Kefalonia Day 1

April is a great time to visit kefalonia. The tourists haven't arrived yet, the beaches are empty, and the sea is just starting to warm up. This is the beach, close to the airport where we launched having packed our boats for a 6 day trip.

Once underway, we explored in and out of arches and caves and along cliffs. The limestone was yellow in places...

...and white in others.

There were plenty of caves.

During our second lunch stop, our local guide Pavlos told us that the clay in the cliffs was supposed to be good for the complexion. Bruce decided to try it out.

Our first campsite on the island of Vardiani was close to the remains of an old chapel, destroyed by earthquake in 1953 and since rebuilt in concrete blocks.

The concrete built lighthouse on the island stands amongst the remains of another earthquake shattered precursor. Climbing to the top gave a fantastic view of our island.

Here's Pete at the top

Eigg for Lunch

With another great weather forecast and a beautiful new boat to put through its paces I set out on a day trip to Eigg, starting from the road end on the Rhu peninsula at Arisaig.

There wasn't much to see except for the distinctive skyline of Eigg, so I took a photo every 2km. This one is 2km from my start point.

 4km

 6km

 8km

 10km

 12km

 14km

It was 15km from launch to landing and the outward paddle took just 2 hrs with a gentle tailwind. The return journey into the wind, now slightly increased, took 2 1/2 hrs.

North Shore of the Ardnamurchan Peninsula

A good weather forecast gave me plenty of options, so from a launch beach at Ardtoe I went to explore the north shore of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. This was a new bit of coastline for me and one which didn't disappoint

As I set off, Rum and Eigg look temptingly close

With a new boat, I decided to be a little selective about the rocky gaps that I went for.

Sea conditions were just perfect

I had a lovely day out, paddling a total of 35km in warm sunny conditions.

Loch Sunart, a day of three otters

From inside the van, blue sky beckoned temptingly, steel and glass being a good barrier to the biting easterly wind. I launched near Glen More, on the southern shore of the Ardnamurchan peninsula, and was soon reaching for pogies as cold fingers refused to follow instructions. Within a kilometre I had encountered my first otter swimming unconcerned near my boat.

I picked my way along the north shore of Loch Sunart, past Glen Borrodale and Risga Island until I was opposite the island of Carna and made the short crossing into the wind. This was the home of otter number two, busily munching on a fish as I photographed him on the rocks.

I paddled through Caol Charna into Loch Teacuis through a narrow channel. Here I saw my first human of the day. Continuing on a circuit of Loch Teacuis I found respite from the wind on reaching the tree lined far shore. Now with an empty stomach a lunch break seemed in order. The new unscratched gelcoat beneath me meant I was super-fussy about where to land, but eventually picked my way against current through the narrows to find a spot both sheltered from the wind and benefiting from full sun. Coffee was soon brewing as I lapped up the sunshine.

I came to my senses as ominous looking clouds appeared over the hills of Arnamurchan. Narrow channels to the west of Carna had significant flow as Loch teacuis filled up so I hunted out the slack water and made easy progress. In the distance I spied another otter – too far away for a picture but I sat for a while enjoying watching it swim around oblivious of my delight.

As clouds lowered, I made my way quickly back to Glen More where my home-from-home yellow van stood out on the shore like a beacon.

This is where I went, a total of 25km paddled.

It's March. Why is it still winter?

It's another freezing cold weekend so where better to go than Anglesey. Seven well dressed paddlers assembled at Church Bay ready for a trip with the tide round Carmel head to Cemlyn and back. That was the plan. Jimski in his plastic fantastic decided to test out every little nook and cranny of the coastline. At one point he decided he didn't even need water.

Or paddles.

Here he is checking for damage, fortunately none found. Those Delphins are made of tough stuff.

There were caves and arches to explore.

And Claire even took a dip.

Anything Jimski can do, Norbert will try and follow. Here he is giving his skeg some air time.

After lunch, the Skerries looked enticingly close, so with a few guestimated tidal calculations Jimski led us in what looked like an impossible direction. What he of course knew was that the tidal flow was increasing rapidly and was at a rate faster than we could hope to paddle against. His enthusiasm was so great that we had to do an abrupt about-turn to avoid overshooting the island group.

The picture makes it look like summer but I can assure you it was pretty cold.

Here's the team on the top of the Skerries, with Carmel Head gap in the background.

What a day!

Another Chilly One

Stunning winter weather again, so what better place to go than Anglesey. The west coast this time and a short trip from Cable Bay towards Malltraeth Sands. The first landmark is this tiny church cut off from the shore at high water. We stopped to investigate, but only briefly as the cold wind was biting.

 Once again Jimski is happiest when he's grating the gelcoat on barnacles. Here he is demonstrating his choice of fashion headgear.

 Here's Claire proving how narrow her boat is.

 And this time I'm investigating a deep cleft in the rocks not far from Rhoscolyn.

 Right now I'm sitting in my boat, deep in a gully beside the white arch at Rhoscolyn. This wave is making me wish I was somewhere else.

 This lazy creature just about opened its eyes as we paddled past, not remotely bothered about our presence.

Another fantastic weekend of cold but enjoyable paddling, more precious as the fine weather cannot last much longer.

Cold weather paddling

 February 16th and 17th was forecast to be another blue sky winter day. Six NWSKers donned thermals and pogies for a North Wales weekend. Here Jimski warms his hands up in the outfall from Wylfa power station. That's not spray in the sir, it's steam. The water was like bathwater.

 We paddled from Cemlyn, along the north coast of Anglesey to Bull Bay, past caves and spectacular rocky scenary. The sea was calm enough to permit close inspection.

 Bull Bay was our lunch stop and a chance to soak up some rays. Out of the chilly breeze it felt quite warm in the sun.

 The return journey was tide assisted, and so a more direct route was taken. We couldn't resist this cave for a second time though.

 The following day was just as blue and calm, so another trip was in order, this time round the Great and Little Ormes. Having sampled the bathwater yesterday, Jimski felt in need of a shower and tested the hood on his drysuit in one of the many waterfalls to tumble from the heights of the Orme.

 Birds were very much in evidence, with hundreds of guillemots standing to attention along every ledge in the cliffs.

 More birds on the return journey between Great Orme and West Shore. This time the Oystercatchers line up facing into the wind as though in formation.

 Seals laze on a beach near Little Orme, pretty much oblivious of our presence.

What a fantastic couple of days, stolen from winter. It almost felt like spring was springing.