Macclesfield Canal - 29th March 2015

With my son's football game being called off because of the rain, I had an unexpected chance to go for a paddle. I got down to the boathouse when some of the regular sunday morning racing group were starting off, so I tagged on for a few miles. Rather embarrassingly I took a swim at one of the canal bridges whilst going two abreast. Perhaps "J-stroking" a K1 in the wash from other boats was not such a good idea! [the canal narrows at the bridges, and if two boats go through at the same time there is not room to paddle on both sides of the boat]

Went out to Higher Poynton Marina and back... raining all the time, and I was already drenched through from my dunking, so not a pleasant paddle!

Macclesfield Canal - 25th March 2015

Hopefully the last "night paddle" for a while with the clocks about to change at the weekend,
Paddled form the boathouse to Higher Poynton Marina and back. Not particularly tracking times at the moment!... just trying to get some distance in.

Porth Trecastell (Cable Bay) to Rhoscolyn round trip - 22nd March 2015

Driving along the A55 towards Anglesey the mirror-like sea conditions were tempting us to change our plans, but we continued on to our intended launch from Cable Bay. The weather forecast was for sun, but also a F4 SW wind. Unfortunately this wind was kicking up some waves and as we made our way out from Cable Bay not everyone was happy with the conditions, so we returned to the beach for a re-think.

Cable Bay

We had intended to paddle south to Ynys Llanddwyn, but given the slightly more exposed headlands on that route, the group split up and Graham and I opted for an alternative route north to Rhoscolyn via Rhosneigr leaving the others for a skills session in Cable Bay and maybe a walk.

We made our way back out of Cable Bay and through the skerries to Rhosneigr beachfront, passing an unfortunate gentleman who had got his car stuck in the sand. Good job it was about high tide!

From Rhosneigr we then took a more direct route over towards Rhoscolyn. The conditions were bouncy in the waves but not too taxing and we made steady progress and entered Rhoscolyn Bay without incident and took lunch on the beach.

Entering Rhoscolyn Bay

The return leg was slightly into the wind, but more from our right, and the waves didn't really make us break our rhythm. We took a direct route across the bay that took us about 1-2 km offshore initially that gave a nice sense of exposure. We returned in good time in an hour, compared to the slightly more round about outward leg of 90 minutes. 16km paddled.

Macclesfield Canal - 19th March 2015

MADCC boathouse <-> Higher Poynton Marina.
About 1:40 paddling.
Return leg in dark... forgot how spooky it is with no lights!

Macclesfield Canal - 8th March 2015

March race of the MADCC Hare and Hounds series, 4 miles, time 41:14, 6th position... handicap more realistic again!.... not sure if I'll get as fast as I did last year.