Midlifekayak

We spent last night at the Inver Caravan Site and B&Bin Dunbeath. It’s run by Rhona Gwillim and her husband. Such a lovely couple and a fabulous site. If you need a place to stay up here then book yourself in – you won’t regret it.

We enjoyed their company so much we didn’t launch till 10.30 today. Still only 25 miles to do. Wind was forecast to be F4-5 and North Easterly and so it was for most of the way – helping to push us south west down the coast towards Brora. We stopped off at Helmsdale for a bite to eat before knocking out the last ten miles. Unfortunately the wind had picked up now and was frequently gusting F6. That was fine as it was still helping, except the waves and swell were picking up too.

Geoff and I could no longer chat as we were starting to concentrate a little more. One eye on keeping the kayaks straight in the following sea, one eye on each other, and another eye on the incoming cresting swells that threatened to knock us sideways. I know, that’s three.

The miles ticked away fast but we were both conscious that what was helping us now might turn round and bite our bums as we tried to land.

We were aiming for a campsite just off the beach on the east of Brora. Worryingly the sets were getting quite large as we approached and so we had to call off that idea. We were frequently losing sight of each other as we disappeared into troughs. We moved on a couple of miles thinking we would get into the harbour. It has a narrow entrance which unfortunately was getting the full force of the swell and because it was just after low water it was pretty rough and surrounded by rocks. No good either.

Just when we both thought we might be spending the night paddling around trying to find a place to land we spotted a rocky reef which afforded some protection behind it for us to land. We paddled hard back out against the wind and avoiding the now barrelling waves, and ducked into the sheltered landing area. Bit of a carry but at least we were on land.

Easily our hardest landing so far.

Found a great pub in town, great food and a great whiskey collection! Now camping out behind the beach.

Little video attached

Oh and 1225 miles completed now….