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Paddling the Ardnamurchan Peninsula and the Small Isles with CKC, June 2014
Kilchoan
Five Chelsea Kayak Club paddlers made their way North from London, through beautiful Scottish scenery, to join Geoff and Sandra in Kilchoan. The Argyll scenery is stunning, and Kilchoan is in a particularly beautiful part, nestled on the South Coast of the Ardnamurchan peninsula, with views stretching out across the Sound of Mull. Alex, Philippe and Dan, who had left London at 0430 in the morning in order to be on the water for 1830, made it in time to paddle out into the Sound of Mull for some pre-dinner rockhopping. Kenneth and I raced through the countryside and made it in time to join everyone for a gourmet Saturday night dinner courtesy of Geoff and Sandra, including fresh local lobster and gorgeous pavolva. Conditions for the week ahead seemed favourable, with force 4-5 winds forecast for the first couple of days, dropping off after that with sun poking through at the end of the week.
McLean’s Nose
Geoff, Philippe, Dan, Alex, Kenneth and I collected at the jetty in Kilchoan on a slightly overcast Sunday morning for our first day’s paddling.
Just before getting on the water, a slight heartsink for me – the skeg on my Scorpio LV was not working – a pain as the wind that had been forecast was just starting to make itself known, reminding me that a kit check at home prior to leaving for a long trip is always helpful…
We launched at the jetty, and set out for a shortish paddle along the South Coast of Ardnamurchan, east from Kilchoan to McLean’s nose, stopping near Rubha Ruadh for lunch. Afterwards, the tide still out, the six of us wandered along the shingle beach, lined with hardy oak trees, and stopped to inspect the flotsam and jetsam.
On the way back we kept up a brisk pace, despite our unaccustomed paddling muscles (some more than others!), and arrived home in time for a chilled evening at the ranch. Alex carried out some boat maintenance. Over our first hard-earned dinner of mushroom risotto we planned the next day’s paddling.
Fresh Mussels
I got up a couple of hours early on Monday morning to fix my skeg, and was welcomed by grey skies and a light drizzle. And a few midges. As it turned out, 2 hours was just enough time – I had to try three fixes on the “kink-free” rope and bungee skeg system before it decided to spring into action – only after I’d realigned the elastic bungee on the cog that levers the skeg down, changed the cog orientation, and retied the knot to shorten the bungee, which had become overstretched.
After breakfast and haring round Chris’s Ranch in the usual pre-paddle chaos, we had breakfast and set out in convoy to Loch Sunart for a lovely day’s paddling. Dan’s wire skeg had also malfunctioned due to a kink in the skeg wire which Geoff fixed before we headed out.
Paddling conditions were gentle and calm. We paddled under ethereal, bright, milk-white skies, the light diffusing gently through the thin veil of cloud overhead.
After heading down the beautiful Loch Teacuis, and stopped for lunch on Morven, where the CKC group had camped 2 years before.
Alex cooked up some delicious freshly collected mussels for us all, and then we set off round Carna Island back towards Kilchoan.
We made it back in time for Geoff to take us on a trip to Tobermory in the RIB, and hit MacGoghan’s for a delicious seafood dinner – delicious local fish and chips, fish pie, scallops with garlic, scallops with pea sauce, battered scallops…
White Sandy Beaches
We made an early(ish) start and headed for Portuairk, where we set out to recce the conditions for a possible crossing to the Small Isles. After about half an hour, bouncing around in the clapotic waves along the shore, it became apparent that the weather was just too severe – the further out towards Muck we headed, the bigger the waves became.
We turned back nearer shore and headed East along the North Coast of Ardnamurchan, waves still enjoyably bouncy, for a chilled afternoon paddle in the sun. We stopped at Glendrian, (in the same bay we’d stopped at on the way back from our crossing from Eigg, the previous year), for lunch, and just a little bit of disco dancing in the sun, before launching into the diagonal surf (expertly of course under Geoff’s expert tutelage) and carrying on towards Fascadale.
After a short break for a cup of coffee, some dried fruit courtesy of Philippe, and a quick navigation check, we completed our journey to Port Ban for our first night of wild camping.
Despite the low lying cloud that had been with us all day, we pitched our tents in the beautiful warm glow of the evening sunshine, to the (happily quite vague) interest of a few passing cows. After dinner, as the sun went down we were treated to a stunning light show as the low fluffy clouds were lit up in dazzling shades of pink, pale blue, orange, peach, turquoise and rose by the setting sun.
Isle of Muck
I woke at 0723. For a moment I was at a music festival, crowds of people clomping past my tent. I re-oriented to my rugged Ardnamurchan home, and before venturing out of the tent, I remembered the passing thought I’d had as I drifted off to sleep – I bet the cows head down to the beach first thing in the morning for a salty breakfast, and we have pitched our tents right in their paths. I poked my head out. They did, and we had.
We all stumbled sleepily out of our tents to see what was going on and saw an extremely hefty bull standing down on the beach between our kayaks and the water’s edge. “Daddy” remained stubbornly in his seaside spot for ages. Finally the farmer came down and gave him a friendly slap and a nudge. He trundled after the rest of the herd to his breakfast on the hill in the next field.
We set off from Port Ban, the sea like a millpond. Geoff pointed out that after our early morning wakeup call, we were in good time for another attempt on the crossing to Muck, with plenty of time to return in the afternoon if needed. Everyone was keen. We listened to the Stornaway Coastguard’s 1010 weather forecast, which was excellent, and plumped for the crossing. Despite the forecast deterioration in the weather “later”, we hoped it would hold long enough for us to camp for the night on Muck and return to Sanna in the morning.
We set off again at 1030, and when we reached Fascadale, we took a bearing of 320o towards Port Mor on Muck. Conditions were perfect, with a broad gentle swell and a light Southerly wind. We stopped for a water break every 40 minutes or so, and completed the 11km crossing in just over two and a half hours.
We arrived on Muck just after high tide, rafting up at the harbour entrance for the 1310 weather forecast on the VHF. After paddling the last half a Km into the harbour, we pulled our boats up onto the rocky shore, and meandered up the road to the tea shop, past two small lambs with matte black coats like coal. We ate our lunch lounging in the brilliant Muck sunshine – Cullen Skink with chunks of homemade brown bread, toasties with home-roast ham, pots and pots of tea, and delicious fruit cake and carrot cake. No holds were barred with the carb consumption as we now had another 3 hour crossing ahead of us – the weather forecast had banished hopes for a night’s stopover on Muck, as the wind looked to be up again within a few hours.
We set off again at 1530 and headed out into the bay. The wind picked up. It made for interesting swell on our return journey to Portuairk. Initially conditions were helpful enough, windy but with a following sea. As we paddled on, the swell grew taller, and more clapotic. After about half an hour of bouncing around, I noticed that the rest of the group was disappearing regularly into the troughs of the waves, (putting the Sea State at 4, or “Moderate”) which were coming at us from behind and to the side. Despite the stability from the fully loaded boats, we were all being thrown around quite a bit in the swell, and paddling now required concentration and frequent brace strokes. A trailing low brace came in handy on the most clapotic waves, but for the most part we stayed stable by keeping momentum up and powering forward, placing blades firmly into the front of the waves as they came at us from the side. We arrived in Sanna Bay at 1800, exhilarated from the trying conditions, all of us on a high, after three hours of paddling absolutely in the moment without a thought for anything extraneous.
A wee dram was in order, and we toasted Geoff as a thanks for a great day’s kayaking. The tide was well on its way in as we lugged boats up the beach and loaded cars. As we had paddled up the cove on our way in, we’d noticed a sheep stranded on a low rock and despite the day’s efforts, Alex still had enough oomph to rescue it and send it scampering on its way.
Wild Camping and Fine Dining
Restored by Kenneth’s hearty dinner of bean and vegetable stew and toasted bagels on Wednesday night, followed by cheeses, oatcakes and a couple of glasses of wine, we were more than ready for another day’s kayaking on Thursday morning. Eventually. We made it out of the ranch at about 2pm, headed for Loch Moidart, loaded up with firewood and some good food for that night’s campfire meal.
The drive to Loch Moidart was stunning, through breathtaking scenery, and on the way we stopped at the shop in Salen. We bought Nutella and fresh rolls for the next day, stocked up on Whisky and had a little sit-down for coffee and cake (as it was still only 3pm…) Then we made our way to the get-in and loaded the food and whisky into the boats, along with plenty(!) of firewood. After our chilled, meandering day, we set off at 1700 for our paddle through the Loch. No-one was in a hurry, and it was low tide as we made our way past the Casteal Tioram ruins, down the South Channel and out past Eilean Shona to the open sea.
We pootled up the coast to our second wild campsite, going quietly as we passed a group of seals resting on the rocks, and arrived in time to set up camp before sunset. Alex donned his rubber suit and headed back in the water to perfect his already not-too shabby offside roll. I pitched my tent, on a hillock above the beach, as a sea-otter fished for its supper in the bay beyond. There was a lowered sandy plateau on the beach below our campsite, with a lovely echo – perfect for Dan and Kenneth to have a little percussion jam session with the firewood. Then Geoff lit a perfect cooking fire for our evening meal, (the usual paddle nosh but also baked sweet potatoes, carrots and shallots warmed in foil in the fire). We ate on the sand, enjoying just being, under the sky and by the sea, as the sun set over the Sound of Arisaig.
Sun and double scallops
Day 7 dawned sunny and lovely. We left our beautiful campsite, and paddled our way through turquoise waters, in the blazing sunshine back to Loch Moidart.
We made our way through the North Channel, stopping to explore on the way. We beached at Casteal Tioran, our lunch stop and climbed up to the Castle ruins for a wander. Passing walkers and kayakers were friendly and had come from all around. We chatted to an older couple from Cheshire, out walking their gorgeous collie, (who wasn’t allowed any leftover salami due to his special diet) and two other sets of sea-kayakers enjoying a beautiful sunny day paddling round the peaceful waters of Lock Moidart.
We had a pretty epic lunch, finishing off all the left over provisions, topped off with coffee and delicious maple waffles drenched in Nutella (thanks Kenneth!) We meandered back to the get-in, stopping before we got out for some skills practice (who could resist in the beautiful warm sun), Geoff demonstrating a beautifully poised balance brace, Kenneth slickly executing a roll, and Alex practicing leaning backwards into a low scull. I went for a long, cool swim in the Loch – my first wild swim of the season – and then we unpacked the boats, loaded them on the cars and headed back to Kilchoan. We just about managed to unload and rinse the kit in time to get in the RIB and head back across to Mull – spotting a porpoise on the way out, heading toward Tobermory lighthouse. We celebrated our last night in style at MacGochan’s – there was a good old Scottish jam session in full swing when we arrived. Two accordions, bagpipes and a frenzied percussionist playing sticks on the table top belted out reels, jigs and a traditional medley of Marie’s Wedding and Scotland the Brave. Brilliant. Then a round of double scallops and dark ale before heading back to Kilchoan across the dark and quiet Sound of Mull.
Miranda
Photos courtesy of Miranda, Alex Hester, Kenneth Tharp
Bognor Regis Winter Paddle, 24th November 2013
On a beautiful crisp winter morning 5 intrepid CKC members (Neil, Dan, Rob H, Miranda and Jac) headed to the south coast.
There was a lovely shingle beach –
(not so gently sloping in places) and free easy parking – perfectly selected.
We had a lovely paddle, using the reverse eddies in our favour up to Little Hampton and back (even though the Coastguard didn’t think we would make it).
We paddled along bathed in the pinkly ethereal light, until the spell was broken by four noisy jet skis – we then took this opportunity to start heading into shore for lunch.
As it was the first super cold paddle of the season lunch consisted of discussing the pros and cons of various thermos and concluded with Neil’s £4.95 Morrison’s version being the best of the lot.
Heading back Jac thought Neil needed to challenge his last reserves of stamina – so without much convincing he hooked his towline to her boat, allowing Jac the opportunity to perform the role of trip photographer.
Dan found some cosy couches by the fire for a cheeky drink before the drive home.
Gorgeous day, and we all made it down to Cremorne bright and early for a paddle out west. High tide was at 1130am so we had the tide with us for a good chunk of the first leg.
Before we knew it we were at Kew, in fact we were there by 1145 so some time to kill before lunch. We found the shingle beach, and couldn’t resist “lunch from a shingle beach”
The pubs of Richmond beckoned, but consensus wagered a seat would be hard to find, so we went for a mosey up the Grand Union Canal instead. Interesting. A little too interesting as it turned out…
The Thames Lock was fun on the way in, my first lock and going up to a whole new water level was fun. On the way back after lunch, however, the water levels were less amenable to changing. In that the lockeeper was nowhere to be seen. So we considered our options. Shooting the weir was discarded as we couldn’t really see where the route went after the weir. Yelling out for the lockeeper got a bit boring after a while. We phoned him but that didn’t work either.
So portage was the only option. We took it in turns to clamber up the wall, and hauled the boats out with towlines. The get-in on the other side of the lock was even more fun. Vern immediately sprung into action and organised a team lowering the boats down the 15 foot wall with a pulley system of towlines, and Gieve went down first to help people make the leap from the ladder into their boats.
Jacqueline, Neil and David did a slightly longer portage and lauched off a jetty round the corner and we all met up to cruise back out on to the Thames and navigate with the ebb tide back down to Cremorne under Dave Tuttle’s expert navigation guidance.
Great day, thanks all!
Miranda
Done some work on the site.
- Optimised the google and bing trawling, they were killing us with requests
- Database optimisation work
- Upgraded the server, now twice as much memory as before.
- Done some additional page caching work
What does this mean? Hopefully the website will be faster. If you notice any problems since the upgrade give me a shout.
The skinny middle aged runner we encountered in the carpark of The Ship pub was the first to speak.
“Ah someone more mad than me,” he said, having spent 90 minutes jogging in sub zero icy and snowy conditions.
He was vacillating between sheer admiration of our chutzpah to circumnavigate Hayling Island and the ludicrousness of doing so in such extreme weather. Such thinking was of course, not lost on Andy, Jay, Kate, Miranda and me. Surely snuggling up and enjoying a Sunday morning sleep in was preferable to de-icing the skegs and foot rests while fingers were painfully cold?
 Getting the boats out
Well, at the time maybe, but once we started out, the microclimate in the kayaks ensured a comfy paddle, especially so with the wind initially behind our backs and we were riding a fast tide. We had a relatively calm sea and a bit of fun riding small waves at the bar on the South East corner of Hayling. And early in the paddle we encountered some some friends Richard and Steve heading in the opposite direction.
The next observers were some yachties cleaning their boats while we sheltered from the constant snow under the verandah of the club for a fuel stop. (The planned lunch spot in the protected bowels of the club was closed). “Didn’t you check the weather forecast?”was the incredulous question.
We had of course, and were well prepared. Jay’s hot chocolate, Miranda’s spare fleece and some bacon sandwiches made from breakfast leftovers helped keep the shivering to a minimum. But there wasn’t any luxuriating. It was back on the water, enjoying the sea with a couple of spectacular MOTHS and an old fashioned rowing boat as quickly as possible.The rowers, surprisingly, given they were out in the same conditions, were heard to loudly mutter “are they f….king kidding?”
 Paddling in the snow
The wind was still blowing, but this time in our faces, the snow still falling, this time landing on cheeks and eyelashes, and the tide that was meant to be giving us a nice sleigh ride home was non existent. Still, Kate amused us with a planned roll, executed perfectly and Jay had given us some paddling technique tips to work on. By the time of our mid afternoon return to the pub the boats were hoisted on roof racks in record time and we adjourned, with enormous enthusiasm to the roaring log fire and warming coffee (ok, a couple of us had a beer).
 Loaded in record time
 View from the pub
I suspect that while many people had done little on this particular Sunday, we had a memorable and most enjoyable time and have notched up a rare experience: paddling around Hayling in the snow.
Jacquelin Magnay
Thursday night and time to head down to Cremorne for some respite from London’s pre-Christmas bustle.
Late as usual after a hectic day but Olwen Jac and Christoph waited patiently with all the kit ready, and their patience was rewarded with… Flashing Christmas hats!
Lowering the boats off the pontoon (wearing our flashing Christmas hats), we saw that the choppy waters spotted from the pier had calmed, and as we pottered west alongside the riverbank the relentless clicking and whirring of London life melted away. There was hardly any traffic, the open stretch of water was dark, cool and quiet, and for a couple of hours life was just the river, the rhythm of paddling, and pleasant conversation.
Our course weaved between the pontoon posts, headed past Wandsworth bridge then Putney bridge, and splooshed quietly past Bishop’s Park with not a jeering stone lobbing yob in sight. Gazing up at the riverbank, and imagining frenzied London working, shopping and partying, the quiet was hard to believe, but welcome.
A little pause at Craven Cottage to hang with Michael Jackson, and take in the view of not much except river stretching up to sky, then we remembered the mulled wine Olwen had brought and headed back. Rounding the bend after Putney, and instead of choppy water and a brisk breeze we were met with a still river and a beautiful serene view – along the riverbank the water shimmered in green, purple, red and gold, and Albert Bridge’s festoon of lights danced and glimmered downriver. We glanced up to look at the clear crescent of the waxing moon, and saw Orion’s Belt glinting through the darkness.
The sights stayed with us as we crossed back to Cremorne and celebrated with wine and pies and warmth, and the stars and the stillness stayed even longer. All serving to remind me that Thursday winter paddling is a weekly must to stay relaxed and sane in hectic London, over Christmas, New Year and beyond…
Miranda
As training sessions go, this one seemed to skip along happily like a kayaker in the wake of a Thames party boat. The three newbies, Dan, Dave and Nick figured a beautiful autumnal day along the quiet Shepperton river banks lined with post rehab rocker villas would be like chicken soup for their busy London lives. Little did they know that ‘wet work’ isn’t another term for drinking on the job. By the end of the day, they learnt just how fast you can spin around your bum in icy water wearing wetsuit tutus.
The day started out with a couple of ripples and grumbles from various leaders. It’s always interesting to see who can come up with the best excuses to be late. As Geoff single handedly loaded all eight kayaks down at Cremorne, various texts arrived on his phone.
Phil and Jaqui – “Our hamster got stuck in the chandelier!”
Judes – “Sam Neill is stalking me!”
Once down at Shepperton, under Phil’s direction the main training got underway and the newbies trailed up and down, zig zagging along as Judes kept calling out “Rudder to the left of them, rudder to the right of them, rudder in front of them, Volley’d and thunder’d; Storm’d at with shot and shell, Boldly they rode and well, Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of Hell!” A little sense of drama never hurt a paddler, especially when a leader is trying to get that stern rudder steering into your head before you manoeuvre around on the Thames. In the end Geoff and Jacqui even managed to get Slow Dane to paddle backwards blindfolded and singing ‘God Save the Queen’ while hitting her head with one paddle and taking out a couple of signets with the other.
As the day finished off, the group rounded Desborough island and slalomed around a couple of near sighted rowers. Once back on land the three boys earned their BCU 1 Star + status, slow Dane narrowly escaped flushing herself down the seventies Sci-Fi toilet and we finished off the day with a well-deserved drink on dry land.
Solvej (aka the Slow Dane)
We had a very interesting visit to the Port of London Authority (PLA) Operations at Woolwich yesterday. Seven of us were met on a bitterly cold morning by Tom Southall, the Deputy Manager of VTS. The PLA ops and London Coastguard are based in the same building just beside the Thames Barrier (which is independently physically operated and maintained by the Environment Agency.)
Tom was very welcoming and encourages these sort of visits where users of the river get to understand more about the operations and the variety of craft they encounter. He firstly gave us a presentation explaining everything from where they fit in and relate to different agencies and stakeholders, such as IALA (International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authority), MCA, (Maritime and Coastguard Agency and IMO (International Maritime Organisation), training and background, their geographic reach and what services they provide and information systems they use.
We then got taken upstairs to the Control Room, where we met the two VTS guys on duty ,who explained the various screens and equipment they were using. It was fascinating to see all the radar and visual images of traffic moving on the Thames, views from their various CCTV cameras on bridges over the river and real time tidal and wind information being monitored. It was a blustery morning and the anemometer was veering around all over the place.
Next we met Sam who was the Coastguard Officer on duty. This is the only place in the UK where the Coastguard and VTS are co-located in the same building. Tom reckons this undoubtedly saves many more lives as they can share information instantaneously when incidents occur and Search and Rescue operations are easier to coordinate. Sam also gave a quick overview of the Coastguard operations and it was reassuring to hear that all information has a back up with dual control from another Coastguard for when Sam goes for lunch. (Usually Thames). They work 12 hours shifts, which must be pretty stressful at times.
View of the Barrier from the Control Room
The Team with London Coastguard
It was a great morning and everyone enjoyed themselves. The time flew past and it was very generous of Tom to give up so much of his personal time. We greatly appreciated it. We are hoping to plan another trip for those who couldn’t make it this weekend and we’ve also invited the VTS and Coastguard guys to come kayaking with us to see the Thames from water level! Maybe they will take us up on this.
CKC team up with Maldon and Dengie Canoe Club for a paddle around Osea Island on the Blackwater Estuary
August 2012
By Ann Gales
As well as exotic trip locations such as Sardinia, Denmark and Kilchoan, we like to try to organise some fairly local paddles in the South East, so when Rob Horton rang me to say he fancied paddling on the Essex Coast, Blackwater Estuary, I thought is was an excellent idea. (Not least because it’s the nearest bit of coast to where I live!).
With the Olympics still in full swing in early August and many folk on holiday, only a few of us could make the trip. So, on chatting with Rob about launch sites, I suggested we team up with some friends form the local Maldon and Dengie Canoe Club, who are based in nearby Burnham on Crouch. The more the merrier.
So setting off on what was a beautiful sunny morning, Rob, myself, and David N, trundled down to the slipway at Bradwell to meet the local Essex boys and girls. Altogether there was 8 of us in the group. Having dropped off the boats at the slip and then parking the cars in the nearby Bradwell Marina (they don’t like you launching and getting out on their own slipway at the club but parking for a small fee is fine), we set off on the incoming flood tide which helped take us up the Estuary.
The Essex coast is challenging mainly because of the numerous sand banks and mud flats. However, on a calm day, the paddling is usually straightforward, just as long as you get the tide times right. Our plan was to paddle west with the incoming tide so we could circumnavigate Osea Island at high tide and then paddle back out as the tide ebbed.
Osea Island is only accessible at low tide via a causeway and its natural geographical isolation therefore made it a perfect location for rehabilitation of drug and alcohol abusers. Until a few years ago, it was used by celebrities such as Amy Winehouse who paid up to £10,000 a week to stay at The Causeway clinic, in the large Edwardian house on the island. Now the island is privately owned and anyone can hire the main house or one of the 18 cottages on the island as holiday homes or locations for big celebrations. (Though it’s not cheap!)
On this glorious sunny day when we went paddling, the water was busy with numerous watersports users, and families having fun on one of the few real hot summer days of 2012. It was an easy paddle apart from keeping a close eye out for jet skis and powerboat users.
Rob and Brenda at the SE corner of Osea Island with the beach behind
 Having paddled round Osea Island in a clockwise direction, passing directly over the causeway which was by now submerged on high tide, we decided to land for lunch on the small beach we had passed earlier on the south east corner of the island.
Some of us went for a quick swim to cool down, whilst Clive demonstrated his rolling skills. The Essex boys, determined to show the Chelsea visitors their sophisticated side, had brought a barbecue, so bacon butties were quickly rustled up by Adrian and Clive even had the gin, tonic AND a flask with ice at the ready. What style…. I’ve made a note to add these to my essential kit list on our next CKC day trip.
As we munched away on sandwiches and lay sunbathing on the beach, it was definitely Costa del Essex and we were very happy and content. We were entertained watching some kids play on inflatable rings towed behind Dad’s powerboat and then we had the wonderful sight of the Tiptree Thames barge going past. We had seen it earlier in the distance heading out of Maldon on our way round the Island.
The Thames Barge
We eventually goaded ourselves into getting into the kayaks once again and pootled back out with the ebb tide. Navigation was straightforward with the landmark of Bradwell Power Station sitting at the mouth of the estuary straight ahead. Even industrial sights don’t seem ugly on a lovely day. As the tide gathered strength we just had to make sure we ferried in towards the marina rather than miss our landing spot and drift casually out to the North Sea.
David N heading back to Bradwell with the now disused Power Station in sight.
We arrived back at Bradwell marina, loaded up the kayaks and had a quick drink at the nearby pub, chatting to our new friends. Everyone had had a really fun day out. We really must do this again sometime. Maybe the Walton Backwaters next time??
Danish Delights
by Ann Gales
When Pia casually suggested last year that she would want to invite her friends at CKC back to her home in Denmark to paddle and see some of the beautiful coast of the Island of Fyn (Funen in Danish), I don’t think any of us imagined just what an outstanding trip this would be.
This short blog can’t possibly do justice to the wonderful 4 days we had. But I tried to summarise the trip and give you the highlights.
Seven of us flew over to Copenhagen early on the Friday morning and were met at Kastrup airport by Pia and her paddling buddy Jakob. Pia took us for a quick whirlwind tour of the Copenhagen centre, where we had a traditional Danish lunch by the canal, before driving the two hours to take us westwards over to the Island of Fyn and to Odense, where Pia and Jakob are members of the Odense Kayak Club.
We had a special treat in store for our evening meal. A fantastic little “restaurant” run on a type of cooperative basis for members, where everyone takes turn at cooking meals. For a very small fee to cover food costs we were treated to a fabulous meal and wonderful Danish hospitality.
We then picked up our boats from Odense Kayak Club. We were all stunned by the fabulous club facilities, which included a gym, kitchen and dining area as well as sauna! (Think we should make a note of that in any ambitious future plans for CKC.). The club was very generous in letting us borrow some of their high quality kayaks and kit and some private members lent us their own fibreglass boats, which was extremely kind and trusting.
Another drive, some shopping en route, and we arrived in the little summerhouse we were renting near Faabourg, on the southern coast of Fyn. A long first day, but it was fantastic.
Now for the paddling…..
We awoke on Saturday morning to dry, but windy conditions and Pia suggested we head down the coast to launch further east. The paddle out to the islands of SkarØ was a bit of slog into a tough headwind but on the plus side the windy conditions made for a more interesting paddle. We spent the rest of the day paddling between a few other islands, stopping for lunch on HjortØ where we met another group of Danish sea kayakers (sea kayaking is understandably very popular here) and then heading west to DrejØ, Although we crossed one of the deep ferry channels on the way, much of this area of water is incredibly shallow. This gave Fiona the wonderful excuse to do some kayak snorkelling, a sport, which she seems to have personally invented. It involves snorkelling upside down in your kayak whilst eskimo rescue style/leaning on someone else’s boat. Mesmerised by the marine life beneath, Fiona seemed oblivious to anything else.
DrejØ was one of the larger islands and had a small town and shop, where some of our group purchased much needed coffees, teas and some rather delicious chocolate cakes and biscuits.
There islands are so beautiful and peaceful, yet in typical Danish fashion they all seem to have at least a picnic bench and some rather high quality toilet cabins.
We headed home, exhausted after a wonderful days’ paddle and Tim cooked an impressive meal to help us re-charge the batteries for the next day.
Looking out the window the next morning it was obvious that it was once again very windy and consequently lots of chop on the sea. Pia and Jakob suggested we drive further down the coast to an area more protected from the wind. A day of fun and games was in store and there was generally a lot of messing about in boats. The highlight was the CKC Viking Boat racing championships. The photo best describes the event, which involved 3 or 4 people rafting up, creative use of paddles and cagoules to sail, whilst the paddler in the middle bravely holds the boats together and those on the outside stand in their kayaks, holding the “sails”.
 Viking Racing the CKC way
This was followed by some more rescues, fun in a playground on the island where Jakob was crowned Champion of Swingball, and Paul threw caution to the wind and launched himself head first down the waterslide. Hilarious.
The next day the sun shone brightly and we had a fairly gentle paddle from the beautiful town of Faabourg round the east side of Horneland and past the town of Dyreborg. Some more messing around in boats with practice rescues, another Viking race and more kayak snorkelling took us to the end of our stay in the south of Funen. We were all sad to be heading back up north.
We reluctantly had to return our sea kayaks to Odense Kayak Club for their Monday evening paddling training. We pitched camp in the grounds by the canal and hung our wet gear out to dry.
But this was not to be the end of our fun filled kayaking weekend.
The next morning, having been woken by Andy on the club megaphone giving the impression of a SBS commander, we quickly got everything packed up and prepared for a morning of experimentation with Odense Kayak Club touring and racing boats. (Yes they really are generous with their wonderful kit). Pia and Jakob were sniggering as they looked forward to seeing how the visitors got on in these more wobbly boats.
In short, it was more fantastic fun. We tried lots of different boats, increasing in wobbleyness as the morning passed. (I’m sure Racing aficionados use the “Wobbley scale”?) The amount of falling in also increased but I think it’s fair to say the CKC team did itself proud and we all mastered at least some of the racing craft. After a hasty lunch, (thanks to Paul for some cracking sandwiches), we had to rush to get back to the airport for our return flights.
Well, this was the most fantastic trip. We all came back wanting to return to Denmark. Thank you to Pia and Jakob for their wonderful hospitality and to Odense Kayak Klub for their welcome and letting us their kit and facilities.
Our Hosts, Pia and Jakob
We felt very privileged to be given such insights into your beautiful country and the chance to paddle there.
Hope they might invite us back again …maybe…….
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