The weather brightened up a bit for the afternoon, Peter, Kodi and Paula came along for some kayaking. Paula being persuaded to take to the water even though being a little unsure of it. Using one of the nice stable sit on top kayaks Paula was able to gain confidence on the water, and even enjoy it!
Kodi was drenched from playing with the piranhas, but after a hot drink and an extra layer he soon warmed up ready to get wet again!
It was a grey but still morning at Gairloch harbour today, the sort of weather midges enjoy. The few midges around weren’t going to dampen the high spirits of Katrina or Susan. Both had paddled before so after a quick recap on skills we where off on the water.
Being on the water meant we escaped any more midge attacks. We practised our boat handling skills before heading around the coastline a little to see the seals. The seals didn’t disappoint and came out to say hello as we paddled past. A stretch of the legs on a beach and a nice cuppa was had before heading back.
Today I collected Carl from Sands Campsite, leaving his family behind, and headed north for a paddle from Melvaig. I’d had the whole family out paddling a few days earlier, but this was time for Carl to have a bit of time ‘off’. We set off to explore the coastline just north of Melvaig – it’s a great area with lots of little inlets, arches, caves, waterfalls and beaches.
We didn’t go far, we just spent our time enjoying the ruggedness and exploring as many nook and cranny as we could. It was a great way to spend the afternoon. Upon returning to Melvaig it would have been hard not to have stopped in for a pint at the Melvaig Inn – a great little place to go with the great coastline.
This morning was a busy morning on the water; Roslyn, James, Andrew, Scott, Kenneth, Chris and Donald all joined me for some kayaking. Donald and Scott actually feature on the back of my leaflets along with Kevin and Karen. I was sorry to be told that Kevin had died at the start of the year, a great shame.
We headed off to see some scenery and have some fun. It was a very frantic session, during the games everyone was very very competitive, putting in a lot of effort (mainly to ensure that everyone else got wet!).
This evening I fitted in Steven and Tracy-Ann, a couple just on their honeymoon after getting married recently. Whilst they’d paddled before, it had been a while ago. We headed out to practice some skills and then paddle along the coastline.
It was a very relaxed evening, out on the calm waters of Mellon Charles. A great way enjoy the beautiful scenery of Wester Ross.
The Hartree’s where back in the area, so of course they booked another trip out with me. This time it was just Mark, Lauryn and Finlay who came paddling – Fiona choosing to stay behind to take Sparky the dog for a good wander.
We set off in the kayaks to remind ourselves how to paddle and to explore the fantastic Mellon Charles coastline. Since it was a low tide we where able to explore a cave that isn’t normally accessible – impressive to see the huge metal buoy rammed into the roof crack of the cave.
This sunny afternoon the Davies family joined me for some canoeing. Carl, Jake, Zac, Oscar and Rohan all have plenty of experience paddling – Carl being a sea scout leader.
We headed off to search for seals, the seals where nice enough not to disappoint by popping up to watch us as we sipped hot chocolate and ate biscuits. Carl enjoyed himself so much we arranged to paddle again later on in the week.
Yet more glorious weather for the afternoon, this session was for the Lang family – Kenneth, Sara, Murray, Campbell and Orla.
We set of in kayaks to learn and improve our paddling skills. After a bit of stroke coaching we set about playing some games to get everyone paddling well, and of course have some fun. Everyone got to grips with paddling their boat well and so it was off to see what we could see, we headed around the coastline a little to explore the craggy shoreline.
When we came back to the beach it was time for some ‘wet’ games, the games succeeded in getting the right people to fall in!
Yet again the fisher family where back for more paddling with me, my jokes must be very boring by now…
It was great to see Erin and Letty again, and of course Rob and Louise. It was Louise’s birthday today, so for a change she decided to head off for a peacefully cycle in the stunning Wester Ross scenery. That left Rob and the Girls to jump in the boats with me to have some fun. We set off from ‘my’ little beach in Mellon Charles and after reminding ourselves quickly how to paddle we raced around the coastline to see what we could see.
We paddled into little nooks and crannies to see how our driving was, at one point Letty nearly left Rob behinfpd stood on a little rock in the middle of the sea. The sunshine was blazing again today,so instead of hot chocolate with our biscuits we settled for water to refresh us.
Louise arrived back at the beach in time to have a little fun with us playing around in the kayaks.
The afternoon continued to be great weather and the Tomassoni family joined me for a paddle. We all set off in canoes, with Kate and Alex being one team and Riccardo and Francesca being the other. We had the normal seals pop up, giving Alex a little fright initially, but we soon got used to them watching us from afar.
As I do often, we then switched to kayaks so that we got a go in both canoes and kayaks during our session. We used a range of kayaks that I have, using one of the small ‘youth friendly’ closed cockpit kayaks, an adult general purpose closed cockpit kayak and a couple of sit on top kayaks. The sit on top kayaks are becoming a bit of a favourite among many of my customers.
Lots of fun was had with piranhas flying around filling the airspace. I’m not sure anyone minded too much getting splashed in the glorious sunshine today!
The Beach family managed to get cracking weather for their session with me paddling from Gairloch harbour. It was so hot Millie even decided to ‘accidentally’ capsize soon after jumping in one of the kayaks!
Lot’s of splashing fun was had without any fear of getting cold. We started in the canoes and once we mastered them we moved onto the little kayaks.
A busy day for me, 3 sessions in a day, the evening session was with the Mellon family – Ann, Paul and Robert. Just like the other two sessions today we set off firstly in canoes and later switched into kayaks.
We again had sightings of seals and otters, their becoming a little dull now! Paul managed to cope with being stuck in a canoe with me whilst Ann and son Robert paddled the other canoe. It was a nice evening spent paddling around Poolewe.
Paul and Angela joined me in the afternoon for canoeing and kayaking by Poolewe. As well as the fairly standard seal sightings that we had, we also had an otter foraging for food on the beach just in front of the canoe trailer.
After taking the canoes for a good paddle we got the kayaks out on the water. Paul and Angela both got to paddle one of the sit on top kayaks and closed cockpit kayaks, getting a good feel for the different boats.
Rachel and Ian came out paddling with me from Poolewe. We started the session in canoes, paddling them around and getting to grips with using the single bladed paddles. We headed around by Inverewe Garden and where lucky enough to see a large number of seals, all very inquisitively watching us.
After heading back to the boat trailer we switched to kayaks so that we could have a play around with single boats and double bladed paddles.
Many years ago I worked down in France taking groups of British school children on two day descents of the Ardeche Gorge. When my scout troop was looking for ideas of where to go in the summer it was an obvious choice of location. A small group of us headed out for an exciting summer camp away in sunny France. We got up to lots of things like climbing, walking, crashing in big waves on the Med, cultural stuff and of course the highlight of the trip – the canoeing for two fill days over many rapids and biviing out in hammocks in the bottom if the gorge.
We paddled improper canoes, unlike 99.9% of other people who paddle down on the big ‘few skills needed’ sit on top kayaks. The scouts proved that they where up to it easily, wit.h only the one boat capsizing. We used Danny, Experience Ardeche, as our paddling instructor, he knows the river really well having paddled it for almost 20 years and living out there. He’s a great guy and I’d thoroughly recommend him to anyone wanting to paddle the amazing Ardeche.
Andrew, Kirsty, Cougar and Choire joined me today for a sunny morning of canoeing and kayaking. We set off initally in the canoes, as normal, so that we could get to grips with our paddling skills. Both boats got the hang of left, right and the tricky bit of going straightish.
We where doing well and decided to switch to kayaks, in the kayaks we played around in the shallows – the main aim was to cool off in the unusual heat have been experiencing.
Today I had my first clients from the Czech Republic. It was a large group, 12 in total, so we split the afternoon into two halves and I took 6 out at a time whilst the rest sat happily in the Badachro Inn sipping a nice drink.
My Czech language skills are non existent, so luckily most of the group could understand me, and for the few who didn’t a quick translation was easily made. I’m not convinced all my jokes translated well, or maybe their just not funny anyway!
Everyone picked up the kayak skills quickly, I’m told that canoeing is a standard pastime out in their county and since most paddling strokes transfer well to kayaks it was easy.
The first group on the water where very lucky to see the seals swimming around and popping up all over the place. Sadly with the second group we didn’t see any, but that gave us the time to go for a longer paddle to see more of the amazing coastline.
Sue who runs Ceomara Cottages in Badachro had some family and friends up this week, so what better thing to do than go for a paddle. We paddled from Badachro harbour, next to the Badachro Inn, and only had to go a little way till we saw plenty of seals by the side of Isle Horrisdale.
We paddled around close to the shore so that we could explore the areas only accessible by small boats, being right down at the level of the sea and against the cliffs gives you a very different view point to normal.
Obviously we also played some fun games – purely to improve our strokes, not really for the fun side of throwing wet ‘piranhas’ at everyone else!