Robin's Bloggin's

Cracking day's paddling with Craig, Claire and Will.  We set out from the Portsmouth Lifeboat station, and headed clockwise around Hayling Island with a strong spring tide behind us.  First stop was the slip by The Ship car park, by the road bridge for a coffee and snack.  We then headed on and pulled up for lunch on Thorney Island.  After a good feed and water, we pressed on and soon saw a seal in the shallows.  We paddled up reasonably close and the seal seemed to enjoy our presence.  Soon we encountered several more seals, which was wonderful.  We then headed out through the channel by Hayling Lifeboat station into the Solent, still with a very string following tide.  We had a final stop on the south coast of Hayling Island for an ice cream.  We then headed back westwards along the coast.  We were all rather knackered by that stage.   The mouth to the western channel entrance was just visible and slowly getting closer as we ...

A beautiful afternoon of bright winter high pressure weather.  Rob, Lesley, Polly Simon and I met at Swanwick at lunchtime, struggling a bit to find parking spaces.  It's odd to launch from Swanwick in the light - normally we do it on dark winter Thursday nights.  This was a whole different experience.  We paddled up-river, much enjoying the calm, bright conditions.  The usual route under the three bridges, around the bend and into the wonderful wilderness that is the upper Hamble.  We saw all sorts of wading birds including Oystercatchers, Brent Geese and some sort of Mandarin Ducks.  We went as far as Curbridge, where the water was too shallow to go further.  After a brief tucker break, we turned and paddled back down river into the low afternoon sun, and eventually back to Swanwick.  A cracking trip.  Thanks all!

"The nights are starting to draw in" someone said, as we waited at Warsash for Craig to battle through the heavy traffic.  It was a record turnout of our Thursday crew - Lesley, Tony, Polly, Claire, Mike, Plas, myself and our somewhat delayed leader!  The Upper Hamble Club were also assembling for a paddle, so there were around 15 kayaks on the slipway. We eventually launched into a very fresh southerly wind, and paddled down-river on the last of the ebb.  Too rough for Calshot was the verdict, so we turned left for our usual run towards Hill Head.  The wind was on the beam, and the waves were particularly sloppy.  Neverthless, we had an enjoyable paddle along the shoreline, past the caravan park and on towards our routine 'Red Post' destination.  All ashore for a feed.  Craig's purple Argonaut provided a perfect wind break for the weekly 'Master Chef' contestants - Craig and Claire this week.  The rest of us settled for sandwiches and pasties....