This week I made a rare visit down to London town to attend a reception at Buckingham Palace for people involved in Adventure & Exploration. I knew a few other people who had been invited but I wasn’t really sure who else would be there or what to expect!

I made the most of being on the doorstep of the Thames river to film Harry Whelan, Irish kayaking dynamo, who runs a community kayaking centre in London, & who loves to surf the washes of the ferries, police boats & any other boats that will let him! Harry paddles about 5 times a week on the Thames, has paddled around Ireland twice & around Britain once (so far..). In a world where many people like to venture to far off places to paddle, Harry doesn’t see the need to travel when there is so much great sea kayaking right on his doorstep! So don’t be surprised if his next trip is around Ireland, or around Britain, and if you see him out surfing ferry wakes on the Thames in 30 years!

The centre Harry manages is a local authority centre which gives young people the opportunity to try out kayaking cheaply. They also run sessions for adults including evening paddles to Big Ben, and paddles to Putney for a pizza. They even run speed dating sessions in doubles during the Summer!

We were up early on Thursday and cycled to the centre at Cremorne Riverside where Harry picked up his Rockpool Tarran and slid it into the inky water in the dark. He radioed one of the local ferries who had agreed to take me on board so I could film Harry surfing the wake. He rode the wake all the way to Putney from Battersea and then rode it back again! I ran around the ferry trying to film different angles! Thanks a lot to the skipper Mark & his co-worker Ray for being so accommodating.

Later that day, Harry and I went for a 10 mile round trip paddle from Battersea to Tower Bridge. It was a ‘Harry-style’ paddle, which meant that we paddled there and back almost entirely against the tide. The headwind on the way back was brutal and at one point I thought I’d make quicker progress by pulling myself along the chains on the walls of the Thames. I was filming, but ended up getting much more of a workout than I expected, which was a bonus.

A few hours later, I showered and changed to go to Buckingham Palace. I forgot my shampoo and conditioner and Harry offered me some ‘liquid soap’ to wash my hair! Thankfully Andy found some ‘mens shampoo’ for me which did the trick. I dried my hair under the hand drier (Sorry mum… but it worked fine!), and I was ready! I was quite proud that I was sticking to my ‘outdoor roots’ as I had on a Patagonia black dress and a very smart Icebreaker merino wool jacket. I wonder if anyone else there was dressed entirely in outdoor branded clothes!? (I had ordered some Icebreaker merino wool underwear, but they didn’t arrive in time!)

I had a lot of filming and kayaking kit with me so was quite heavily laden with my bright yellow  Ortlieb duffel bag and a camera bag when I arrived. I’d walked there in my ‘comfy shoes’ and planned to subtly change when I got to the Palace. It didn’t turn out quite like that as I had to search around in my bag for my heels while the comedian (and Channel Swimmer) David Walliams walked passed. I couldn’t believe how many people were there. At the gate, I met Peter Carol from ProAdventure shop in Llangollen, saw Ben Fogle (TV presenter/ adventurer who I went to school with) and Sam Davies (solo round the world yachtswoman, who I went to University with but haven’t seen since)! Once inside (and minus my bags), I spent a lot of the evening catching up with Sam, met a few new people like Elaine ‘Shooter’ Alexander who paddled around Ireland solo last year & Ocean rower Roz Savege, aswell as catching up with Fiona Whitehead & Tim Moss. I shook hands with the Queen & the Duke of Edinburgh & spotted well known adventurers and TV personalities like Michael Palin, Bear Grills & Bruce Parry from Tribe. Also there (but not spotted by me) were David Attenborough, Ellen McCarthur and many many more! We weren’t allowed to take any photos inside the Palace but I snapped a few outside.

Now I’m home and back to editing! The film of Harry will be in “This is the Sea 5” in 2012. Meanwhile, I have a few DVDs of his speed circumnavigation of Ireland that he did with Jeff Allen earlier this year. “Into the Wind”, made by Vaugham Roberts is £19.99. If you buy it from us then we’ll send you a free digital download of the Penrhyn-Mawr films in “This is the Sea 2”, featuring Harry.