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. 
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.
Checkin, trivago’s blog, has it’s top 10 reasons to drive the #NC500. Ewe Canoe is nestled in there, section 8 – fun for all the family.
Check it out here, and see other great things to do on your North Coast 500 holiday.
Iain and Leigh joined me for a kayak from Mellon Charles. There wasn’t quite as much sunshine as I’d have liked, but we had very nice calm conditions on the water. Kayaking was something that Iain and Leigh had been planning on doing for years with their family, they finally got around to it now that their children aren’t on holiday with them.
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.
Julia is working at Inverewe Garden this summer, on her summer holiday from university in Glasgow. Her sisters and dad where visiting for a couple of days and what better way to see the area than from a kayak. We would have set off from the slipway in Ormiscaig next to where Julia is staying, but the wind argued with us about that so instead we headed off from Poolewe where we where due to be a little more sheltered. We had a good paddle, with Malin paddling very well being just 10 years old. Some fun games where played and a lot of hard paddling was done.
The wind continued into the afternoon for the Wilson family, but as with the morning we where able to shelter from it by using the shoreline to protect us. Alison, Alex, Rachel, Christopher and Katie had been postponed from Monday when I had to call off paddling due to the wind conditions, the wind today wasn’t as bad and we succeeded in getting out. Lots of seals and jelly fish where seen, much to Rachel and Katie’s displeasure.
Today it was due to be a little windy from the south west, so Badachro looked to be a suitable place to go for a paddle from. Rob now lives in South Erradale, so it was a short drive for him, Tom, Sarah and Robert. Paddling around from Badachro and keeping tucked in against the shoreline meant that we where nicely protected from the wind, letting us enjoy an nice morning paddling seeing the scenery and seals.
After a quick bite to eat it was time for the afternoon session with the Redfern family. Simon, Clare, Jessica, Ellie and Richard arrived keen to get out on the loch. The forecast was due to be wet but this didn’t dampen their spirits, as it turned out it wasn’t as wet as it was due to be – well apart from when they capsized that is!
This morning Stephen, Patrick, Annapurna and Blythe joined me to get out in canoes and kayaks from Gairloch harbour. We set off initially in canoes, with Stephen and Blythe in one and Patrick and Annapurna in the other, both boats working well in their teams and getting where they wanted to go. We swapped over to kayaks part way through the session so that everyone could get a go in both types of boat. Just in case they weren’t wet enough at the end, all the young folk decided to go for a swim.
