Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

.

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!

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.

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.

“WOW!” is the best way I can describe Stromboli! I was excited to see this active volcano and that it erupts roughly every 10 minutes but what I saw blew all of my expectations out of the water ( or more literally, ‘into the air’)!

Climbing 900 metres up to the top of Stromboli was the highlight of a 4-day tour of Sicily’s Aeolian islands. This really is a beautiful paddling destination with incredible rock formations, warm clear water and easy access to great food. You can camp on the beach or at campsites, or you can stay in hotels. But for me the thing that really makes these islands special is the volcanic activity. As Francesco Petralia, the symposium organiser put it, “the islands are alive”! Stromboli is the only continually active volcano in Europe –  reliably giving a loud, gassy eruption.

We started the tour in Vulcano, crossed 2km to Lipari and paddled most of the way around Lipari, the main island in the group, stopping at the old pumice mines. The next day we crossed 10 miles to Panarea, where bubbles shoot up from a rift in the seafloor. The next day we paddled 14 miles to the port at Stromboli. The sea was mirror calm in the morning and a slight headwind developed later. After a brief rest and a bit of carbo-loading we headed 920metres up the volcano to get a view of the erruptions. We left about 4.30pm and arrived at the summit just as it was getting dark. The first indication we got of the eruptions was the noise. Every 10-15 minutes we heard the rumble of thunder and suddenly when we got near the top we could see what looked like the top of a gigantic red firework shooting upfrom the crater below. We climbed to the top of the ridge and could look down on 2 red glowing areas which were fizzing and spurting, shooting out small amounts of red-hot lava. Francesco explained that the pressure of gas in the molten rock is continually building up and every quarter of an hour it builds up enough that it’s released in a gigantic explosion, like a champagne bottle popping it’s cork. When we saw the full explosion, it was incredible. Red fire must have shot up over 200 metres into the air. I thoroughly recommend the hike up the hill to experience this. In fact, I recommend the Vulcano symposium and 4-day tour of the islands. It’s a lovely way to spend time in an amazing paddling destination. The symposium and tour will be happening again next October – see the website here.

Good luck to Roger and Sonja from “Coastal Spirit“, who were working at the symposium and are now planning to circumnavigate Sicily, starting next week. And if you want to learn to roll, or to develop new rolls, I can recommend doing a course with Cheri & Turner from KayakWays, who Barry and I enjoyed hanging out with again this week.