Midlifekayak

Looking back in these blogs, I realise I often start by saying “lying here in my tent…”. So as not to spoil a tradition….

Lying here in my bivi bag I can see the lights of Cowes. I can also hear Geoff starting to snore. Better pop my ear plugs in.

In the last three days we have covered 109 miles. Feels great to be making such good progress. If we carry on at the same rate and the weather is kind we could just be home a week on Sunday.

In fact that’s what we are now gunning for as Geoff’s wife, Sue, his two daughters and his mum can make it down to the finish if we do by then. And of course i also get to see Tanya and my family sooner too. So long as we paddle at least 35 miles a day it’s possible – but we also know a bad wind day (the weather type) will scupper plans.

Today was a great paddle from South Lansing. We had F4/5/6 Easterlies all day that blew us along the coast. This was effortless paddling and lots of surfing down the wind waves. We made 4knts all day. It was a little lumpy around Selsey Bill and we had to dodge a number of kite and wind surfers all day who were having a ball in the conditions – but other than that we felt like the miles flew by.

To top a great day off – a visit from Ginny and Nigel, some friends of mine. So good of them to drive down to see us and a real boost for the morale as we head into the final week. Thanks guys!

Geoff is still snoring so I am throwing small bits of gravel at his bivi bag. If that doesn’t work, my paddle is within reach! I’ll let you know if it escalates further.

Geoff and I have just climbed into our bivi bags on a sea wall on the Essex Coast. I switched on my phone to see that we have won 6 gold medals today. What a result! The atmosphere must be amazing at the stadium.

Night all….

Why are the boys not making much progress I can hear some if you ask. Ok, so the low pressure system sitting over the Irish Sea is spinning anti clockwise (as they do) and sending a strong southerly wind straight at us. It is meant to be moving eastwards but only slowly. This is making an attempt to cross the estuary over to Margate challenging if not a little foolhardy.

So this morning, after a pleasant enough night by the side of a beach hut, we popped down to the Thames MRCC (Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre) for some advice. There we met Amy, Piers and Matt. What a really helpful and friendly team. We soon forgot what we came in for and were getting a guided tour of their control room and the systems they use. Geoff “I used to be a firefighter” Cater was straight in there asking all the knowledgeable questions while I enjoyed a welcome cuppa.

Piers, who is also a local sailor, helped us plot an alternative route through some of the sand banks, avoiding Shoebury Ness military range, and one that should help us exploit the tides as well.

It will take us a couple of days to get to Margate but at least we’ll be moving again and we’ll see some parts of the estuary not many see, including the resting place of Charles Darwin’s ship HMS Beagle and some old smugglers haunts. The stuff of Charles Dickens.

Will let you know how we get on!

In the meantime, still more eating to be done to keep up spirits and energy levels 🙂

Thanks to the Thames MRCC for all their help!!

For starters, Staffordshire Chicken and Sage Soup. Mains Staffordshire Chicken Casserole. Followed by Rice Pudding!! Yummy!

Oh and a random beard shot. I think a hedgehog has attached itself to my face!

The last couple of nights have been firsts for us on this expedition in terms of sleeping locations. The night before last we paddled till 9.30 pm under the light of the full moon until we reached the shingle beach of Orford Ness. Nowhere to pitch a tent so we got the bivi bags out and climbed into our sleeping bags. After a couple of slugs of the Lagavulin we slept surprisingly well!

Up early the next morning we pushed on to Felixtowe. The strong headwinds that have dogged us for a week now prevented us from getting across the shipping lanes that lead to the container port and so we spent the afternoon being amazed by the size of some of the ships coming in and just how fast they seem to travel.

That night we managed to hide the kayaks and ourselves behind a hedge near the pier. No one seemed to be able to see us but we could hear the amusement arcade till late and a few holiday revellers in the early hours. Not the best night’s sleep but then we have gotten used to snatching a nap whenever possible during the day to make up for it.

We got away this morning, dodged a couple of massive container ships heading back to China (we assumed) and made it as far as Walton on the Naze in Essex. Wind is still blowing F5 gusting F6 southerly. It seems this summer’s weather is not prepared to let us finish this expedition just yet.

Our next stop is Margate in Kent. Around a 30 mile crossing from here. Ideally we’d like a northerly to help but a light easterly or westerly would do. Unfortunately it looks like the low pressure sitting over southern Britain is moving east only slowly so we have a call to make over the next 24 hours – head out into a headwind for a 10 hour slog or wait till it dies down or changes direction or both. Right now though it’s time for another cuppa and a toasted tea cake.

Once this crossing is out of the way, it is only 20 more miles to Dover and we’ll then be on the home straight. A long one admittedly.

The wildlife sightings now are still frequent but just different. Less seals and birdlife but plenty of human behaviour to observe along the beaches and amusement arcades.

It has been great catching up on the stories about the GB medal rush at the Olympics. We are trying to stay in touch with all the excitement so our time off the water is usually filled with reading newspapers, eating, surfing the BBC Olympic web site and eating again. Did I mention that we eat a lot? In fact I think we have both put on weight since we started. Is that possible?

Friday night we wild camped at Gibraltar Point (aka south Skegness). The sunset cast a deep orange glow across the sky and we could just make out the lights on the north Norfolk coast as it got darker. It was an eerily quiet evening. I guess most were glued to the TV watching the opening ceremony. I climbed into my tent, pulled out the iPhone and to my surprise I had a great signal and was able to join about 1 billion others who also watched opening ceremony. Thought it was brilliant. Pitched perfectly and made me feel very proud to be British.

Saturday morning was a short hop across the Wash – 17 miles. A key milestone as it means we have only one more significant crossing left – the Thames Estuary. We managed to get stream all the way and landed the other side in under 4 hours. The Wash is a tidal gate so north of it the flood tide flows south and ebb north, south of it and it’s the other way round. That means if you time it right you can cross with stream all the way. We did and it was glorious to average over 4.5knts!

We pushed on further to Wells Next to the Sea where my sister, Jane and her family together with my mum were waiting to meet us. It was so good to see them. And so good of them to make the journey to see us. Thanks guys! A visit like this at the start of the trip would have been hard emotionally I think to say goodbye again but now as we approach the final stages it is almost a welcome home visit. A good morale booster.

Sunday we made it as far as Bacton Gas Terminal and as I finish writing this blog update in my tent on the sea defences this Monday morning I can hear it hum in the background.

The paddle yesterday was great. 30 miles with mostly a tail wind and good stream in our favour most of the way. The only excitement for the day was getting caught in a massive thunder storm. We saw the dark cloud coming over. Geoff had spotted a nice cafe and some shelter. He suggested we stop but I thought it would miss us and we should paddle on. Got that one wrong.

We popped our video cameras on to record the torrential rain which flattened the sea and bounced back up a few Inches to create a mist like layer over the water. Just as we were marvelling in the scene the lightening and thunder started. We made our way to shore but no place to land because of the sea defences along this coast. So we carried on, hunkering down trying to stop the rain going down our necks. Didn’t work. Forked lighting now and hail stones. Painful on the hands so we rafted up for a few minutes. And then it was over. Can’t wait to see that footage when we get back!

Aiming for south of Gt Yarmouth today!