Midlifekayak

Cold bivi last night. We were both glad when it was time to get up and get under way and warm up in the morning sunshine. We hadn’t managed to stock up on provisions the previous day so breakfast was a bit odd: slices of Edam, slightly stale bread roll, couple of dates and a banana.

This part of the coast has some extraordinary bird colonies and we have been enjoying seeing the thousands and thousands of nesting sea birds including guillemots, razor bills and as we approached Skomer, more and more puffins. We have also seen plenty of gannets too.

This coast also has some exhilarating tides. Last night we flew along passed Skomer in the races at around 8 knots (we normally paddle at 4 knots). This morning we picked up the same stream and flew off to Ramsey Island and the famous tide race called The Bitches (which makes me grin as it’s also the name that Tanya and her friends give to themselves at their Tuesday afternoon Stitch and Bitch sessions).

The Bitches is famous amongst kayakers for being both exciting and terrifying in equal measure. Geoff and I had passed through with our mate Mike back in 2012 when we went round Britain. We remembered the fast and bumpy ride back then.

So as we approached Ramsey Sound we were looking forward to seeing what top speed we might get on the way through. It looked ok from half a mile out, a few “ripples” on the surface but no mountains of standing waves waiting for us. 5 knots became 6, 6 became 7 and so on until as the wind was whistling in our ears we hit 11 knots. Both concentrating on staying upright in the bouncing confused waters, we were both thrilled at the ground we were covering. Geoff continued to call out the amazing speeds he was seeing on his GPS as I saw two rather violent steep waves coming towards me at different directions. Hit one, bounced off the other and into an eddy. I was still upright but now facing the wrong way. Rather than punch back across the eddy line into the main stream, I chose what looked like a slower current. After that adrenaline moment I was quite happy to bounce along at 7 knots rather than 11.

Meanwhile I scanned ahead for Geoff, he was easily a ⅓ mile ahead.

The race carries on for over a mile and we were headed for Whitesands Bay just at the end of the Sound. We paddled furiously to get out on the stream and into the relative peace of the bay.

A cheeky little surf later and we landed and pitched our tents in a great little campsite.

Now in position to attempt our Ireland crossing. The question is when???