Rhossili - a sight for paddle starved eyes

Towards the end of October and the rivers remain dry - Rhossili proved a sight for paddle starved eyes. Moderate clean surf uncluttered by other boards and boats

Hedging Bets

Dartmoor remains boney but a Classic surf weekend was on the cards - would the clean swell reach Kimmeridge on the South coast?

Just as well I loaded the sea boat!

Off the water

A few weekends without floating my boat - it was time to build a toy shed

Sand in the face

Redend Defaced
A short paddle out to Old Harry took us past Redend Point on Studland at the weekend. Here the coloured sands, in the Redend Sandstone of the Eocene Poole Formation, are well-exposed (in more ways than one).

For the technical bit .... "Iron oxides have been reprecipitated in the sandstone at various horizons in an irregular manner that does not correspond to the bedding There is liesiegang banding that has probably originated when pyrite was oxidised and iron-bearing solutions moved out from the pyrite source. The colour yellow or brown is typical of limonite or goethite, but in patches the bands are represented by a red iron oxide like hematite"

But all that doesn't stop some idiots leaving their mark

Summer Rain

Mid August - and a planned sea kayak weekend was diverted to Dartmoor rivers (all running at a good winter level). What a crazy year. And the next weekend, all rain had vanished and it was to the coast . . . .

The Verdon Canyon - paddling underground

During the course of a family holiday, Andrew and I managed to include the surreal experience of paddling through the Verdon Grand Canyon in Provence. Aided by Deb Pinniger, who knew the route through the numerous siphons and sieves along the way (negating the need for endless scouting), we managed to complete the 35km run in 7 hours.

An excellent but wierd paddling experience - something between canyoning and kayaking

Deb also came with a 'shuttle bunny' and so we were able to avoid many additional hours of shuttle driving at either end of the day. Consequently, we were back to the Gite in time for dinner with the girls

Weather Window

For some inexplicable reason, and after a soggy month, the weather cleared up for a weekends paddle from Sidmouth to West Bay.

Bad weather chased us east along the coast on Sunday but never caught us up. Rain returned on the drive home.