenfold. The seas around the Isle of Portland feature some of Britain’s most complex tides, forming strong [...]
Old Harry’s Wife 6 comments
Old Harry Rocks, taken this afternoon The chalk stacks of Old Harry Rocks point out from Handfast Point towards the Needles on the Isle of Wight, nearly 20 miles away across Bournemouth Bay. ‘Old Harry’ is an archaic name for Satan, and is usually used to describe the stack at the seaward end of the rocks. In [...]
