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.
Today I had a large group booked in for the day, the group of ten had split themselves into two groups of five, kayakers in the morning and canoeists in the afternoon. We paddled from Gairloch Harbour, with the plan of seeing a few seals, improving our paddling and having a bit of fun.
The morning started with all the kayakers – Kirsty, Paula, Jeff, Phil and Fabian. The session went well with lots of competitiveness, Fabian getting a little too competitive and capsizing! The afternoon canoeists – Joseph, Nicola Kath, Alistair and Andrea – arrived for another good session.
David and Brodie have paddled with me in the past, this time they where joined by David’s other son – Cosmo. We paddled from Gairloch Harbour and despite the grey clouds we still managed to have a good session on the water without being rained on. David owns the Poolewe Hotel, which over the last year has undergone a renovation making it a great place to stay or eat out at.
