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This bank holiday weekend in the UK was not the best weather, but Alun and I still managed some respectable and fun climbing in the nearby slate quarries, and on Monday Gemma and I went on a little jaunt to the very pretty Puffin Island. Gemma and I disagree as to who is the bad omen, but the fact remains that whenever we go paddling together, the wind howls! Monday was no exception, but we didn’t actually mind because it kicked up a few fun waves in the race between the island and the mainland.

Puffin Island, off the NW tip of Anglsey, doesn’t contain so many puffins after rats were released onto this very special refuge, but a few years ago the rats were exterminated and the odd pair of puffins has been seen since. There are also lots of other nesting birds, like shags and kitiwakes, and it’s a fantastic place to see seals. They are very curious here and will come right up to the kayak and even play with your paddle. I’ve already got some good underwater shots of Trys there with my minicam, but this time I carted my big camera with it’s bulky housing to the island in the hope of some top quality underwater shots. I should have known that with Gemma there, it would be a bit too rough, and the rocks that the seals usually laze on were being bombarded by waves. Still, we made a quick circuit of the very cute island and made our way back to the 0.5km race which separates it from the mainland. It was a challenge surfing with the housing rattling around in my cockpit, but also a lot of fun! Just what the doctor ordered to clear away the cobwebs.

GEMMA BY NIGEL MANSELLS CAR

They say that variety is the spice of life, and Gemma and I certainly did something a bit different last weekend! My father managed to get us V.I.P. tickets for the ‘GP Masters’ race at Silverstone ( thank you dad) . I don’t know much about motor racing, but I now know that this event is a new concept where every driver has exactly the same car and tyres – so it’s a level playing field for once. It was also a wet playing field on Sunday when former grand prix winners and legends like Nigel Mansell, Emerson Fittipaldi, Eddie Cheever, Riccardo Patrese & Derek Warwick did 30 laps of the track with plenty of spins, collisions and overtaking to keep even a seakayaker like me entertained! I have always dismissively walked past a TV showing motor racing but I found that being at Silverstone, soaking in the atmosphere was pretty special. We also got to go and stand on the track just before the race when the drivers first come onto the track in their grid formation. I’m not sure what the drivers think to about 100 people crowding around their cars just before the race, but we certainly enjoyed being there. I felt sorry for the ‘GP masters girls’ though, who had to stand there in high heels and very little else holding up a sign as the British weather decided to deliver a sharp shower. They also weren’t allowed to flinch as the cars drove to within inches of their stilletos. I was quite smug and comfortable in my waterproof North Face shoes and coat!!

KATIE MELUA AFTER A LAP OF THE CIRCUIT
Gemma and I started to watch the race from the media room which had a great view of the startline, and a TV screen showing the race. Then after just 1 lap Nigel Mansell drove his car back into the pit right underneath us, so we went down into the pit and watched the mechanics try to sort it out. Nigel just sat in his car looking serious ( as you would!) although Gemma reckons he looked at us once!! He finally went back out, but his car spun around wildly about 3 times and looked really out of control at which point he realised that the differential had gone ( at least I think that’s what he said as I don’t know much about cars either!). He came back into the pit and this time, walked away from the car. We watched the second half of the race from the VIP tent with my dad over a delicious lunch. We happened to be on a table with ‘Roger Cook’ and his wife. Roger stars in an investigative TV series, and is known for door-stepping slippery characters and giving them a hard time. I’m proud to say that as I brought back my 4th and final plate of food (exotic fruit this time!), he congratulated me on how much I could eat!! Also eating in the ‘posh tent’ were some of the drivers, the commentator Murray Walker, the singer Beverley Knight, one of the band members from Faithless and probably lots of other well-known people that I didn’t recognise. The day ended with a concert by Katie Melua, the biggest selling female artist in Britain. Again I couldn’t believe that we were standing right below the stage, no more than 10 metres away from her and her band playing some really great music. And we didn’t have to fight to be there ( I’m getting old and prefer not to have to use my elbows to preserve my place!)

WITH MY DAD AND HIS FRIENDS BEFORE GOING ON THE GRID
I hope I don’t sound too much like I’m gloating! The whole day was a pretty amazing experience and I suppose I am gloating a bit! I’d still chose my trusty seakayak over a racing car though.

See http://www.gpmasters.com/ for more information

ALUN BY THE GANNET COLONY ON FOULA

Well, We’re back home in Wales, enjoying the tail end of the heat wave, but not before we crammed in a final trip to the most remote of the Shetland isles, Foula. We arrived back in Lerwick on Wed night at 9pm and were met by Mavis Robertsons’ smiling face and taken back to her home for the night. We had 2 days to enjoy Shetland as the next ferry back to Orkney was on Friday night at 5.30pm ( no, we didn’t kayak it this time!) The weather was so good that we decided to take the opportunity to go to Foula, 16 miles west of the other islands in Shetland. Mavis kindly lent us her car so we drove for about an hour to near Walls, the nearest place to Foula for the crossing. It was clear, sunny and calm – perfect conditions for a crossing to the dramatic cliffy island on the horizon. The tidal streams there are meant to go roughly sideways across our path, but actually we unexpectedly had about half a knot to a knot of tide with us for most of the way, meaning that we made good progress. There was hardly a breath of wind until we got within a mile of Foula when force 4 gusts created by the island shot out to greet us ( well, to try to push us away from the island).

Foula boasts the highest sea cliffs in Britain and we headed straight around the northern tip to the west coast to gaze up at them for ourselves. They were really impressive – not as tall as some of the Faroes cliffs but equally dramatic because of their curving shapes and solid arretes. I immediately noticed the constant background chatter of wildlife, hundreds of birds calling to each other and dozens of seals howling. We saw very few seals on the Faroes, so it was great to see the grey hulks hauled up on rocks. I don’t suppose they get disturbed very often!

JUSTINE ON THE EAST SIDE OF FOULA, WEST COAST SUMMITS VISIBLE BEHIND

We spent a lovely 3 hours circumnavigating the island ( about 7 miles), gazing up at the cliffs and enjoying the wildlife. Every corner we turned brought another pretty view. What’s more, the wind died down and the tide always seemed to be with us. Finally we landed at Ham, the settlement where the ferry arrives. It was a pleasant change for us to have a convenient slipway to land at, and a very short carry of the kayaks. I’d failed to catch us any fish this time, so it was corned beef and mashed potato for dinner ( washed down by a nice bottle of red wine)!

NEARING SOUTHERN TIP OF FOULA

We briefly chatted to Kevin and his wife, 2 of the 30-odd residents of Foula but we didn’t get a chance to have much of a look around the island from the land because we had to get up early the next day to make sure we made it back to the mainland in time to catch our ferry to Orkney. The alarm was set for 6am but we were actually woken up by a thunder storm at 5am. I’m sure I managed to get back to sleep at 5.55am, just before the alarm! By 6am the thunder had passed, but the mist was right down and visibility was about 100metres. Once on the water, we followed our bearing of 070degrees, with the GPS as a reassuring back-up. Again we had a bit of tide with us for most of the journey which always brings a smile to my face (we left 6hours before HW Dover for the return trip, and at 1 hour after HW Dover for the trip to Foula). A bit scarily, at 3 times during the crossing the thunder storm returned and came very close to us. The shortest gap between lighting strike and thunder was about 2 seconds meaning the core of the storm was about 2 miles away. The thunder boomed in our ears and the rain was pummelling down on the sea with the force of hail stones. It was very eerie and a bit scary, but we were committed and I tried not to think about whether Alun’s wooden paddles would save him, and my lovely Lendals’ might be my end if I got struck by lighting! An hour before we reached the mainland, the mist lifted and we could see where we were going. 2 miles away, the wind picked up, and of course was against us, and the tide changed so it was more against us than with us. Finally, we had to cross an lumpy tidal race a hundred metres offshore. I didn’t mind though, we’d had a great 24 hour flying visit to Foula! We even made it back to Mavis in time to take her out for a nice lunch ( Mavis was concerned that all we’d seen of Shetland’s eating-out cuisine previously was fish and chips!)

The ferry ride was misty so we didn’t get to see Fair Isle again, but once we got to Kirkwall we did meet up with Douglas, an Orkney paddler who we’d met at the Shetland symposium. Douglas very kindly met us at the ferry at 11pm and put us up for the night. Thanks to him and his wife for a great evening.