Geoff and Andy will be giving at talk about the trip tomorrow night at St Mawes Sailing Club.
Look forward to seeing you there
Geoff and Andy
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Hope to see you there!!
Geoff and Andy
Posted in Challenges, Cornwall, Friends, Paddle trips, Sabbatical | 6 Comments »
Hi folks,
Hope everyone has had a fab Christmas and is looking forward to the new year!
If you are struggling for things to do once the festive season is over, you could always pop down to The Harbour Club, Portscatho on Tuesday, 15th January at 8pm. Geoff and I will take you on a little journey around Great Britain, share some of our experiences, stunning scenery, incredible wildlife and some of the inspirational people we met along the way.
We have some photos, some videos and plenty of tall stories to tell (getting taller as the weeks go by!)
Entrance is free, but we’d welcome donations to charity.
Hope to see you there!
Geoff and Andy
Posted in Challenges, Charity Fundraising, Cornwall, Paddle trips | Tagged Britain, Charity Fundraising, Circumnavigation, Cornwall, Extreme Challenge, sea kayak | 6 Comments »
Already three weeks since we finished. Beards have gone, swollen numb hands almost back to normal, kit all cleaned and put away and we’ve just about finished sorting through the 500 or so video clips and 1,000 photos. We’ve started preparing a short talk about the trip and have a couple of opportunities to test the boredom thresholds of audiences next month. “Then on day 7 we paddled some more………on day 8 we did the same….”
Once we’ve had a chance to do some editing we’ll share some of the video clips with you all. There are some cracking shots but clearly we only got the camera out on sunny days – very little evidence of the worst summer on record!
Just in case you had wanted to be at Portscatho Harbour when we arrived three weeks ago but couldn’t make it, a couple of video clips for you.
The first is from Mark Hatwood who runs Roseland Online:
The second is from ITV News West Country.
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Well, a little later than advertised (2.30pm) on Thursday, Geoff and I paddled into Portscatho Harbour, let off a couple of smoke flares, jumped out the boats and gave each other a big hug. But the biggest hugs and kisses were for Sue and Tanya.
2,318 miles, 115 days, 92 paddling days, around 2 million paddle strokes (no we didn’t count). Job done, expedition over.
We had paddled to Portloe on Wednesday night and caught a glimpse of Portscatho in the distance between Gull Rock and Nare Head. Just for a moment we discussed just pushing on and landing to surprise everyone but that was just for a moment. We were looking forward to a couple of beers on our last night in the knowledge that we only had 5 miles to go and of course seeing all our families and friends.
That night we washed, changed and slept on two benches pretty much in full view of the village. Sorry about that Portloe but we were demob happy and didn’t care! The next morning after breakie and a chat with a few residents and holiday makers we launched. To our surprise we got 3 cheers from them as we left. We were both in tears as we paddled out of the harbour.
We had plenty of time so we paddled round Gull Rock and waited for some friends who said they would meet us to paddle in the last few miles. Mike Greenslade, who was so much part of the expedition early on, Simon Osborne, from Sea Kayaking Cornwall who coached both of Geoff and I to get ready for this expedition, and his fiancé Roz Leahy. To our surprise John Shaw, Zoe and Pete Shepherd also paddled out to meet us. A couple of motor boats (sorry no names) joined too. So that was our amazing little flotilla as we made the last few miles.
As we got close to the harbour we could see the crowd that had gathered. I think we were more nervous than we had been all trip. Such an amazing welcome. Better than we had ever imagined.
Thank you all so much!!
Sorry we couldn’t get round and say hello and thanks to all of you!
It may take us both a little while to adjust and certainly a few days to clean and repair all the kit. I may just write a couple more reflective blogs as we get used to life back on land. But in the meantime thanks for following our journey. It’s great to be home!
Andy
(Photos courtesy of Mary Alice Pollard http://www.justnicephotos.co.uk/ and Simon Osborne Sea Kayaking Cornwall)
Posted in Challenges, Charity Fundraising, Cornwall, Paddle trips, Sabbatical | Tagged Britain, Britain Circumnavigation, Charity Fundraising, Circumnavigation, Sabbatical, sea kayak | 10 Comments »
Well, 6.30am and about to set off to get ourselves within a few miles of Portscatho.
We have been talking about this 24 hour for the last year I think.
We have had an absolutely amazing experience, made all the better by the incredible support we have had from friends, family and people we have never even met. Will take some time to thank people properly after we finish but for now, if you have sponsored us, made donations, wished us well on the blog or FB or just followed and enjoyed the journey. Thank you so much. You will never quite know how much it has meant to us.
Special thanks and love of course to Tanya and Sue. There were surely four of us paddling out there these last three months.
Portscatho Harbour 2pm Thursday.
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Tonight we are in the bivi bags on top of what I think must be a sewerage pumping station. Mmm lovely.
So 140 miles in the last 4 days since Lulworth Cove and only 35 remaining till Portscatho Harbour.
We thought at this stage we might just be paddling in gentle seas and reminiscing about the trip. Unfortunately we’ve been slogging it out against some stiff winds and cursing rather a lot.
Yesterday will go down as one of our little expeditions epics. Slog against wind and tide from Oddicombe Bay to Brixham. Great stream then to Start point and the tidal races but then we lose the stream for the remaining 4 hour paddle to Hope Cove. 12 miles of clapotis and slow speed = soul destroying. But just to keep us alert we encountered out largest set of overfalls so far in this trip. Will spare our mothers the scary details but it was an experience right up there with getting round Cape Wrath.
Today we’re back in Cornwall. Hoorah! Another slog of a day and tomorrow is going to be the same. At least though the wildlife is returning. Seals are making more frequent appearances again and we’ve seen our first sun fish too. In fact several of them.
Today was also a first for me. Lunch on board a yacht. Paul and Anita – a couple of friends of Geoff were sailing in the area and invited us on board. Such a lovely couple and an amazing boat too.
Posted in Challenges, Charity Fundraising, Cornwall, Paddle trips | 2 Comments »
What a great day!
Today Geoff and I had seven visitors who all popped down to say hello and wish us well for the final few days. It was lovely to see them all and there was much hilarity.
Geoff’s sister, Jane and Mum, Audrey had driven down from Avoncliffe
My brother Mike, his daughter, Hannah and her friend Frankie had dropped in on their way back from a holiday down in Cornwall.
And what a surprise. A friend of Tanya’s from South Africa, Helen, who now lives in Dorset and her friend Bruce, dropped by to say hi and wish us well. Tanya and Helen haven’t seen each other since Tanya was 13 (and that was some time ago!)
Thank you all so much guys it was a lovely day and now that we’re on our way again tomorrow you’ve set us up nicely for the final few days!!
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No doubt you’ll have notice the rather unseasonable winds that the South West is experiencing at the moment. That and the fact that we have to negotiate Portland Bill races next have meant we’re off the water till probably Saturday morning. We had hoped to be home by Sunday but it is now looking like our arrival will be delayed till Wednesday or Thursday next week.
In the meantime guess what we’re up to….
Posted in Challenges, Charity Fundraising, Paddle trips, Sabbatical | 5 Comments »
Midlifekayak 