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High pressure is finally here and this bright and clear weekend we did familiar things is slightly unfamiliar places.

On Saturday we paddled on the east coast of Anglesey from Moelfre to Point Lynas and back, amazed at the calm seas and warmth in the December air. I’ve paddled in that area before but don’t really know it very well. It’s not as dramatic as the ‘Stacks’ and a bit lower lying but quite a lot of wading birds, a few isolated pebbly beaches and not many houses. A late-ish start meant we arrived back just as the sky was turning black. On Sunday, we walked up Cwm Llan and over to Cwm Merch near Nant Gwynant – places I drive past quite often but have never explored. It’s a really pretty area and it was great to get to know some of the nooks and crannies of my homeground a bit better. Again, we got back to the car as darkness fell – not too hard to achieve near to the shortest day of the year!

How often do you see double seakayaks in rough conditions!? What about 5 of them together in a force 7 ?

Today Alun and I filmed 10 fine paddlers braving the December cold and taking doubles out off Rhoscolyn Head on Anglesey. The result will be seen in ‘This is the Sea 3’, in a section called ‘Double Trouble’. I’m just loading in the first tape now and it looks good. I was impressed by how easy they made it look in pretty big waves, and how much faster the doubles are compared to singles. We also had some fun trying out rolling, some fancy strokes, a double balance brace and lots of good humour! There was just the one swim, and a double re-entry and roll!

Thanks to Jeff Allen & Simon Osborne, Barry Shaw & Phil Clegg, Keirron Tastagh & Harry Wheelan, Gemma Rawlings and Guto Wyn, Axel Schoevers and John ( from Plas Menai ). Thanks to Plas Menai, Nigel Dennis, Barry & Seakayaking Cornwall for providing the kayaks, and thanks to Alun and Ros for filming. Finally thanks to Axel for taking the photographs!

I hadn’t been to the Skerries for about a year, but now I’ve been two weekends in a row. Barry and I left left from Cemlyn, just like Clare, Axel and I did, except that we decided to ferry glide out there against the tide! There was a reasonably strong westerly wind and quite a lot of rebounding waves off the north coast of Angelsey so our eddy hop up to Cemlyn was quite bouncy with many waves splashing in our faces. Great! We started the ferry glide from Cemlyn and surprised ourselves that we managed to make it to the Skerries against the tide in quite choppy conditions. I think I was just hungry and wanted to be able to land for lunch! I’m not surprised I was hungry as the journey out there took us over 2 and a half hours! We were both pretty tired by the time we arrived. Going back to Cemlyn with the tide and the waves took a mere 45 minutes but still required energy as the waves were quite hard to surf, but we couldn’t resist. I didn’t take my camera so here’s a photo of Barry at South Stack a few weeks ago, when we went round the Stacks with Alun and Greer.

Thanks to my friends for giving me a fun birthday weekend. It’s been easier to enjoy playing out because it’s been lovely weather in Wales for about a week – calm, sunny, and mild. On Saturday Claire Jones, Axel and I headed to the Skerries in a lumpy swell. Axel has written it up on his blog.

On Sunday, Gemma, Axel and I headed to the Menai Straits to play on the fast moving water between the 2 bridges. We munched on some delicious chocolate presents and supped whiskey from a hip flask to warm us on the waves! It’s the first time I’ve seen people on the white house on the island in the Menai Straits. I told them I’d like to buy their island, but I somehow don’t think I could afford it! Thanks to Axel for the photo. I keep saying I must learn how to twirl my paddle properly!!