I finally made it up to Skye for the seakayaking symposium organised by Gordon & Morag Brown which happens every other May. It was unfortunately a flying visit as Barry and I travelled there and back with Nick, who had to be back at work on Monday morning. We did get there a day early and enjoyed a beautiful paddle from Ord, under sunny skies on Friday. During the symposium, the rain and wind returned ( but at least it kept the midges away!). It was fun despite the weather, and good to catch up with a lot of coaches and participants who I haven’t seen for ages.

I helped out on a few paddling sessions, was a student on a fantastic skinny stick rolling class with Cheri Perry and Turner Wilson, and gave presentations about my trips around the South island of New Zealand, and around the Queen Charlotte islands. I met the mysterious “Wenley” who never puts a photo of himself on his regular kayak blog, and twice I failed to get up for 7am yoga with Cheri and Turner! I caught up with Simon Willis, who is making an instructional DVD with Gordon Brown, and chatted to Patrick Winterton and Mick Berwick about their ambitious plans to kayak 200 miles from Scotland to the Faroe islands this summer.

Now I’m back in Wales looking forward to my next chance to revisit Skye and do some more paddling on the beautiful island.

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