Aberdaron to Porth Oer - 15th November 2014

First day of the NWSK "End of Season" meet staying at the Snowdon Ranger Youth Hostel.

Llyn Cwellyn

Saturday dawned sunny and bright, and although quite a drive from the hostel, Kate had suggested going round the end of the Lleyn Peninsular through the Bardsey Sound.

Eight of us set off in the small surf from Aberdaron Beach and made our way towards Pen-y-Cil in increasingly bouncy conditions.

Aberdaron Beach

We passed between the small island of Carreg Ddu and the mainland - now with the waves coming from behind. We could now pass closer to the shore and dared to go through the odd small gap between rocks and the cliffs.

Bardsey Sound

Once round Braich-y-Pwll the chop had gone, and with a cleaner swell we could relax more and enjoy our surroundings.

Approaching Braich-y-Pwll

With landing spots few and far between, we took lunch at Porthorion, just short of our final destination at Porth Oer.

Jim and Chris enjoying lunch

The final stretch of rock hopping was made even more exciting when the odd freak wave came through, and we thought we might have to do a surf landing at Porth Oer, However due to the angle of the beach the waves were not bending round enough to cause any problems.

12km paddled.

Roundtrip Aberafon Campsite to Porth Dinllaen - 20th April 2013

First day of the NWSK Start of Season Meet based on the Lleyn Peninsula.

I'd heard that Jim had a new P&H Hammer kayak on loan, so I was keen to try it out. When I offered him a lift for the weekend it worked out that we didn't have room for my boat, so I was committed to paddling either the Hammer or Jim's Delphin. Being a short boat designed primarily for surfing, rock hopping and playing in tide races, I knew it would be good exercise to try and paddle it on a normal coastal paddle.

We set out not long after 10am from the campsite's beach and headed SW towards Trefor into a F4 headwind. I wasn't finding it too hard to keep up and with a bit of skeg down the Hammer was pretty easy to keep on track.

We meandered down the coast that was always interesting with spectacular buttresses of the Rivals dropping into the sea.

Near Trefor

As we approached Nefyn, the beaches became more sandy and the large group split up - some headed for the cafe at Nefyn, the rest (including me) headed for Porth Dinllaen and the Ty Coch pub.

Porth Dinllaen and the Ty Coch pub

Claire and Claire cook their lunches

Porth Dinllaen

So after 3 hours and 20 minutes paddling, we reached our destination. Despite the talk of pre-ordering Guinness to allow it to settle and reach room temperature, the temptations of the pub were avoided and we had lunch on the beach in pleasant sunshine.

The paddle back was somewhat quicker with a bit of tidal assistance and more importantly the wind on our backs (mostly). With a tail/crosswind the skeg on the Hammer was definitely required. I managed to catch one or two good waves during the run home, but hardly managed to test out the Hammer as much as I'd liked to.

After a stop to collect driftwood for a fire on the beach later, we arrived back at the campsite in about 2 hours 50 minutes. I must admit I was rather tired having paddled the Hammer approximately 30km.

The Tudwals - 28th January 2012

First day of the NWSK "Neeps and Tatties" weekend celebrating Burn's Night.

Royanne heads out from Machroes

Eighteen of us set of from Machroes (southern end of Abersoch beach) on a wonderfully calm and sunny morning to head out around the St Tudwal islands and on to Hell's mouth. Snowdonia was wearing a white overcoat from the previous night's snow and provided a spectacular backdrop.

Kirstine

Arnaud

We paddled around St Tudwal's East first, playing dare in the caves, with just a bit too much swell to let us get through the complete passages that go right through the island.

The fleet at rest by St Tudwal's East

We continued around St Tudwal's West and crossed back to the mainland and stopped for lunch on Porth Ceiriad.

Lunch stop on Porth Ceiriad

After lunch we headed around towards Hell's Mouth, playing in the more sizeable swell and going through some interesting gaps that provided some entertainment. With the sun going in and conditions getting more sporty we decided to turn round just short of Hell's Mouth and headed back the direct route.

On the water for just over 4 hours, 20km paddled. The evening meal was a very filling haggis with mashed potatoes and swede followed by whiskey ice cream!

Arnaud passing through a gap

Bardsey - Day Two - 6th March 2011

Day two of the Barsey trip.

Overnight the wind had got up, but the grey skies had also cleared and we awoke to a lovely sunny day. Before breakfast we walked up the island's hill - Mynydd Enlli - to survey the island and inspect our route home.

We packed up and said our goodbyes to Stephen, his family, and his sheepdogs. Richard again taking our bags down to the slipway for us.

We set off in slightly lumpy conditions, with confused waves going up the E side of the island. We then headed across the sound on a slight ferry glide as the ebb was starting to flow.

We reached the mainland just N of Carreg Ddu, and passed through the channel between it and the mainland. We were swept through, bouncing over some reasonable sized waves and headed out past Pen Y Cil on a wide sweep of Aberdaron bay. The bay contains a large eddy on the ebb, so we continued around to pass between Ynys Gwylan Fawr and Ynys Gwylan Fach and to a lunch stop at Porth Ysgo. After a brief stop we then returned to Aberdaron to finish.

The day's paddle proved to be fairly difficult for me because my boat was taking on a lot of water. By time we had crossed from Bardsey back to the mainland the cockpit had about 2 inches of water in it and this was making the boat difficult to handle. I didn't diagnose the problem on the day, but when sorting my gear out on monday, I found my spraydeck had 3 significant holes in. They seem to have been created by rubbing from my waist tow belt (that I wear with the buckle at the back, and the rope at the front). Combining this with the fact that my bouyancy aid is fairly long, it pushes the tow belt down and it may also have been pushing the spray deck against the fairly stiff back rest pad of the boat.

16.7km paddled. We left Bardsey around 11am, arriving back at Aberdaron about 3pm.

Bardsey - Day One - 5th March 2011

First day of a weekend trip to Bardsey Island.

We launched from Porth Oer on the N Lleyn coast and set off into the increasing ebb tide that was draining out of Liverpool bay. The tide took us west towards Bardsey, but once near Bardsey sound we had to paddle in a W'ly direction to avoid being swept through the sound and into Cardigan bay. We should have left the mainland a bit earlier and headed out more into the flow as we only just made it across. Near spring tides were about 4 knots through the sound.

Once we made landfall on Bardsey we paddled around the W coast for a quick "comfort break" and food stop on the beach on the W side of the "waist" of Bardsey.

We then paddled around the S end of the island passing many seals, some of which came out to see what we were up to. We landed at the slipway on the E side to be greeted by Richard one of the island's wardens. He used the small truck to take our bags up to the cottage we were to stay in while we walked.

We stayed in one of the cottages on the island - 7 of us, but we also invited Stephen the farmer and his family plus Richard and his girlfriend to have dinner with us.

About 14km paddled. Launched from Porth Oer at 11:50, arrived at the slipway about 3pm.

Abersoch and St Tudwal's East - 12th October 2008

Returned to St Tudwal's but in calm and sunny conditions. Seals and Cormorants present again. About 4.3 miles round trip.



Nice caves...



Returned to Abersoch beach to paddle with Kieron Hudson, Andy Smith and Stephen Gunby. Andy and Kieron had a go in my Capella and appreciated its performance compared to the rotobat and SoT that we had with us. Converts?... maybe next time.

St Tudwal's East and West Island - 11th October 2008

Launched from the town beach in Abersoch. Paddled round the coast to Trwyn Yr Wylfa before crossing to St Tudwal's Island West then on to St Tudwal's Island East and then back to Abersoch. About 6.5 miles round trip.

Launched around midday, low tide was 13:19, returned 13:40. No appreciable tide.

Weather was overcast with moderate visibility to start with, worsening in rain such that compass was used to return to Abersoch as mainland was not visible.

Wind about SW F3, about 3 foot swell near Twryn Yr Wylfa. Quite confused waves due to reflection from cliffs. Much calmer once round to E of St Tudwal's East which was a lee shore. Woman on moored yacht offered me a cup of tea! (refused because I was needing a pee already....)

Cormorants and seals around St Tudwal's East along with more interesting cliff scenary. No place to land easily on either island. One seal followed me closely for 500 metres from St Tudwal's East on return to Abersoch.