The sun shone on us in Ireland. We had some amazing weather and I can’t find enough positive words so sum up the coastline / people and wilderness that we encountered.

The stats:

43 days
6 days off ( 2 due to weather, 3 due to sickness, 1 for logistics (waiting for a tent pole)).
37 paddling days
874 nautical miles

The trip started smoothly with a ferry from North Wales to Dublin. It was strange to put a luggage tag on our kayaks and leave them in the ferry terminal in Holyhead, but they appeared safely on the luggage carousel in Dublin (don’t worry – the carousel wasn’t moving at the time!). Stena line took good care of them and made travel with the kayaks very easy.

We set off in early May in fairly strong side winds and chilly temperatures – the boys clean shaven with short hair! Sun, rain, hail, clouds – we had it all in the first few days. I found it hard to get warm and soon felt week and a bit sick at times. After a half day off and a hearty portion of fish and chips I was recovered and didn’t look back.

We met kind & hospitable people from the start & have dubbed it the ‘Hospitality circumnavigation’. People we knew, kayakers we’d never met and total strangers offered us showers, food, beds, their car, a lift to the doctors or use of a computer. I have come home with a warm feeling inside at how many lovely people there are out there.

The coastline of Ireland is amazing. Almost every day had gorgeous scenery that I’d go back and paddle. The West coast was my favourite with the swells & the plethora of offshore islands adding to the raw feel of the place.

We had some challenging days and a lot of headwinds (although mostly not that strong) but the sea still reminded us every so often who is boss.

There is so much to explore and while we took some time to look around – I’d happily go back and take twice as much time to poke around on all the lovely islands and be stormbound with a smile!

We saw thousands of birds – puffins and gannets are hard to beat though!

Unexpectedly we paddled with quite a few different people. About 6 locals joined us on the first morning, then we paddled with James for a couple of days and with Andy & Jane for almost 2 weeks. They are now in Scotland continuing their circumnavigation of Britain. Will Brown joined us for a day – it was sociable and fun!

Thanks to Barry and Roger for sharing the trip with me! Roger has put some lovely photos on his blog.

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