Tag: kayaking

Day 1478 kayaking around Tayvallich with Lindsay!

We had a lovely meal last night in the Tayvallich Inn.

I went to order the only veggie option on the menu, when the waiter asked if I was vegetarian….. I went bright red and said eh yes kind of…. When he produced a whole other menu.

The food was amazing. I highly recommend it!!

I had fiery cauliflower bites to start.

Followed by Tagliatelle Napoli.

And finally Salted Caramel Brownie and the most amazing ice cream…. It is under there, honestly!

We went for a walk after dinner and heard the bagpipes playing, carried over the water. It was so lovely, so surreal.

I love the lights in the houses as it gets dark. There’s not a breath over the water.

Reflections!

I stood here and listened as the piper played. I’ll share a reel later. It was just so lovely. There was a ceilidh on in the village hall so I think this piper was rehearsing before he went into the hall.

It was a lovely walk as it got dark.

I had the best sleep in my tent. I went in to bed about 10.30 and woke at 4.30. I seemed to fall back a sleep until 6am when Bhruic literally tried to get into my closed tent… she tried to get through the outer door then found she could get under it to the inner door then just kept on trying to get in. There’s no punctuation in that sentence 😂😂 I shouted Crai, who was just outside and he opened up the tent so she could jump all over me!!!

Craig and Bhru had tested out his new sleeping area in the back of his car. I believe it went well! He is loaded with the cold though and trying to make the best of it.

Lindsay and I went off out for a run at 6.15am… we ran from our campsite in Tayvallich (which I’ve only just realised, had two ll’s and not one. 😂) to Carsaig beach and back. It wasn’t a long run but about 3.5k.

This beach was beautiful but it would have been even better in the sunshine. The sand is white and the water would have been turquoise in the sun. 🩵

It’s still a lovely day. There’s no sun and it’s misty but it was so mild and atmospheric.

My legs were heavy this morning but I’m still so pleased we did that.

We went back to the campsite for a coffee then got into our kayaking gear… which means I borrowed all of Lindsay’s.

Euan and Lindsay are so good to us. They let us use all of their kit and give us free tuition too! They could charge a fortune!!

Check Bhru in her wee life vest.

And we are off.

Sadly Bhru wasn’t a massive fan… she did really well but it wasn’t her favourite pastime.

She wanted to see if she would walk on water.

I pulled alongside Craig so she could see me…

That made her so happy that she climbed out Craig’s canoe and had all 4 paws on my kayak!!! There are no photos as safety mode kicked in and she was swiftly removed back into the safety of her canoe!

Craig decided that it was all a bit too much for her so he’d head back in and let her play in the water and practice getting her in and out the canoe. Euan stayed with Craig.

Lindsay and I decided we’d head on her planned trip for the day… she sent me her Strava route. We paddled 10kms.

I love love love love loved it.

I am so proud that I can keep up with her… actually she will paddle at my pace obviously… but I love the peaceful calm of being out on the water.

It was so misty and grey that my photos aren’t great but it was the most beautiful scenery… the water was very dark green along the coast line.

The rock faces plunged vertically into the water in places.

The trees are all different colours as they start to bud at different times. The dark sea is teeming with baby jellyfish. It’s flat calm, mill pond like in places.

There are small waves and splashes in others.

There are geese nesting on the back of small islands for shelter. There were seals lying basking on the rocks in calm inlets, while the geese watched on.

In all the hustle and bustle of life. This beautiful place has just stopped. There was no bluster, no noise apart from birds, no stress, no people…. Just the two of us chattering away as we paddled and explored.

I loved it.

If I’m really honest the amount of effort involved in prep and cleaning up would put me off if we didn’t have such great friends to do it with. There is a lot of work involved to do this safely.

Thank you so much Lindsay for the planning and the time you take with me when we’re out. Thanks to Euan too for allowing us to use all of your boats… and especially the new paddle! Which floats apparently… thankfully…

I’ve always wanted to sea kayak.

While we were doing all of this, poor Craig was feeling really rotten as the cold he tried to fight through, really took hold. He had no energy at all.

As Lindsay and I headed back into Tayvallich for lunch we decided to call it a day on the paddling, as I felt I should stay with Craig. We had a picnic lunch by the sea but ultimately decided we should head home.

Euan tied all the boats together and brought them over to a cleaner part of the beach… as you do Mr I can paddle 4 boats!!

Poor sick boy is on the couch in a duvet while I’m hiding in the dining room having made dinner and writing this.

I am now officially shattered.

A lovely night away and the best day.

Stay safe everyone 🩵🩵🩵

Day 1328 kayaking Sunday mornings 🛶🛶

Well how can I top last night!!?

I feel like my work here is done. I got the Aurora…. I am so proud of myself for puting on the big girl pants and heading out in the dark.

I really must do some work in kinesiology to try to get to the root of where this fear of the dark comes from?! It’s completely irrational…. Well, I say that…. It’s not irrational, the pitch black on your own is really scary, but I want to overcome that.

Anyway, I had the best day yesterday so trying to top that would be hard…. Thankfully I was going kayaking on Castle Semple Loch, in Lochwinnoch, first thing, with Lindsay. She picked me up at 8.30am!

It was 4°C today. It was -4°C yesterday so that’s a shift of 8°…. It wasn’t freezing but it was still cold. Sadly it was really clouded over and misty all day so none of yesterday’s crisp frost and clear blue skies.

I did not take many photos today as I’ve never kayaked properly before, so wanted to concentrate on what Lindsay was teaching me rather than stopping to take photos every 2 seconds.

I borrowed all of Lindsay’s kit and wore her dry suit while she wore Euan’s.

She had to help me get into all the kit!! I wore my fleecy leggings and a cosy top underneath it all. I was warm the whole time except for my toes towards the end.

She took me through all the basic training and helped me get into the kayak which is almost as hard as getting into the drysuit! 😂😂 slowly off we went. That’s me in the blue kayak!

We paddled all the way from the car park which is under the word “Regional” all the way up the loch and onto the Black Cart Water up to that red dropped pin!!📍

I only started taking photos on the Black Carr Water.

I’m trying to strangle myself with the phone lanyard round my neck!!

Lindsay had brought a flask of peppermint tea and a mince pie so I could practice getting out and back in… to be fair she helps me stay level so I didn’t fall in!

We had our tea on the bridge!

We were out on the water for a good couple of hours I think, maybe more, you lose track. Actually if we were in the water by 9.30 latest then it was about 2.5 hours.

It’s so calm and relaxing and I LOVED it. I find the whole planning for it and getting ready is a lot of work but Lindsay says that gets faster with time as I’m sure it does. Also the fun that you have when you’re out on the water means that you put up with the prep part. I should say here that Lindsay did all of the prep and will do all of the clean up afterwards. Who am I to complain?! I just know with sea swimming it’s the getting there and getting dry afterwards is the less fun bit.

We got chatting to a lady in the car park as we had some soup that I took in a flask. She said she had a dry suit that she quote… “couldn’t give away!!!”. 😳

Needless to say, I’ve been up to Knightswood in Glasgow this afternoon and am now the proud owner of a free drysuit that even in the sale today would have cost me £350!!!!

How lovely is that?!? She wanted it out the house and it was nearly new.

Not gonna lie…. It is MASSIVE!!!

As modelled by my handsome husband.

So it will do the job for me but it’s enormous, Craig will be able to use it too so that’s a bonus. She was the same size as me too!

I still can’t get over how lovely she was just to give us such an expensive piece of kit that she was no longer using.

I’ve also done housework this afternoon and am waiting on chicken in a mustard sauce to finish in time for dinner!

It’s been an amazing weekend.

I’m so grateful to Lindsay for being so patient with me today. For teaching me so much and taking me out and loaning me all of her kit.. I’m so grateful to that lovely lady, Catherine, for giving away her drysuit and the Aurora…. Well, what can I say…. I cannot believe I was lucky enough to see such a beautiful natural phenomenon. Wow.

Truly blessed.

I have a big smile on my face.

I hope you all had a great weekend and have the best week ahead.

For so many years, I sat in Gran’s chair, in the sunroom and could barely manage to walk the dogs. I’ve thought a lot about that these last few days and it’s lovely to appreciate how far I’ve come.

Right now life is pretty damn good.

Stay safe everyone 🛶🛶🛶

Day 1251 a lovely morning canoeing with friends 🛶🛶

Ok so yesterday I had 3 caffeine coffees, 3 alcohol free beers and a 0% gin and slimline tonic…. And I slept like a LOG. Go figure?!?

I had the best sleep. I went to bed really early, about 9pm and read for a bit. Maybe that helped. Who knows?!?

So up and out early with the OG3 this morning. Still resting Khaleesi’s injuries after a couple of big walks earlier this week.

It’s still hot but no sun this morning. interesting cloud cover.

We met Lindsay and Euan at Kilbirnie Loch at 10am this morning. We are so lucky to have this within 10 minutes of the house. We are even more lucky that they have leant us their lovely big, red canoe.

They both had kayaks and Craig and I shared the canoe. 🛶

Now I’ll be honest and say I’ve enhanced this photo a bit but Kilbirnie Loch has blue/green algae at the moment. If it wasn’t so dangerous to dogs, it could be considered quite pretty!

Ready for the off!

I love the luminescence of the green against the water.

At precisely this point in time my Co-pilot (who am I kidding…. Pilot!) reminded me to put down my phone and start paddling 🛶

It was SOOOO calm. Just the most peaceful thing in the world. Out there on the water having laughs with Lindsay and Euan.

They are excellent kayakers.

We are so grateful that they have lent us their canoe 🛶 to try.

Seeing the loch from the water is really lovely. Opens up a whole new world. I have always wanted to kayak around Scotland and Craig is loving the canoe.

Too much chat, not enough paddle 😂

I think these look like a heart beat!

It was so calm, still and peaceful. Just the paddles splashing and the chat and laughter.

Next thing we know, we are heading in here!!

This was just so beautiful and so unusual for us, we’ve never done anything like this before. It was so much fun!

We all have to turn round as the river got shallower further up. I have to say that Craig did all the pilot work and just told me what to do and I actually listened. Check me!

It went surprisingly well considering we are novices.

A wee bit too much photography again 😂

The sky is really moody.

There is a heron flying through this shot but it’s too dark and moody to see properly… the sky that is, not the heron!!

Then we pulled into the waters edge and had tea, coffee and cake!! Lindsay was super organised with her Jetboil, even had a choice of teas!

It was so lovely to stop and look around for a bit (as if I hadn’t been doing that already!!)

Here comes the train!!

Lindsay and Euan swapped kayaks out in the middle of the water. Super impressive.

Euan then did some spinning!!

Craig and I just kept on paddling 😂🛶

Some more of the blue/green algae.

This old walkway has mostly disintegrated now, really sad it wasn’t looked after.

And back to where we started.

Such a lovely morning and still had the whole afternoon to write this!!! That’s how long it takes sometimes when you have so many lovely photos 😂

Hope you’ve had a great weekend and all the best for another lovely week ahead!

Stay safe everyone 🛶☀️🛶