Ramsey Island...

One of the best things about sea kayaking for me is the fab community of paddlers that we have so whilst I am still in Pembrokeshire I jumped at the chance to get out with some friends from the Cardigan Bay Sea Kayakers for a paddle around Ramsey Island. Well that was the plan at least.

I was joining Steve, Niel, Matt, Sue, James (Jim) and my lady who I all know. The new faces for me were Kim and Paul who I hope to paddle with again :)

My lady joined me again for this paddle and she was pretty excited but a little nervous. Maybe I shouldn't have shown her 'This is the sea' dvd with some gnarly conditions at the Bitches!

All was calm as we left Porth Clais and the forecast was pretty decent.

We found a little chop and swell on the open sea but not much. Just enough to have a little concern for the Ramsey area as the tide was gonna hit 4.9 knots at peak flow!

Looking lovely as always :)

Niel Buckland looking at some caves in Ramsey Sound.

Following the mainland coast up Ramsey Sound. Its now looking like we would avoiding the circumnavigation due to tide times as we were being a tad optimistic with the timings.

We decide to explore the mainland coast along Ramsey Sound for now.

The new lifeboat station is taking shape.

The coastline here is just as impressive as the tides!

Just too little water to make it through.

We push on towards Whitesands for lunch.

But decide to land at what I believe is called Porth Meglan. 

After a very unseasonal warm chill out on the beach we push on and start to cross Ramsey Sound.

The bitches look beautiful and we appear to be heading towards them?

Well I say appear as none of us seem sure of our route still, we just follow who's in front?

It makes it kinda fun :)

Again, not quite enough water to go through.

But the locals are sure keeping us entertained :)

We head to the Bitches for some breaking in and out practice. Here Matt drops down onto some flow.

Sue follows next.

Once through we start to play, errrr, I meant practice! Its a good skill to have.

James (Jim) does some breaking in and out.

As the Sun starts to sink we push on,

before ferry gliding back across Ramsey Sound to finish a wonderful and strangely warm November day :)

Pembrokeshire Weekend - Day 1

I wanted to do something a bit special this weekend so arranged to meet Stuart in Pembrokeshire with the intention of leaving one van a long way away & paddling back to it with a camp in between.

I decided that we should paddle from Pwyllgwaelod on Dinas Head all the way back to Freshwater East but after some discussion we settled on finishing at Dale.  

We arrived on Friday evening at Pwyllgwaelod in unseasonably warm weather. We had a very chilled out night in the quiet of the Bay in preparation for some decent milage the next day.

And what a day, the conditions were almost perfect. I say almost as there was a bloody strong breeze, on our backs mostly but it did keep changing which saw the skeg being repositioned or withdrawn throughout the day.
The first section from Pwyllgwaelod saw us surfing in following seas towards Strumble Head.

Stuart leads the way.

And is looking pretty smug. He's wanted to paddle here fore sometime. well, he's either smug or pleased the overfalls aren't running?

Though there was a little action.

Looking back at 'must do' for sea kayakers, a lovely spot.

We pull into Abercastle for a quick break, this almost became a feature of the day, I must be getting old?

A lovely cave at the entrance to Abercastle.

Back on the water & counting down the miles to St Davids. We would paddle further than St Davids but felt that as we would be turning South there, that it would be a turing point, literally, to our journey.

Stuart up ahead made a dash for shore here, the reason being a rather huge overfall to our right. Can't say I blame him as I followed his lead (LOL).

Think we were approaching Abereiddy here?

Another quick break on the last beach we could land on before rounding St Davids Head.

And then we were off heading into the fast currents of St Davids & rather enjoying the easy speed. Nearing the head we were treated to a pod of Dolphins swimming into the current though my attempts to photograph proved futile.
I was wondering by now what the wind on tide conditions would be like as we started to head South into the wind.

The answer was quite lively. I took this after I was through the worst of it.
Just before heading into the beach we bump into a group of kayakers doing their 5 star training & a chance for me to meet Richard from the white water centre in Cardiff.

We pulled into Porth Melgan for yet another break. I was starting to feel a bit tired but worse was the chaffing under my arms pits from my wet rash vest,  it was really starting to sting but we couldn't stop yet. We should at least reach St Brides Bay before stopping.

We plough on towards Ramsey Sound where I suggest heading to Porth Clais to set camp, I was really suffering now & wanted to get off the water.

The last few miles were really tough for me & the conditions got really quite rough as we turned into St Brides Bay, some of the swells were about 10 foot & got alarmingly steep near to the rocks. Evan with sore arm pits it was still quite entertaining.
I stripped off real quick once we were on dry land glad to no longer have salty wet clothes stinging my skin :D
It was a fab camp spot & not long after setting up a group of sea kayakers turn up, it was the same group we saw earlier & I was surprise to see Andy Stamp with them. I know Andy from my own 5 star training up on Skye & a bloody good teacher he is too.
Later that night our crazy friend (Martyn) from Sheffield agrees to drive down that night & join us on the water tomorrow. Thats a 300'ish mile trip for a day paddle, pretty hardcore!
Lets hope its a good day :)

About 25 miles in all...