Bollington Pool - 29th October 2009

1/2 hour pool session with Macc Canoe Club. Practicing rolls - mainly RH, but LH rolls were OK too. Using the wing paddles. Also completed a RH hand roll with the aid of a small float. The boa I was in was a bit big in the cockpit area, would be nice to use a closer fitting boat. Competing with the kids though!

St. Bees to Whitehaven - 17th October 2009

Forecast looked good for Saturday, so I arranged for a paddle with some other members of the North West Sea Kayakers. Jean Brown was already planning to be in the lakes, so she proposed the venue of St. Bees and the rest of us (Jim Krawiecki, Terry Hailwood and myself) tagged along.

Jim decides what to wear
Conditions were very clam and sunny. Jean and Jim decided to paddle in just t-shirts with no cags, I on the other hand had a dry suit! In the end I didn't get that hot but mainly because we took a very leisurely pace on the way north to Whitehaven - rock hopping, talking amongst ourselves and chatting to climbers.

Jim and Jean rock hopping

Jim reverses into a small cave
Climbers abseil to the bottom ledges
We paddled under stunning cliffs that in the spring and early summer would be covered in Guillemots, all lined up military style on their ledges. But today everything was peaceful and quiet - no swell, no wind and only the odd call from the birds that were still around.

We started off at about high water, but still encountered a southerly flow as we headed up to St. Bees head. We rounded North Head and were out of the sunshine for a little while as we hugged the coast making our way towards Whitehaven.

Terry approaching North Head

We entered the outer harbour and stopped on the beach on the southern side, near the Beacon. I guarded the boats while the others went to look for a chippy in town (Jim was short of a photo of happy kayakers eating chips for his book). Replenished (OK, stuffed...) we headed back at a fairly brisk pace, this time straight across Saltom Bay.

Right... where's the chippy?
The water visibility was great and we could see starfish on the rocks below us as we neared St. Bees again. A quick inspection of a wreck that lies off the beach, a practice roll for Jean and myself and then we landed for the long carry back up the beach to the car park. A lovely sunset with the Isle of Man in the distance capped off a very pleasant day's paddle. Estimated distance about 20km.

St. Bees sunset

Macclesfield Canal - 10th October 2009

Clarke Lane <=> Higher Poynton Marina.
53.17 out, 55 back.

Macclesfield Canal - 4th October 2009

Back to the training paddles...

Clarke Lane <=> Higher Poynton Marina
Out in 53.50, back in 55.10. Couple of slight boat delays on the return.

Need to work out a way of paddling in the dark on the canal...