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I’m about to fly to the world’s largest land locked country. I’ll be spending almost 2 weeks thousands of miles away from the sea!? I’ll be like a fish out of water – or perhaps a seakayaker out of the sea?

I’m off to the world’s 9th largest country, which is certainly not one of the most visited. It gained notoriety in the film ‘Borat’, although I’m told the film is a total misrepresentation of my destination – Kazakhstan.

Why am I traveling so far from salty water? I’m delighted to be joining Sarah Outen for 11 days on her epic adventure to loop the planet by human power. I last saw Sarah at the start of April, when we kayaked from London Bridge to Dover together. I then spent a few days in Europe cycling and driving with her, filming her pedaling her bike, Hercules, from the French coast towards Russia! Since then she’s been chasing the rising sun on a 5 month cycle journey across Europe and Asia. I’ll join her in Almaty in Eastern Kazakhstan & we’ll cycle together about 900km to Urumqi in China. I’ll be filming the journey and trying to keep up with Sarah, who has been developing steely thighs for 3 months now! I’ve been out on my mountain bike quite a lot over the last 3 weeks and am fit enough to cause an equally competitive friend to fall off his bike trying to prevent me from overtaking him! Whether I’ll be woman enough for over 100km a day in the foothills of the Tian Shan mountains remains to be seen!

I’ve been aided in my training by some swish new cycling gear from Assos and Rudy. I now look a bit like a biker, and I had some fun with my photo-sensitive glasses for the above photo. The glasses are clear when it’s overcast, but automatically turn dark when the sun is out. Fantastic! I exposed 1 lens to the sun for a few minutes (while covering up the other one), then popped them on for the photo. Well, you’ve got to have a bit of fun, haven’t you!? Sarah is sponsored by their UK supplier, Yellow Limited, and they kindly gave me some kit for my part in the journey. Sarah’s logistics manager, Tim Moss, has lent me his bike Bob — which stands for Beast Of Burden! I have been warned!

I’ve also got some great panniers from Ortlieb which will safely carry my kit and keep it dry. It’s all very exciting and I  look forward to arriving in Almaty in about 24 hours from now!

On a separate point, our digital download sales are proving popular. A lot of people who have bought a download, have been back for more, so they must have been pleased with the quality and price. If you’ve never tried downloading a film from the internet, then now is your chance to try it out for only 99p!?  For this cost (less than a cup of tea or coffee) you can watch never-before-seen footage of Dutch seakayak guide Axel Schoevers as he kayaks around the Netherlands, see footage from kayaking under the Golden Gate Bridge, paddle with manatees in clear water in Florida (Weeki Wacchi river), see short features on Chris Duff, seakayaking in Georgia, paddling in Penrhyn Mawr tidal race, Skooks tidal race, the Manitou islands & Lofoten islands.… and more!

Not sure how it all works? Have a read here.

Keep your eyes open on the internet aswell, a few websites are offering discounts on their favourite films for a short time. The good folks at Kayakyak are offering money off some of our seakayaking films from Canada – in aid of Canada Day on 1st July. Check out their blog if you haven’t seen it.

I always love going to “the Skerries”, off Anglesey. This time of year is particularly exciting because I know I’ll be greeted by a cloud of loud squaking artic & common terns. Every year they come back to the island to nest. We were lucky enough to be invited up to the lighthouse where the bird warden’s stay to get a closer look at the hundreds of birds who are sitting on eggs – some of them just a few centimetres from the path. It was wise to have a hat on, and even wiser to hold something else above your head as a few people got pecked by defensive birds. One drew a spot of blood on Barry’s head – even through his hat.

FOR A LIMITED TIME, CACKLE TV is selling a new seakayaking instructional DVD from Level 5 BCU coach Nick Cunliffe.

Nick is a friend and excellent coach. In 2009, Justine and Nick kayaked from Wales to Ireland together across the Irish sea in a record time of under 12 hours. This is his 2nd DVD and is full of great information for intermediate/ improving seakayakers. It clearly shows what to do with your kayak, body position and blade to get your kayak to do what you want in wind, waves & tidal races.

Almost all of the footage is shot by kayaker and filmmaker Matt Giblin, although they also use some great footage of Nick on the front wave at the impressive “Falls of Lora” tidal race in Scotland, which was shot for “This is the Sea 3″. They use a 2 minute sequence of Nick surfing the wave which wasn’t shown in it’s entirety in ‘This is the Sea 3′, then provide analysis of how to surf and stay on the wave.

If you want to see more of Nick (and others) surfing the “Falls of Lora” we are offering a special deal with purchases of ‘the Seakayak Essentials’ DVD. When you buy the DVD from us, you can buy the 15 minute digital download “Scottish Tidal Races” for just £1. This fantastic film is usually £2.49, so you save over 50%. (We will send you a link to download the film separately).

The DVD contains over 100 minutes of HD footage and heaps of information. It’s also got great tips for coaches on how to teach these techniques.

Buy it in our store…. or right here!

We have both PAL and NTSC copies available so will send the one that will work in your country.

It’s been a while since I was assessed for anything, but on Friday, I jumped into an open canoe for the first time for about a year ! Barry, Ulrika, Dave and I were put through our paces by Nick Cunnliffe and we all took our two star award in the open canoe! I have to say it was great fun and I really enjoyed trying to control a bigger boat than usual with only 1 blade!

These days, if you want to be a kayak coach in the BCU scheme, you also have to grasp open canoeing up to 2 star level as a pre-requisite. To gain the Level 2 coach award you have be able to teach and assess 2 star (in canoe & kayak).

After the assessment we enjoyed messing around in the currents underneath Menai Bridge, seeing if our skills would keep us upright in moving water!

I’m pleased to say that we all passed! And I’m looking forward to getting out in my open boat a bit more!