Author: Justine

  • Menorca – here we come!

    It’s a jet setting month for me – I’m only recently back from Sicily and today I head to Menorca. Well, you’ve got to admit that a slightly warmer climate is very attractive at this time of year! And direct, affordable flights from Manchester to Menorca make it far too tempting.

    This time I’m visiting the Med with the very accomplished Sarah Outen. Sarah has already rowed across the Indian ocean and is in training for the even bigger mission of circling the globe. There are a couple of oceans called the Atlantic and Pacific that she hasn’t rowed across yet so that’s on her list! And to link them together she’ll cycle over the non-watery sections known as Europe, Asia and America. Where do I fit into that? There are a few watery sections which are more suited to a kayak than an ocean-going rowing boat so I’ve been asked to join Sarah for some of those.

    In the meantime, we are heading to Menorca for a week to do some kayaking training. Apart from getting to know each other, if the weather is good enough we plan to kayak around Menorca. If the wind plays ball then we also hope to kayak across to Mallorca, but we’ll see. I’m looking forward to turquoise waters, impressive cliffs, a myriad of caves, meeting new friends and hopefully a bit of sunshine!

    We are using kayaks and local knowledge from Carlos & Teresa from “Menorca en Kayak“. They offer rentals, courses and guided trips on the island & I’m looking forward to meeting them!

  • “Outdoor Photography” – Watery Tips

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    The UK magazine “Outdoor Photography” are giving away a free supplement in their current issue called “Your Essential Adventure Photography Guide”. It contains 78 tips for taking “awesome adventure photography” images. There are 17 tips for taking shots in water, plus a tip from me! The whole magazine contains some great information and ideas, aswell as amazing shots. You can find out more info about the magazine here. It’s in the November 2011 issue, in shops now!

  • Dog Mushing meets Canoeing

    I recently received a copy of “Mushing“, the magazine of dog powered adventure. The publishers, Greg & Jane Sellentin, are not only into dog mushing, they are also keen paddlers. They told me they are “really big fans” of my DVDs and found out about Erik Simlua’s incredible 1,000 mile birchbark canoe journey when they bought a copy of “This is Canoeing“. Since Erik took his sled dog, Kitigan, with him on his  voyage, they asked Erik to write a story for them about the journey.

    I think most people who enjoy activities like kayaking, canoeing, walking, climbing, biking, dog sledding etc share a love of the outdoors. I really enjoy hearing about other people’s adventures – whatever unmechanical means of transport they use! Thanks to Mushing for the magazine.  Go to their website to read some of their online articles or buy a copy of the magazine. Visit Erik’s website to read more about the journey. Or if you want to see the  birchbark canoe adventure on film, then you can buy a copy of ‘This is Canoeing” from you local outdoor shop, or from the Cackle TV webstore.

  • Start of the drysuit season!

    Winter is definitely on it’s way! Last weekend was mostly quite sunny and warm, but as soon as the sun slipped behind a cloud there was a definite nip in the air! On Saturday, Barry and I headed around the Stacks and enjoyed a play in a messy but fun South Stack Outer race. We headed to Parliament house cave for lunch but spotted the white fur of a baby seal resting on the stoney beach so we went around the corner and landed on some rocks so we didn’t disturb it.

    On Sunday I put my toasty Kokatat drysuit on for the first time this autumn and we headed to another favourite location, the Skerries. We landed as far away as we could from a couple more baby seals. This one on the beach didn’t even notice us as we quietly climbed up the rocks for our lunch.