I had a brief break from Wester Ross at the start of the Scottish school holidays (rubbish timing to be away – sorry to any folk who I couldn’t take out then). I went down to Mull with the Gairloch area explorer scouts. We had a great time on the island, certainly a place I’d suggest you’d go.
David, Karlis, Marion and Sharon met me in Gairloch on a sunny bright day. The weather looked perfect for a bit of splashing about in boats, so we set off for a bit of exploration and fun.
Anne and Peter joined me again for some more paddling. This year we went from Badachro, just along the road from where they are staying. We had some lovely still weather to paddle in, with seals nipping up to watch us and birds flying around. Anne and Peter last paddled with me over in Mellon Charles on an equally still day.
Some scouts from the Ross & Sutherland district are heading off to Canada later on in the summer, they’re due to be doing some canoing whilst out there (well, what else would you do in Canada?!). Most of them had done some paddling before, remembering bits and showing their skills. They all refreshed their memories of the strokes or learnt new ones in preparation for showing off to the Canadian scouts.
As always, it was a fun session with plenty of games and excitement. Most ended the session jumping of the pontoon to ensure they didn’t have any dry patches left!
Alex and Jude met me on a sunny morning in Mellon Charles at the big old military beach. We headed out to explore the varied coastline, paddling below Boom House where they are staying. For most of the morning we kept close to the shore avoiding the breeze but when we had to paddle back to the beach the wind seemed to pick up and give us some exhilarating paddling!
Guy, Greg, Laura and Matt came out for a paddle from Gairloch Harbour. We had some good weather for our trip, sunshine and calmness. 
James and Martin were travelling around the great #NC500. Keen to see the sights and experience the wonderful coastline from a different perspective they came out with me for a paddle. The crystal clear waters we have up here were very different to the murky south coast waters that James has paddled on before!
Sandra and Rüdiger met me in Mellon Charles to paddle around the coastline. They have plenty of experience paddling different types of boats but had never paddled sea kayaks before. We set off in the sea kayaks to see how they felt and get used to them. Soon they decided that they liked them and were keen to stay in them, so we headed off to see the rocky coastline.
Alistair, Maisie, Mary-Ann, Fin, Andrew and Janice joined me for the afternoon at Gairloch Harbour. We had a fun session, learning skills, playing games, having fun and enjoying the sights. Fin even found out how cold the water was when he ‘decided’ to go for a swim!
Alistair was taking a well earned break today from Isle of Ewe Smokehouse, which is just across the road from my house. Fantastic tasty fish, I certainly recommend it!
Lorna, Keri, Geoff and Chris met me at Gairloch Harbour for a paddle around the local area. We had fantastic blue skies and sunshine. Whilst paddling around the coastline we were able to see a seal, star fish, sea urchins, Sea anemones and fish.
Alex, Louise, Beth, Rhys and Siobhan met me by the Shieldaig Lodge Hotel for a paddle. It was a little breezy, so at times we had good challenging conditions to keep us on our toes. The seals decided that we were quite interesting, so followed us around.
Grant, Roslyn, Fraser, Kate and Angus joined me in Mellon Charles for a paddle. They were up in the area seeing family – Stephen and Janis who run The Love Croft Guest House in Laide.
We had a great session with skills learnt, games played, interesting paddling and quite a bit of getting wet and having fun.
Manuela and Wolfgang joined me at Gairloch Harbour for a kayaking session in the sunshine. They were spending a few weeks travelling around Scotland, having some fantastic weather. 
I met Ben and Graeme at Badachro for a kayak session, just as we prepared to get on the water we were alerted to an out of control fire threatening the houses on Eilean Horrisdale. We set off for the island to give the few local folk already there a hand tackling the fire. The fire was spreading quickly due to the fact that we’ve had little rain in the past few weeks, so last years bracken is so dry and easily lit. The fire was beaten down with oars and bucket of water, keeping it away from the buildings. By the time that the local fire brigade had arrive on the island we had managed to put the fire out.
We then headed off to continue our session, seeing plenty of seals and scenery.
I’ve been spending some time coaching some canoe skills recently. The wind chose not to help us at all – paddling a canoe solo in the wind can be quite tricky when you’re practising your strokes! Paddling tandem is of course far easier, assuming teamwork skills are ok!
Arnold booked a full day of paddling with me. He has recently bought himself a kayak and wanted to learn some skills. We spent a lot of time chatting about suitable equipment for both safety and comfort when paddling. On the water we practised different strokes and even had a practice with self rescue, even though the water felt freezing. Self rescue, the ability to get yourself back on your boat after capsizing, is an important skill to master if you’re going to go paddling by yourself.
Adam and his daughters Erin and Katie joined me for the afternoon session. We headed out from Gairloch Harbour on the sit on top kayaks, seeing the coastline from the water level is always great – no matter how many times I do it.
Simon, Finlay and Erin joined me again for their second adventure with Ewe Canoe. This time we headed out from Gairloch Harbour on a calmer day amongst windy ones. They remembered their paddling strokes well and we were soon on our way, playing games and seeing wildlife.
