Browsing Archive: April, 2013
Posted by glyn brackenbury on Monday, April 29, 2013,
Had a great day today. It started well after a great nights sleep, I went down to collect the boat and rejoin the canal. I now have much more of a routine going in the morning, however this morning I had to introduce deep heat into the equation, as my back was sore from the day before. Applying deep heat prior to applying suncream, isn't advisable, my face finally cooled down around lunchtime...
Saying goodbye to Andy and Fiona, I set off to warm up, and got about 400m before I arrived at ...
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Posted by glyn brackenbury on Monday, April 29, 2013,
What a difference a day makes. After the trauma of paddling uphill all day yesterday, I was desperate to clear the Severn early this morning. The remaining 5 miles were relatively painless and I arrived in Stourport-Upon-Severn, feeling pretty good and swapped onto the Staffs and Worcs canal.
I negotiated around 30 locks today, and I've now developed a pretty good system, so each one only takes around 5 mins. The locks on this canal are what I'd imagined they'd be like, mostly short distan...
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Posted by glyn brackenbury on Saturday, April 27, 2013,
I've seriously gone off the Severn. The day started well with the campsite owner refusing to take payment for camping, stating the fact that I'd spent enough in the pub already... not sure whether he was implying I have some form of drink problem, but I was very grateful.
The rest of the day was spent eddy hopping upstream into a thumping headwind. I don't think I've ever worked so hard in a boat. I'd planned to clear the Severn today, but I had to admit defeat at 7 o'clock this evening af...
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Posted by glyn brackenbury on Friday, April 26, 2013,
First thing that greeted me this morning was a facebook message from Cheese of Palm equipment telling me that he tried to join me yesterday, attached to the message was a photo of a massive cake and mug of coffee he was trying to get to me, but I was too far out with the sail up for him to get to me, gutted, allthough it would have been great to paddle with him, it would've been even better to eat cake.
So today I decided not to make the same mistake and had a slow start, which involved t...
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Posted by glyn brackenbury on Friday, April 26, 2013,
I woke up this morning on Flat Holm to thick fog. I knew it was foggy before I opened the tent, as I was sleeping 300m away from a fog horn.
Had a great chat with the Flat Holm warden, who's very keen to encourage paddlers to come and visit the island. I'll definitely go back, as its history is fascinating, with cannons and bunkers strewn all over the island.
I left at low water with the tide still ebbing to move into the flow. 70km today, and I don't think I could have covered that sort ...
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Posted by glyn brackenbury on Thursday, April 25, 2013,
I'm now officially in Wales. Croeso.
I had a good night sleeping on the seafront in Lynmouth, nothing seemed to open until 10 o'clock, good job I wasn't in a hurry. Lots of people were very interested in the trip, you do find yourself talking to more people when you paddle solo, maybe I just look needy.
Launching took an hour! Lynmouth is a bouldered reef so I had to walk the kit down, then carry the boat, this is undoubtedly the worst part of paddling on your own, just getting on the water is ...
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Posted by glyn brackenbury on Wednesday, April 24, 2013,
Good day today. It was nice to get some distance done after the shorter day yesterday. I set off from Hartland Quay just before low water with fantastic conditions, the sun was out and it was warm enough to paddle without a cag on, I passed Hartland point and then the fog arrived. I'm not a huge fan of crossings, as they are just a bit dull in terms of things to look at, however, crossings in fog are a whole new level of dull, to the point where I found myself yawning so hard at one stage, I ...
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Posted by glyn brackenbury on Monday, April 22, 2013,
So to liken the trip to BBC's Mastermind, yesterday was the General Knowledge round, I got most things right but got one of the easy questions wrong, today however was my specialist subject, I got no questions wrong because I spent the day surfing. I don't think I've had so much fun in a boat in ages. The day started after staying the night with Chris Hobson, we went to the factory and picked up the boat and headed down to Crackington.
We reloaded the boat and took it down to the waters edge, ...
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Posted by glyn brackenbury on Sunday, April 21, 2013,
So, the day started really well, but finished in the Mega factory having the boat repaired....
A great nights sleep followed by a fantastic breakfast with friends. The forecasted winds hadn't really got going, and I set off before the tide turned to try and get ahead of the weather front that was due. Three hours of uneventful but chunky paddling ensued. I was joined by a pod of porpoises for a while, who were doing figure of eights under the boat and breaching, I'd of taken pictures but the ...
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Posted by glyn brackenbury on Sunday, April 21, 2013,
Landed at 4.30pm for a meal and a few hours break, nipped round Trevose Head to Harlyn on the evening tide.
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Posted by glyn brackenbury on Sunday, April 21, 2013,
If only everyday could be like today then I'm sure the trip would be a doddle. Beautiful blue skies , no wind, a gentle pushing tide, and great visibility has given me the chance to get into the swing of things without having to work too hard. Harlyn was today's target, as I had friends on holiday in one of the beach there.
I'm working on the principle that if there's a bed available I'm likely to take it.
I'm trying to take it easy in this first week so as not to shock the body too much. I t... Continue reading ...
Posted by glyn brackenbury on Saturday, April 20, 2013,
I'm off. Spent most of the morning faffing around with bits on the boat that I should probably have sorted beforehand, but that was good as it kept me busy for the morning while we waited for a more favourable tide. We loaded up the van with all the kit and headed South towards Lands End. After a lunch at the temple of the golden arches, I felt suitably caloried up, and looking forwards to getting on the water.
The plan was to get on at Sennen around 5, head south to Lands End, and then hea...
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Posted by glyn brackenbury on Thursday, April 18, 2013,
This week has been everything i dislike about sea paddling. I've been sorting, preparing, and generally faffing with kit, I even found myself in Asda with a tube of toothpaste in each hand trying to establish which was more condensed. (I still in the back of my mind think I've bought the wrong one) But it is all for the goal of actually going out onto the water and going paddling, which is obviously the bit I really enjoy about sea paddling
Tomorrow I'm heading down to Lands End with a view of...
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Posted by glyn brackenbury on Tuesday, April 9, 2013,
So much has happened since my last post.
The major event is that I now have the boat.
It had its maiden voyage out to Lundy and back on Saturday and it went really well. Just over 3 hours there, a quick whip round the west coast, and 3.5 hours back. I arrived on the island desperate to "relieve" myself only to find that the Oldenburg was due to depart and there was around 150 people milling around the landing beach. I must work on some form of covert wee technique involving smoke and mirror...
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Been paddling for 30 years mostly as a surf and whitewater boater. Living on the N coast of Devon and growing upon Anglesey has meant that the sea has never been more than a couple of miles away.
