Monday 29 December 2008

A Paddle into the Dark 29/12/2008

Arriving at Pencarnan for our New Year's break just after lunch, it was a bit of a rush to get unpacked and settled in before finally getting onto the water.

With the light fading fast it was only going to be a short paddle so I decided to head out from Porthsele and paddle against the beginning of the northerly flowing tide down to the Bitches, cross back over to the mainland and then follow the coast back to Porthsele.

On reaching St John's Point I was caught up by the St David's ILB which was returning to St Justinian after being on a jolly to Porthgain. After exchanging Christmas and New Year greetings with Mike and the other two crew members they sped off into Ramsey Sound.

The paddle through the Sound and across to the Bitches was quite easy with not too much adverse tidal flow until reaching the Bitches.

On reaching the Bitches I stopped for a few minutes behind the nearest rock to the mainland for a quick drink and then started the paddle across the ever increasing tidal flow, with the daylight fading fast.

After an energetic ferry glide I was across Ramsey Sound and by now it was dark and with it being cloudy I kept pretty close to the cliffs heading for the one light at St Justinian.

On reaching St Justinian and a brief stop to experiment with the camera (the lifeboat station is to the left of the light), I continued hugging the coast back to Porthsele where I had to put my headlamp on to make sure I missed the rocks when landing.

Only a short paddle but interesting in the dark! Lets hope these conditions continue for the rest of the week!

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