This afternoon I paddled from Ormiscaig, setting off just next to the Griffiths’ house. Sarah and Bryan were on a quick visit to Scotland and chose to join me for a paddle along the coast. During the morning they’d been out collecting crabs with Ian on the Dry Island’s Shellfish Safari.
Jennifer and Peter joined me this morning to go for a paddle from Mellon Charles. They owned kayaks in the past and were keen to get out on the water again.
This morning’s session was over in Badachro with the Bettles Lake family. In the group there was a mix of experience, this didn’t matter as we were able to have a session to cater for all. We set off in a range of boats – sea kayaks, sit on tops and little kayaks. Today there were fewer seals than normal in the area, but we still got to see plenty, with them following us around as normal.
I’ve been a bit slack at putting up blog posts this year. I’ll start doing it again soon, but here’s some pictures of a few recent trips out on the water.
We’ve been having a few good days up here lately, makes up for the storms earlier on in the week. So, when Cherry was passing my house and saw the boats in the garden she couldn’t help but come and ask to go out paddling.
She used to live in the area, but now only manages to get up to her holiday cottage when it’s not let out. Cherry has done a fair bit of paddling in the past, so had no problems manoeuvring the boat in the light wind and waves.
We had a good little paddle, around the coastline from Ormiscaig to the end of Mellon Charles – past a busy looking Aroma Cafe and Perfume Studio at the end of the Mellon Charles road. The sun kept shining and not a cloud drifted past. A great way to spend a Saturday afternoon in March!
We’ve had fantastic weather lately and since I haven’t put anything on here for a while here’s a few photos from a paddle last week. I can’t take credit for the pictures (my waterproof camera has drowned). The photos are Ian’s (Na Fir Chlis Guesthouse in Opinan), hopefully he won’t mind me using them here.
It was a good little paddle with some great scenery.
Before we lose all the light in the evenings I took some of the local Explorer Scouts out for a paddle in Gairloch Harbour. We headed out just as the sailing club was heading in – they’d have liked more wind, but it was perfect and calm for us.
We had a fun session, with some of my standard games, a paddle up into the undergrowth of the little burn that comes out of Flowerdale, and some rafted balancing games. Sara and Sorley managed to loose their balance on the rafted games, ending up a little damp!
Peter joined me again for some more paddling, this time we paddled along a short section of coastline just be Melvaig. This was the second session that he had been bought as a birthday present – a great idea for a birthday present!
Peter’s paddling skills where improving and he was able to control the boat well. When we encountered a bit of wind and little waves it showed him that conditions on the water can change and feel different very quickly, but he coped well and arrived back at the vehicle dry and happy.
Gill and Neil live down the road in Aultbea and have been thinking of getting a boat for a while, so they came out with me to try-out a few boats and see what they think of kayaking. We met at the Boom beach in Mellon Charles and started the session by chatting about different types of boats, along with their pros ad cons.
We started out paddling around on some of my sit on top kayaks, learning the suitable strokes so that we could control the boats and get where we wanted. After a coffee break we jumped into some sea kayaks to see the difference in boat types. Gill and Neil went away with a clearer picture of what different types of kayaks can offer them, a good idea of other safety precautions that should be taken and good basic skills to control a kayak.
Les and Louise joined me in the super September sunshine for a paddle around in Kayaks. We paddled from my local little beach in Mellon Charles, heading around the coastline to the boom beach – Les had been here as a kid a number of times on summer camps, so it brought back some good memories of paddling in Loch Ewe.
Archie, Ollie, Angus brought their mum, Alice, and uncle Cam along for a fun session paddling around in boats. We started off in canoes, with Cam and Archie in one and Alice, Ollie and Angus in the other. After practising our paddling and playing some games we set off looking for seals.
It didn’t take too long to find some seals, so we took a quick break on the beach to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate whilst watching the seals. We then headed back so that we could get the kayaks out. We all jumped on the kayaks, with Angus on the front of Alice’s. At the end of the session I couldn’t resist turning a few into submarine kayaks!
Just a few days and the Wittenbergs are back for more. This time Libbi and Kadya where joined by their friend Joanna. We headed out after a ‘show’ from the local otter – he was wandering across the beach and road before diving through a hedge to escape the limelight. On the water it was another session with thousands of whitebate, hundreds of mackerel and a handful of seals watching us as they filled their bellies with mackerel. We had a relaxed session with spasms of activity during some games. Another good session on the water with beautiful blue skies.
The Fooks arrived in Poolewe to blue skies and sunshine. This session we headed out into the bay in kayaks, getting the hang of the boats quickly. Again in this session we had the pleasure of otter, seal, heron, oyster catcher and thousands of whitebait sightings, not to mention the special Loch Ewe piranhas. It was a busy session with some hard paddling needed against the wind when it unhelpfully chose to pick up.
Today Poolewe was the place to be. I met Karen, Claire, Maddy and Robert in the morning for a session of canoeing and kayaking in the bay. We set off initially in canoes, seeing an otter before we even left the shore. When we where on the water we saw thousands of fish in the water, they seemed to be everywhere, jumping out of the water for insects, but often into seagulls mouths. As we where heading back to shore we had a visit from a seal, interested in what we where doing. We then jumped into some kayaks for a little paddle and some fun, balancey wet games.
Peter joined me this morning for a paddling session on his birthday. He only found out he was doing it earlier on in the day as it was a birthday present. We headed off in some kayaks and combined skills practice and a little journey to get used to the boat so that Peter can help make up his mind if he wants to buy a kayak. We chatted about boat designs and different types of kit essential and useful to have if you own your own boat. It was a great morning in lovely sunshine.
I had taken Amos and Kadya climbing a few years ago and since then we’ve tried to get out paddling when they’ve been up again but not quite managed it, today we did. The plan was to have an evening on the water with Amos, Kadya and their sister Libbi, in the end we got Nicola on the water as well tempted out because of the fantastic calm flat water conditions. The calm conditions made for an easy enjoyable session. The competitive sibling rivalry certainly came out between Amos, Libbi ad Kadya when we played some games, with everyone getting very wet!
It was a sunny afternoon when Tricia, Duncan, Callum, Glean, Louise and Kate arrived for their paddling session. They had seen me earlier on in the week paddling from the harbour and thought it looked like a great fun activity to do whilst they where in Gairloch. We headed out for a fun session of leaning skills, playing games, seeing wildlife and having a paddle about the beautiful coastline.
