Angelsey here we come

Well I’ve got my first expedition planed..80 miles around Anglesey with Dr Fat Boy Varley. 3 days and a couple of nights. It will give me a chance to see how the Kayak handles when she’s fully laden, and more importantly how sore my arse gets from sitting in a boat all day! It will also be a chance to see how I handle the currents under Menai Bridge...built of course by Robert Stephenson

Unfortunately my first Kayaking adventure was with Dr Varley...boy can he snore. Definitely separate tents.

Dr Varley on a good day!!

Hopefully we’ll take in some climbing on Gogarth and get to do Dream of White Horses a classic HVS. In fact the photo of the Kayaker is taken from Dream!!

It's all gone a bit Pink

It’s all been a bit quiet over Easter but I’ve started looking for big sponsorship deals. My first one is T-Mobile...I thought a pink Kayak may be rather fetching!!

I’ll keep you posted on this one but it would be some nice PR for them demonstrating how you can stay in touch and how wonderful their data network capabilities are!!

You can even get a pink life jacket...

I was going to post a picture of the route around the UK...but it’s an island so the route looks just like someone’s drawn a red line around the UK ;-). That said, I’ve worked out that doing 30 miles a day it will take 83 days no stop to complete the trip. That leaves me 17 days for bad weather and any days where I don’t hit the 30 miles a day.
The only luxury diversion I’m going to have, is a night calling in at my mates in Portsmouth, and night calling in at my mum’s in Cheshire and a visit to my birth town in Inverness.

Apart from that I could reduce the trip a little by going from Anglesey to the Isle of Man and then onto the Scottish Islands...but that two huge outings.

my baby has arrived

My baby has arrived!! Guess I better brave those waters soon and get some paddling in! I’ve got all the gear with one small exception...a paddle.

I started planning the route today, and how best to try to get the full circumnavigation of the UK done in 100 days. I hope to have something to put on the blog shortly, but I’ve decided I’m going to start from Scarborough and go clockwise. I figure I’ll be fitter and more capable by the time I get to the most tricky and dangerous parts around Wales and the Scottish Islands..tell me if I’m wrong?

and the good news is..

How many calories do you burn during Kayaking?Enter your information to get an estimate of how many calories you burn.

Weight: 75kg
Height: 175cm
Age: 46
Sex:Male
Calories Burned: 253 calories per hour...thats 2530 in a 10hr day....

that means I can drink and eat loads of






Beer and Curry...whoohoo


and still loose weight! This is sounding better. Now all I need to do is plan my days around coastal curry houses.

Sleepless night!

I had a fairly restless night last night after reading Blazing Paddles.

One thing I’ve always disliked about kayaking is capsizing...well there’s a surprise!! What unsettled me most is that as I’m doing this pretty much solo (already had a few people saying they’d join me for a couple of days), the thought of righting a laden kayak, in heavy seas and getting back into it doesn’t fill me with confidence.




I wondered what anyone’s thought are on this sit-on-top kayak from RTM. Ok, it's probably not going to cut through the water as easily, but it dawned on me that the ability to move your legs around a bit more and not be so confined may be a bonus and stop blisters and presure sores.

That coupled with the fact that bailing it out and getting back in it will be easier.





Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Started reading Blazing Paddles

by Brian Wilson....got me thinking I've a helluv a lot to do in the next 15 months. Not least is not to worry about seas like this, and be able to survive in them.

He did and 1800 miles odyssey around all of the Scotish Islands battling with whirlpools, hypothermia killer whales..

but then I saw a picture like this one and thought "this is me"

Day 2

Seen a NDK Kayak on eBay...I think I'll have a bid.

I've finally decided

This is me, and this is the first time I've Blogged...so here goes.

I've talked about it for some time, but I've decided today to go for my ultimate challege. 3000 miles around the coast of Britain in a kayak.

I don't know what I need (well a kayak would be good) but I'm going for it. Apart from the 3000 miles which I hope to do in 100 days, I also want to raise £1000 per day for charity.

So Day 1 of planning starts and I'm already on eBay looking for a Nigel Dennis Kayak as I've used one of his in the past and I have huge brand loyalty.

So...I guess I need a list of equipment, sponsors, plan of route and loads of support.

Any help or suggesting would be welcome. I've got till June 2010 to get everything ready, and then I'm off