Looe Island

 

Christa won us a short break with the Cornish Wildlife Trust on Looe Island last week. It was during the heat wave, so we hardly need an excuse to spend all day every day bobbing around in the sea.

 

Half term fun.

 

Another great week down in West Penwith. Keep your eyes open for the dolphins!

Nice look Bryn

 

 

Well, he did say his fringe was getting in his face. Morwenna made sure that isn’t likely to happen again for a year at least!

Luckily, Christa is a whizz with the shears and has prevented too many comparisons being made with that guy from Slade.

 

A busy Weekend

 

Well, Easter is nearly upon us. There’s been no let up since Christmas, so a little break is in order. More on that next weekend.

Last weekend was a blast. 1st up, taking the kids to the climbing wall. They’ve never been before, but I think we will be there again before too long. Great fun.

 

Then, after picking up a kit to attach a rudder to my kayak to make sailing less painful, it was back quicktime for Christa to back-comb her hair and get out for an 80’s night. I had included a photo, but she has demanded that I remove it!

Then, after a slightly slower start to Sunday morning, it was a ten mile run with Sam and Nik in preparation for an off road half-marathon we have planned. This is up in the Blackdown hills behind Taunton. Will need to be a little dryer under foot before we can do that mind.

Anyway, the afternoon was a little bit of fun with the kids, then fitting Niks kayak with a Flat Earth sail. Should make the miles fly by as soon as the water is warm enough to fall in regularly!

 

Create Maps or search from 80 million at MapMyRun

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/add_to_website/185050260

Winter drawing to a close

 

Spring feels like its getting close now. It’s been half term this week, so its been a good time to close the clinic early a few days and get back to play. This post is the last 2 weekends.

Lucy and Alex came down with Molly and Iris. The kids seem to have Christa’s good memory and enjoy being with the other children like it was only a week ago they were together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swimming in the pool is back on the agenda, since the sea over here is still well too cold at the minute. Morwenna’s sole motivation to swim lengths in the big pool is to earn the money that she can spend on chocolate at the pool canteen.

Having decided to split the trees from the garden down by hand (!) I have moved all the rings under some leftover damp proof membrane to season and today made a storage area. The kids have decided it’s their den. Dangerous and dark areas hold obvious appeal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

High areas also appeal, so now its time to see if we can get a decent treehouse up on the stump. The kids were making plans on this in the photo. Posts will be forthcoming when this happens.

 

I’d forgotten how good it is to play with the kids now the days are getting longer. They hadn’t had enough and were outside til with a lantern this evening. The result is a very quick bedtime!

The snow arrives

 

  

Well, the chickens didn’t know what to do in the snow, but the kids sure did! As soon as they knew school wasn’t on the menu (after all 3 cm had fallen, with another 1cm expected!), it was out for some fun. 

  

El Cotillo, Fuertaventura for Xmas

 

A well needed break over Christmas and new Year brought us to the Canaries again. If it ain't broke, don’t fix it I say. This time the temptation of surf took us to Cotillo on the Northwest coast. Whilst the surf was a little underwhelming and dumping, the coastline was lovely.

We all got ill, and i managed to fracture my skull in the surf, but it would take more than that to stop us enjoying ourselves. The kids spent most of their time swimming and exploring the calm lagoons.

Lovely to have mum and dad with us. Christmas without the lights and tree could have been a little flat, but there’s nothing like a Christmas swim to lift the spirits!

Paddling down the Exe.

 

Nik and I have just joined the local kayak club and gone out for the 1st paddle trip of the year. Hands were numb but we were all smiles, at least til we started getting wet!

 

Good bunch of people here at the club and well-run too. Cant wait to get out again.

A busy September

 

Well, looking back, no wonder we’re cream crackered. There has finally been some decent weather and we have definitely made the most of it. Hope you enjoy the little montage video which should just about cover it all.

Bryn started school this year; always a defining moment.  Weekends have been packed with kayak trips (both family trips and big boys trips). Christa and I got away on a great wedding anniversary day and found a beautiful isolated cove littered with ammonites.

Lots of cycling too as you can see. Morwennas 1st real hills in Hemyock were obviously no bother. Thanks to Nayfe and the guys at www.chailosim.com for the tunes. Glad to get out with Hal and Nik for what looks to be the last of the Summer sun. Bring on the Autumn, its time for a rest!

 

Bigbury 2012

 

 

Another fab weekend spent with family and friends in South Devon. The weather was a little rubbish, but once the kids have got wetsuits on they don’t seem to notice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUPS were all thanks to Will and Amy. Great fun paddling down the River Avon on Sunday. landed on the beach after drifting down the river and had fun in the 3 ft of surf at Bigbury.  Got some great pics of Morwenna learning to surf. Thanks to all for coming, hope we can do it all again. Next time, we have to make it across to the Pilchard on Burgh Island!

 

A great week of fun in Cornwall.

 

 

We owe another great week to Dan, Anna & the kids again. Although the weather wasn’t fantastic, camping in their back-garden worked out really well. We took out our new family-sized kayak and got all 4 of us into it, which will be repeated plenty of time this summer. Its lovely to be able to share my passion with the kids, and they seem right up for it!

Great to meet up with a lot of good people whilst we were down. Most notably, Nick and Jenny Batho took me out on their Westerly Griffon out from Mylor, down the Carrick roads and over to the Helford. Which got me thinking, would the kids also enjoy a bigger boat? Hmmn.

 

Anyway, enjoy the vid. Its filmed on Christa’s new waterproof Sony Camera. Next post is likely to be our Bigbury waterfest. Hold on to your Speedos!

Bude to Ilfracombe. well, nearly.

 

This trip almost cements my growing desire to stitch together all the fantastic areas I have had the pleasure of paddling.

2 weeks ago I enjoyed a fantastic kayak from Lyme Regis to Lulworth Cove. If you remember the previous post, you will see I went from PLymouth to Lyme. Having paddled round Cornwall for charity just before Morwenna was born, it only makes sense to connect this trip together with the paddle out to Lundy I did with John Kellie 8 years ago.

You can probably see where this is going. Its really only a small leap of faith to do the trip from Lundy to the Gower and then the Gower to Pembrokeshire the the circle is complete. Then I can really allow myself the sense of completion.

Anyway, recently married Will Batho joined me on this leg of the journey, and much fun ensued. We cut the trip short by finishing at Appledore and got some welcome help with the shuttle from Nick, Jenny and Amy. Hope you can come on many other weekends like this Will.

Kids and Doors

 

I think the kids must have seen that viral video of a little girl climbing up the doorframe, since this has been their favourite pastime since school finished.

 

Family Bowling reunited!

 

Joe and Alayna came down last weekend with the baby Lily. Lovely to see you all, glad you could finally make it down. There were of course countless photo opportunities with the kids, but here is just a smattering.

Missing the chickens.

 

We lost our chickens this spring to another fox attack. Bugger. Kids were upset, not to mention us. I refused to get any more until we have fully fort-knoxed (fort foxed) the area. I’ve compared our eggs versus the ones from the shops-guess which is the odd one out?

We will be doing some work on the house this summer, so I going to build a low wall around the enclosure, then the welded mesh that stops foxes. There was I thinking that chicken-wire was to keep foxes out, but it seems its only to keep chickens in. Oh well, you live and learn.

The garden just isn’t the same without them, but the kids are now very clued up to other nesting birds. This is an old blackbird nest that we found empty. Bryn has just found a pigeon nest up his favourite tree, so watch this space for baby pigeon photo’s!

What a great day

 

Christa is away walking from Stonhenge to Avebury, so its been up to me to entertain the kids.So what better than to remove the telly? Socket set out and wall mounting off. It is nowhere to be seen and the kids dont miss it. Lets hope it stays that way.

 

After a lovely morning playing in the garden and planting out the butternut and spaghetti squashes, the kids found our 1st strawberries that were ready for picking. Netting them has definitely helped keep the pigeon damage down. That and a friends air rifle.

Then up to the Blackdowns to meet up with Chris, Roz, Alex and Harry. Lovely circular walk at Tristam for 2 hours (well done kids) ending in local beer, then fish and chips AND pizza. Well, why not. Enjoy the vid

From Plymouth to Lyme Regis.

Well, I wasn’t sure it was possible to do this trip in 5 days, but the weather forced me to think again. In the end I had only 4 days to do the trip, since gale force 7 was expected for this afternoon. So the last 2 days were 60 km and 50 km respectively. Even my blisters now have blisters!
 
Don’t let anyone convince you that the South Devon coast is straight forward. Forget the English Riviera, there are some of the majestic and unspoilt beaches I have ever seen, either at home or abroad. There were literally dozens of beautiful coves and beaches without a soul on them.
Needless to say, if they had been in Cornwall, they would have been mobbed. This is the Bantham at different ends of the tide.
 
Even if you forget the distance covered, this is a technical section of coastline to navigate, particularly on Spring tides. Start point had 4+ knots of overfalls steaming out to France AND and whirlpool! Needless to say I didn’t get the camera out at that stage.

Thanks for all the support from our friends, but particularly to my long suffering wife, who understands my occasional need for solitary confinement.