Justine’s Blog

THE SEA ON THE WAY OUT, BARDSEY IS BEHIND THAT WAVE!

Everyone I contacted to ‘play out’ this weekend was busy or away, but I decided not to let that stop me having a wee adventure. On Sunday morning, I packed the van and drove down to Aberdaron at the end of the Llyn Peninsula. The white water at the tiderace off Pen y Cil headland was very clearly visible from a mile and a half away. The conditions were sporty enough for me to phone the Porter family who live on the island to tell them I was on my way – they promised to look out for me and to get the kettle on as I drew close. I had a fun paddle in the end – a force 4 wind which was almost a headwind kicked up a few big waves, but I enjoyed the heightened awareness that comes from being solo.
STEVE GIVES 2 SICK SHEEP A RIDE BACK

I was met by Steve and his son Ben on their quad bike and escorted to their farmhouse for the promised cuppa. It was a beautiful day and I took a walk up to the top of the island and looked back at the whitecaps in the Sound. The sky was so clear that I could see Holyhead mountain and the hills of Ireland from up there. I was invited to stay overnight with the Porters and had a great evening. Ben took me out in his rowing boat to check his lobster pots. He had one big lobster, but it was a female which he had to put back, and a few other lobsters which were too small to keep. Oh well, no lobster for dinner this time!
BEN ROWING BACK AFTER CHECKING HIS POTS
THROWING BACK A LOBSTER THAT’S TOO SMALL
After dinner, the stars were out and I had a look at the craters of the moon and Saturn’s rings through Steve’s telescope.

The next morning, before I headed back home, I “helped” the family to round up the year old ewes, so Steve could shear around their bottoms! I didn’t offer to help with that task, and headed back across a roughening up sound about 9.30am. The current was strongly pushing me in the wrong direction this time, but I ferry-glided across the Sound and ended up about a mile downstream of the headland I wanted to go around to get back to Aberdaron. The eddy close to the land carried me back to Pen y Cil headland and I had to work hard to surf against the tide to get around the corner, then i was home and dry, with a following wind to push me back to the beach.

Bardsey island is one of those special places which relaxes me and makes me feel happy just to be there, and it’s usually quite an exciting paddle to get there…. I’m sure it won’t be long before I return!
BEN AND JO ROUNDING UP THE SHEEP

This weekend I walked on water for the first ( and probably last) time! I was visiting my friend Cheryl in the Lake District and went with her to ‘have a ball’ in Keswick. Cheryl is organising the ‘Keswick Mountain Festival‘ this May, full of outdoor activities, speakers like Double Olympic champion James Cracknell, climber Leo Houlding, Doctor Mike Stroud, endurance athlete Jez Bragg, round the world runner Rosie Swale and round the world cyclist Mark Beaumont. This weekend she had to test out some giant inflatable balls which you climb into and which allow you to walk on water. I was only too happy to volunteer to be one of the testers! It was great fun, but amazingly tiring to try to make it go anywhere. And of course, it was really difficult to try to stand up, or to remain standing up. I found that kneeling down and trying to ‘run’ on it like that was a bit easier.

Al and Jase from ‘Keswick Adventure Centre’ will be manning the ‘water wheels at the Keswick Mountain Festival and they blew up the balls using an electric pump. They then seal you in there with a huge ‘dry suit’ type zip. It’s quite a strange feeling being ‘locking in there’ with only 5-10 minutes of breathable air but I soon forgot that as I tried to keep ( or get!) my balance in the ball. It’s also a wierd feeling to fall into the water, but not actually to get wet! Not even my socks were wet inside the ball, which was pretty cool.

CHERYL INSIDE THE BALL, WITH AL AND JASE

Chapters from “This is the Sea 4” are proving popular with film festivals. if you live near San Francisco this weekend you can see “Rockhopping in Baja” and “Dubside”on the big screen as part of the 6th annual Ocean Film Festival. Click here for details.

The following weekend, 27th February to 1st March is the 4th Sheffield Adventure Film Festival, known as Shaff. Here you can see the multi-award winning film of my New Zealand expedition. I also notice that they are showing “Solo”, the film of Andrew McAuley’s tragic crossing of the Tasman Sea.

From 6TH – 14TH MARCH 2009 is the Fort William Mountain Film Festival in Scotland. The shorter festival version of the New Zealand film is showing (approx 25mins) and perhaps one of the other chapters.

I’ve also entered the film into the Wanaka Mountain Film Festival in New Zealand from July 3rd-7th, and the Alaska Ocean Film Festival on June 6th. They haven’t selected which films they are showing yet but hopefully one of mine will be in there!

The NZ film is also on tour throughout Canada and America as part of the Reel Paddling Film Festival.

MY DAD SKIING PAKALOLO ( DOUBLE BLACK DIAMOND)

Barry and I had our last day of skiing in Whistler today. The last 2 days were great, with fresh snow and some good runs. I went up for one last run down the Peak Chair, 2 minutes before it closed and I had the mountain to myself going down through some of the bowls spraying powder behind me. It was a great end to our time in Canada.

This is Barry’s first time skiing and he’s been whizzing down black runs and (sometimes reluctantly) tackling bumpy un-pisted runs.

BARRY WHIZZING DOWN THE DAVE MURRAY DOWNHILL