I never imagined myself paddling in an 18 seater Canadian canoe around the isle of Skye, but that’s exactly what Barry and I spent the last 2 days doing! We joined Canadian adventurer Chris Cooper for a short section of his circumnavigation of Great Britain. He’s taking 3 summers to paddle the replica Montreal canoe around the British coastline, giving local people and school children the opportunity to take part in the journey. It was surprisingly hard work considering I’d like to think I’m quite paddling fit, but then it’s different from seakayaking! Chris steers the canoe from the back with a big paddle which he uses as a rudder, while everyone else follows his instructions about when to paddle forwards, sideways or stop. It was fun to be part of the team journeying on the sea in this way.

Perhaps this is a good time to mention that I’m making a canoeing (as opposed to kayaking) DVD next. It will be a similar format to ‘This is the Sea’ with about 10 individual films about different inspirational people, places or expeditions. I hope it will be as well received in the open boating world as the “This is the Sea” series has been. I’m enjoying learning about open boating and the new challenges of filming it. I’ll give more information at a later date, I’m still working out what will be in the DVD at the moment!

Any ideas for a DVD name would be gratefully received. Apart from “This is the River”, or “This is the Lake”!

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