Hannah and Jodie joined me for the afternoon paddling from Poolewe. We had a low tide in our session which meant that we had quite a distance to carry the boats – the benefit of the low tide was that we got to paddle back spotting lots and lots of starfish scattered across the sea bed.

Jenna, Jodie and Ashleigh joined me as part of their NC500 trip. We headed out to explore the coastline and see what wildlife we could spot during the morning. Some seals came to investigate us and see what we were up to as we paddled about.

Steven and Sue met me for a paddle in canoes from Gairloch harbour. We had a low tide, so had to carry the boats further but then had the benefit of being able to spot star fish around the craggy coastline. The first half of the session gave us some fun waves to bob about in before it calmed for a more relaxing paddle back.

Dan, Pegs, Daisy and Edith have been living in the area for six months and have been keen to get out on the water with me. We had a great morning paddling about from Gairloch harbour. Learning some paddling skills was the first thing to do before we headed off to explore the craggy coastline and play games. Daisy was keen to capsize at the end, but realised it was actually quite cold in the water!

I had a handful of our local explorer scouts out on the sit on top kayaks again tonight. Kayaking is a great activity to do with them at the moment because it’s very easy to socially distance and still have great fun.

Jo and Ric came out on the water with me in sea kayaks. One of the things we talked about just before getting onto the water was the hope of spotting an otter. Explaining that I had seen one in the morning and so we might but we are far more likely not to…..later on just before our brew break we had two young otters swimming along towards the beach, then later on Richard spotted another swimming about in front of us. Not a bad day for otter spotting!

Patrick and Sophie met me for a morning on the water. We chose the sit on top kayaks and headed off to explore the coastline. It wasn’t long before we spotted a seal swimming about and then shortly after that we watched an otter swimming along catching it’s morning snack. Later on we had a snack of a bit of sea weed – better than you might think!

Chris, Louise, Olivia, Eilidh and Murray had a session on the water with me. We headed out in a selection of kayaks, spending time to learn skills and get better at paddling, playing games to have fun whilst improving our strokes, watching seals as they spied on us, and generally had a good time paddling about!

Douglas, Audrey, Cathy, Douglas, Joanne, Moira and Simon met me for an afternoon on the water. We paddled around Inverewe Garden, spending time learning skills, having fun and watching wildlife. The seals entertained us by popping up and watching us as we paddled along.

Lynn, Paul and Diane met me for a morning paddling around Inverewe Garden. They’re staying in the gate lodge at Inverewe so didn’t have far to come. Inverewe is a great NTS property and we get to see it all from a different angle to most folk!

David, Caroline, Laura and Craig met me for an afternoon kayaking and exploring. We paddled around the super coastline at Inverewe, finding a beach to have a brew on whilst watching seals swim about watching us.

Susan, Scott and Ashleigh met me in Poolewe for a fun morning kayaking. They live locally and having been thinking about getting some kayaks so they booked a trip out with me to see if kayaking is for them. They seemed to love it, so hopefully I’ve got them hooked!

Jo and Graham met me for an afternoon paddling from the boom beach in Mellon Charles. It was a lovely calm afternoon so we explored the craggy coastline before finding a quiet beach to have a brew on.

Julie has her own kayak and wanted to learn about safety kit, improve her paddling skills and practice rescue skills. It was a great calm morning to paddle around the coastline. The few spots of rain at the end of the session didn’t matter since we’d been swimming about doing self rescue practice!

Julie joined me for a stunning afternoon paddling in the sunshine. We kayaked around Inverewe garden, seeing parts of the garden that folk don’t normally get to see. Heading along the little peninsular we had a few seals swimming about following us.

Nigel, Annika, Caley, Emily and Freya met me just outside their campsite in Poolewe for a morning kayaking. We had some super weather, which was a nice change compared to how it has been lately. An inquisitive seal watched us as we spent a bit of time improving our strokes.

Aimee and Holly joined me for a relaxing afternoon canoeing. We started out by heading into the wind thinking we’d have the wind with us on the way back, in typical style the wind seemed to drop on our way back so not as much wind to help us. It was still a great paddle back even without the wind assistance!

Louise and Callum were touring around the NC500, to see Scotland from a different view they joined me for a morning paddle from Poolewe. Callum used to work as an outdoor instructor and was keen to go solo in a canoe, Louise wanted an easier option so opted for a sit on top kayak.