Posts

Showing posts from 2008

A Potter around the Lakes with the Little People

Image
Sunday 09 November I had the privilige to be dragged around the Southern Lakes, on a bike, by the famous little people of the Lakes. Nothing to do with one of Beatrix Potters stories but I was in the company of our Kath and her friends Catherine and Jo. There is a fourth little person but H was off an a course down south. They may be small (if the three of them stood on each others shoulders they would not make fifteen feet high) but they are real whippets on a bike and I knew I was in for a kicking. Riding like a girlie with these three is a real compliment. We met at the small trading estate in Staveley home to the famous Wilfs cafe and Wheelbase bike shop. The food in the cafe and goodies of the bike shop would have to wait for later. The weather was at best atrocious as we set off north up the bridleway on to Staveley Head Fell near the Sleddale Forest. Kath had a puncture and this was the cue for the heavans to open. The climb was long but not too steep and typically lakeland terr

Skomer & Skogholm 27 July 2008

Image
The weather this weekend was perfect for sea kayaking so a trip to west Wales was on the cards. I could not make the trip arranged for Saturday, but luckily for me it is such a good trip that Steve was more than happy to paddle it again on Sunday. We arrived at Martins Haven bright an early and managed to get prime spot in the car park which is normally full of divers, anglers and day trippers. This is the emabarkation point for the visitors ferry to Skomer. The island of Skomer is separated from the main land by Jacks Sound a treacherous stretch of water that has claimed many ships over the years. One of the more recent is The Lucy which was wrecked in Jacks Sound in the sixties and actually sunk in North Sound. It is marked by a wreck bouy and is very popular as a diving venue. This weekend the tides were neaps, there was no wind and Jacks Sound was sleeping which was perfect for my first visit. The Puffins were out in force. There were literally thousands of them bobbing around on

New Team Member

Image
Today we had a new addition to the team. Welcome to the world Ioan Huw Proud Nanny Chuffed big brother

Worms Eye view - Gower 16 June 2008

Image
This has been a week for new toys for the boys. I have a new shiny waterproof camera and Neil has collected his shiny new boat. A sea trip was always on the cards so that we could try out the new toys. We planned to paddle out from Port Eynon and down to Worms Head on the ebb tide. I reckoned that if we planned it right we could then ride the flood tide back to Three Cliffs Bay for a late lunch, do a spot of sun bathing and then take the evening ebb back to Port Eynon. This way we would avoid the Swansea traffic and alleviate the need for a shuttle. We might even get a play in the overfalls off Oxwich Point. As it turned out we arrived at Port Eynon a bit late and did not get on the water until 10 15. Neil enjoys his new boat off Port Eynon. Despite the late start we still made good time down to Worms Head. We kept off shore in order to save the sight seeing for the return trip when the pressure of the tide times was off us. Worms Head was quite impressive and so was the current coming

Stackpole Sea Kayak Festival 24 - 26 May 08

Image
Despite the horrendous weather foreccast I headed off to Stackpole hoping to get on the water some time over the weekend. As it turned out we managed a paddle on each of the three days thanks to some positive thinking by the Coaches and organisers. Stackpole Centre is owned and run by the National Trust and is set in a beautiful location close to the sea and the Pembrokeshire National Park. It is primarily an Outdoor Education Centre and apparently it is full of school children during the week. This weekend however it was home to some 60 sea kayakers of varying standard. On Saturday we joined the experienced group and headed over to the picturesque Stackpole Quay. My wind gauge showed the wind speed at a steady 25 knots this is force six so there was not a lot of enthusiasm to get on the water. We therefore went over to the more sheltered West Angle Bay which is on the East side of the entrance to Milford Haven. This allowed us to shelter in the lee of Thorn Island and sample the windy

Six Hours North

Image
Life has been pretty hectic with work lately which is the reason why my blog has not been kept up to date. Last bank holiday 3 - 5 May Eurion and myself headed North to Angelsey to attend the Nigel Dennis Sea Kayak Symposium. Just in case you are wondering what a symposium is,from experience it would appear to be a teach in during the day, lectures in the evening followed by a few beers. It was a long drive in the motorhome towing my new trailer (I cannot get the Kayak on the roof) so I opted for a classroom session on the Saturday learning how not to get lost. This was taken by Trys Morris and was really informative. On Sunday Eurian, Hywel and myself decided to scare the pants off ourselves and signed up for the Tide Races and overfalls day led by Simon Osborne. We set off from Soldiers Point adjacent to Holyhead Harbour and headed over to North Stack. This is a tide race adjacent to large cliffs. The water runs really fast and forms standing waves just like a river but much larger.

Afan Jump School 13 April 2008

Image
Last Sunday I met up with Griff, Lee, Ben, Andy & Ross at Glyncorrwg. We rode up Whites Level and had a play on the jump section of Energy which was riding well. Andy then proceeded to give us lessons in how to jump. I was a pretty poor student being far too old for this sort of thing. Griff did a good impression of Biggles with his Dambuster goggles. How much higher would he have gone if he was not wearing them? Ross then showed us how it should be done. Griff thought it was as easy as falling off a log.