Midlifekayak

Fairly decent nights sleep in the dunes at Howe Strand. We both woke just after 6am and got the porridge and tea on.

We weren’t sure from where we were, whether the conditions out in the bay had settled down or not. If they had then we would get round Seven Heads. If they hadn’t, then we would push on along the coast a bit to Courtmacsherry, at least there was a shop there where we could get coffee and food.

(We definitely are living at the bottom of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.)

Just as we were about to start packing up and thinking about getting on the water, there was a shout from one of the houses behind the beach.

“You’ll be needing coffee?“

James was born in Dublin, lived a lot of his life in Derby and worked as a mechanic, now very much settled in this part of rural Cork. Big steaming mugs of coffee and three slices of toast and marmalade later, James showed his hobby. He takes classic old cars and completely rebuilds them chassis up. On site he had an immaculate Bentley and a Daimler dating back to 1930s (I think?). What a talent!

Bellies now full of two breakfasts we packed up and got ready to launch. An even longer carry than the day before.

As we were relaying the boats and kit down the beach, we noticed a woman searching for her dog. It had run off while she was swimming. It had been gone a good 45mins and she was clearly worried, as would we be.

It was our turn to do a good deed, and so we paddled along the coast in the direction that she thought it may have gone and she walked back to her car in the hope that it had returned there. We blew our safety whistles in the hope the dog would hear and respond and looked in some of the gulleys. All of a sudden it appeared. Lots of waving paddles and pointing followed and the woman, having seen us, ran down to be reunited with her dog. She jumped up and down and shouted thank you as we turned to head west again.

The winds were still fairly strong but we felt comfortable that we could make decent progress, so we pushed round Seven Heads and into Clonakilty Bay. As we did the skies darkened and a squally shower came through. Usually squalls are accompanied by an increase in wind speed, and sure enough we were into a consistent F7. We knew it would die down once it passed over, but our speed in the meantime was down to just over 1 mph. 45 minutes later it had passed and the wind eased. A good little workout.

We pushed on to Galley Head using the occasional eddy current we found along the way. Once round Galley Head, there was just one last crossing into Glandore Bay and a slog of about 3 miles into the headwind as we search for an appropriate place to stop for the night.

And so we found ourselves in Mill Cove. Just three houses and a small pier to shelter behind. Perfect.

We used our bivi bags that night and slept in the front garden of one of the houses (with permission of course). The owners were a lovely couple. Their house here in Mill Cove had been in the family since 1930s.

I had to apologise to them as I think I gave them a fright as they drove into their driveway that night and I was already in my bivi! They must have wondered who on earth I was as I emerged from the ground in the dark!

Another 22 miles covered despite less than perfect conditions.