Bowie Kayak, Gairloch
The sun chose to join us today, giving us a great paddling day. Calum, Duncan, Kathleen and Neil joined me at Gairloch harbour for a fun session kayaking.
Grigor Wright MacKenzie Paddle, Mellon Charles
A busy afternoon at Mellon Charles beach – Gillian, Louise, Max, Ben, Rosalind, Fiona, Coll and Callum all joined me for some fun on the water.
We started out in canoes, practising our paddling and team work skills. We then switched to kayaks and had some fun getting wet.
Gray Kayak, Mellon Charles
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.
Griffiths Langbord, Ormiscaig
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.
Neal Kayak, Mellon Charles
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.
Bettles Lake Kayak
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.
Austen Paddle
The Austens were on a trip around the North Coast 500, a fantastic 500 mile route around the north of Scotland. They were keen to get out on the water, so made sure they stopped off for a paddle on Loch Ewe. We set off from Poolewe by Inverewe Garden. On our trip around we saw an otter having his lunch and a group of seals watched us as we watched them.
Apologies again that we finished the session a few minutes early, a mountain rescue call out on An Teallach meant that I had to make a swift exit.
Recent paddling
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.
Cherry Kayak, Mellon Charles
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!
Glorious November weather
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.
Wester Ross Folios – Adrian Hollister
Local photographer Adrian Hollister has an exhibition in the Gairloch Heritage Museum till the end of October. This picture of me is in his book ‘Portrait of a Small Community’.
The Wester-Ross Folios are a series of fine-art monochrome images by local photographer Adrian Hollister. Each portfolio presents a highly personal view of his love for life in Wester-Ross, and of its landscapes. These are not conventional landscape photographs; in fact one of the folios is a series of portraits of members of the community.
Adrian Hollister has been photographing the landscapes of Wester-Ross and the north-west highlands for over twelve years. Since 2010 he has lived in Mellon Charles, running photography workshops from the Image Studio (part of the Perfume Studio). The Open Studio Workshops, run in the winter months, attract some of the world’s top photographers as leaders, and to date over 150 experienced photographers have travelled from all corners of the globe to participate in these unique workshops.
Explorer Scouts Kayak
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!
Wimpenny Kayak, Melvaig
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.
Cameron Kayak, Mellon Charles
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.
Grainger Kayak, Mellon Charles
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.
Johnston Paddle, Gairloch
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!
Wittenberg Kayak, Poolewe
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.
