A stitch in time . . .

At last my intestines bid for freedom has finally been stopped.
I have been handed a minimum 8 week sentence of kayak abstinence.
I shall not be grumpy. I shall not be grumpy. I shall not be grumpy. I shall eat chocolate, surf the internet and read kayaking books.

Search for Adventure

Thirsty for some guided experience in rougher waters I traveled south to Maenporth in Cornwall for a weekend with Simon Osborne of Sea Kayaking Cornwal. Unfortunately my plan was scuppered as the south coast was flat as a pancake while the South Wales beaches I had left behind received the best swell yet this year, fantastic surf, I was told. Even England managed to get through to the final of the Rugby World Cup Rugby. You just can't win.

Still, I managed to see other things that I had not seen before. A rare sighting of a Palm Aluetion Dry Suit for one. Some very interesting things that you could do with a paddle to make you go where you wanted were passed on to me in addition to more practice of getting back into the kayak. This I know Simon is a master at but he has no intention of getting out of his kayak at certain points in his forth coming Madagascar trip. Good luck fella. I'm still jealous.

Monkstone Rock & Flatholm

This is Monkstone Rock lighthouse. It is a few miles off Penarth and I never knew it was there.
After a look see we dropped down towards Flatholm for a spot of lunch on the beach. Landing fee here is £3.50 if you want to land and have a good look around, which I intend doing on another occasion.

Rounding the island past it's own lighthouse and various gun emplacements, we ferry glide back towards Lavernock Point which brings us back Penarth.


Trip length: 10.1Nm

Flashing lights

Tusker Rock provided us with the reason to paddle out into the night at dusk. I had hoped to land and take some proper night pictures with suitable tripod, but with it being a neap tide, there wasn't much of it pocking out when we arrived, and with little remaining light I didn't fancy groping around in the dark and having to rush.


Glow sticks are really bright so we stuck them in mesh pockets, which worked really well to help maintain our night vision. No moon when we were out on the water. Clear night, and with our backs now to the light pollution from Porthcawl and Ogmore we headed back towards Southerndown. There are very few lights along this part of the coast and so we were treated to a fantastic array of stars as well as some phosphorescence in the water.

Neal had the brilliant idea of putting a flashing light in his car. This gave us something to aim at on our way back. This reminded me of the tales of the Wreckers of Dunraven.

The night time photography needs improving though.