Sun-drenched and copper-tainted

With Jess Andrews' fitness advice still fresh in our minds, Jon and I arrived at Hythe planning to paddle to Eling and back, a route we knew to be just under 10 miles. On a previous occasion before we took any real notice of tides or the weather (quite important things as we have since discovered on many occasions!) we went the other way, had a fantastic paddle as far as Hythe but turned back and had to heave our way back to Eling against tide and wind.

But now we know better. High tide was at 12.54 yesterday and we knew that if we started from Hythe at around 11.30 we would get to Eling at 1-ish and then settle in for a gentle surf back to Hythe on the retreating water.

Timing has never been our strongest point, and a puncture meant that Jon needed to visit a garage, so at 1pm exactly we launched off Hythe slipway and headed off upriver, minus Stu because of unfortunate shift patterns. It turned out to be one of the nicest paddles of the year so far - a nice sunny day with little breeze and, although we started to feel the tide pushing against us as we came up through the container terminal opposite Marchwood, it wasn't too challenging.

Soon after setting off we found ourselves in the middle of the waterway, which is actually quite wide, and passed some container ships and the normal mix of industrial sights. We spotted a police car on the end of a jetty and it momentarily reminded me of films I've seen with shady police involved in smuggling or other unsavoury activities at wharfs or harbours.

Anyway the provision by Jon of some Sports Mix sweets, sort of wine gums+, made a pleasant paddle even more enjoyable. Although this blog is not sponsored by Sports Mix, I have to say they were rather nice and I would recommend them as a supplement to your normal energy drink or whatever it is you use when doing exercise!

We broke the physchological barrier that we both had in the back of our minds from the last time we did this route, namely the long wide stretch from the dog leg of the container port to Eling, which seems unending. We finally beached at Eling slipway at 2.50, this was a good 20 minutes later than anticipated. After a short leg stretch we got back in and started the paddle back.

To start with it felt like peddling a bicycle downhill, when you can't quite get traction. This was because we were now going with the tide, but bizarrely it didn't really feel like we were getting anywhere. It was only when we looked at various markers in the water, such as deep water buoys etc, that we realised we we moving quite fast.

Before too long we were approaching the jetty where the police car was parked and, suspiciously, he/she was still there. We decided to paddle underneath the jetty and directly underneath the car. As we came out the other side and cleared the jetty, we heard a shout of "oi lads", turned around only to see the policeman beckoning us back towards him. We spun around and drew closer, used to people showing an interest in our kayaks and asking where we'd been etc, only to be told that he didn't think it was too safe to be paddling under the jetty.

This to us seemed a little bit odd, and we wrote it off as being the actions of a bored copper who had been sat there for almost two hours by that point, for reason or reasons unknown to us. We paddled away slightly bemused, and a little unclear as to why paddling under a jetty was any more dangerous than paddling at all. To be honest, drowning is probably our first concern, and slightly higher up the list than....um....something harmful that could befall us under a jetty.

It felt a bit like the villain in Scooby Doo warning the kids not to go near that haunted house, but really just trying to keep them away from their secret lair. All a bit odd. At this point it is important, of course, to confirm that I have no reason to suspect this particular policeman of being a villain or being involved in anything unsavoury. It was just a little bit weird.

Nonetheless we paddled onwards and, in a total of just 75 minutes, found ourselves back on the slipway at Hythe, a full 35 minutes quicker than the first leg of the journey....what a difference the tide makes.

As far as our challenge goes, this was an important milestone. 10 miles in just over three hours bodes well, although it wasn't a particularly tough trip. However it suggests that a time of 7-8 hours might be achievable for our crossing when the time comes.

And there isn't likely to be any bored coppers in the middle of The Channel to delay us unnecessarily...

Fit as [knackered old] butchers' dogs

So with our fitness in mind, and a slight concern in the back of my mind about being able to complete 20+ miles on rough sea (=hard bloody work I expect!) given my general level of fitness, we headed off to meet Jess Andrews, personal fitness trainer to Hampshire Fire Brigade. His time had been donated to us by the Chief Fire Officer of Hampshire, and of course through Jess's own generosity.

It is fair to say that my aim is to arrive on Shakespeare Beach near Dover, on the morning of our crossing, and only be worried about the weather...I definitely don't want to be concerned about either the distance or my fitness and ability to complete the crossing.

Jon, Stu and I met a the Turners' house after work on Tuesday, in our "loose clothing" as requested, and headed nervously over to meet Jess at HQ in Eastleigh. Jon said at this point that if Jess at any point in the evening described him as mobidly obese, he might have to resort to violence! He also admitted that he'd eaten virtually nothing all day...

After getting to Easleigh in quick time, we were introduced to Jess who made us a cup of tea and sat us down in his office.

He was very interested in the challenge we had set ourselves and what we were doing to prepare for it, in fact he kept challenging us, absolutely fairly, about the need to get on and take some action by perhaps joining (or at least attending) Southampton Canoe Club for some tips, and doing as much kayaking as possible which, he said, was undoubtedly the best training.

He showed us some exercises we could do to build up our core, one of which is known as planking (which I previously thought was a Facebook craze) and involves doing something similar to press-ups but on your elbows, the idea being to lift your stomach towards your spine. He got out his Reebok pilates mat and showed us a few exercises and got us to try them out.

He was really engaged with what we were doing and provided some really useful ideas/tips, plus he emailed us a load of factsheets etc to help us and spoke, whilst we were there, on the phone to a mate of his who is involved in Southampton Canoe Club.

He was, in my opinion, a top bloke who was committed to helping us.

But then came the moment we were dreading....the body fat/BMI test. Using a highly technical device that, frankly, resembled little more than a set of electronic bathroom scales, he determined a whole load of data about each of us including something called "metabolic age". I won't reveal the outcomes but it is fair to say that some of us were less happy than others about these readings!

After arranging a follow-up gym session with Jess the following week we departed for home, resisting the temptation of a McDonalds Big Mac Meal or a pint on the way home.

We all felt a little more comfortable that, with six months and counting, we definitely have time to get ourselves in shape. Equally we are in little doubt that we need to get started asap.

Let the planking begin.

Shaken, Rattled & Rollered. Saturday 18th Feb.

Having had a couple of weekends off for work commitments and bad weather, Charlie, Jon and I were looking forward to getting back on the water.  We met at Hythe marina at 09:30 and the plan was to get as far up the Itchen river as possible but leave enough time to get Charlie back as Saints were playing at home (not much gets between Charlie and St Marys stadium on a Saturday afternoon!).

Luckily, we came across these kayaks just lying around on the slipway, they made our rubber outfits appear far more socially acceptable.

The weather was reasonable; no rain and only a slight breeze, and Southampton Water appeared fairly calm with only a little top-chop.  We set out on what has now become a familiar route for us towards the Queen Elizabeth dock and the mouth of the River Itchen. The crossing of the shipping lane was plain sailing and we soon settled into an easy paddling rhythm with the breeze at our backs as we passed the docks and the entrance to the Ocean Village marina.

After paddling under the Itchen Bridge, a very cheerful conversation about suicide was interrupted when Jon spotted the hovercraft at the Griffon Hoverwork slipway and we moved in closer for a better look. It was here that we first realised that the wind was picking up and that the gentle breeze that had been pushing us up the river felt quite a bit stronger when you faced downstream!   Initially we decided to push  further on up the river but with second thoughts (and what we like to think of as increasingly good judgement) we voted to turn around and give ourselves plenty of time for the return journey.

This decision turned out to be even better than we first thought.  The water felt more and more like treacle as we headed back down the river and the head wind became a greater nuisance by the minute. Even trying to use the slip-stream of a huge passing aggregates ship didn't help and as we neared the mouth of the river once more we knew we were in for a struggle to get back across Southampton Water.  

 Rounding the corner at Q.E dock the shipping lane had become a washing machine.  This is the point where the two bodies of water meet, creating swirling currents. Add into the mix a strong wind holding up the choppy waves and what was an enjoyable, easy -going paddle only forty minutes previously had suddenly become the biggest challenge we had faced this winter.  It was slow progress and we were getting wetter from the cold spray by the second. At one point Charlie and I didn't make any forward progress for what seemed  like an age despite paddling like mad!  Then, just to rub salt into our wounds, a series of huge rolling waves decided to make their way up Southampton Water making staying on our kayaks a challenge in itself.  With heads down and paddles going ten to the dozen we made slow progress across the shipping lane. Eventually we were able to ease up and laugh at ourselves as we approached Hythe marina slipway,  thoughts of dry clothes,  warm cars and a beer in the' Salt Bar' making reaching land all the better.  Cold, soaking wet and knackered........we couldn't wipe the smiles off our faces.

Paddle to the Island

On Saturday 28th of January, I arranged to meet Charlie and Stu for a paddle on Sunday the 29th for a 13:00 high tide.

The plan would be to paddle across from Ashlett creek and up the Hamble as we had done before.

Stu had text me on Saturday to tell me how calm the Solent was and that he couldn't wait to get out there paddling.

Unfortunately on Sunday morning I received a text from Charlie to say that he wouldn't be able to make the paddle, so I rang Stu and we decided that we would change our plans in favour of Lepe with the aim of paddling towards Lymington.

We arrived at Lepe at approx 13:30 and looked out to what can only be described as "wait for it" A MILL POND "whoop, there it is!", I mean, it really was incredibly flat and probably the best chance with regards to the tide and conditions that we have had for an Isle of Wight crossing attempt.

We got ourselves ready and in to the water and before long were paddling towards Calshot, passing a yellow marker buoy then aiming for Cowes, we knew we had about an hour of slack water before the tide would turn.

I then decided for some strange reason that now was the perfect time to chuck in a line and see if there were any fish in the Solent by dragging a lure behind me.

We continued to paddled across in the flat calm not quite believing how little traffic there was, after thirty minutes we noticed that what had started as a very easy paddle was starting to get just a fraction harder with every paddle stroke feeling a little more like custard than water, we also noticed that the original target of Cowes was not appearing to get any closer and this could only mean that the tide had turned and was on its way out, with this in mind we decided that the best option would be to head straight for the beach at Gurnard which is a little seafront village between Cowes and Newport creek, at least I think that's where it was, as we aimed towards the beach we noticed another kayak coming from the direction of Cowes WITH the tide "nobody likes a smart arse!", giving him the nod as you do and exchanging some words of disbelief on the amazing conditions we paddled on to our goal, eventually reaching the beach 47 minutes after leaving Lepe "Hooray!".

A fine figure of a man!

After congratulating each other for while on our Great Triumph and pulling a few Brucie moves, we decided to send Charlie a picture message to rub his nose in it "it was all Stu's idea".

Eventually we pulled ourselves together, got up off the shingle and decided that it was probably a good idea to make a move back as it would probably be getting dark early and the tidal currents would be getting much stronger in a short while, it was at this point that Stu saw fit to tell me that he had had a conversation with his wife about how he would not try to make a crossing to the island today as we had only a few hours of daylight to paddle in "again, it was all Stu's idea Becky!".

We left Gurnard beach setting a course for Calshot chimney knowing that when we got to deeper water the current would be much stronger, just as we thought it was going to be incredibly easy and were about to change our course for Lepe, the current hit us, but not with the force that I had been expecting and indeed experienced with Charlie on our previous and failed crossing, but never the less, we had to paddle quite a bit harder to try and maintain our course.

You can always tell when things are getting slightly harder because there is a sudden silence as you all start to feel a little uncomfortable and have to dig deeper, its that feeling that I think sometimes brings out some incredible qualities in people, the feeling of not letting the side down that makes some people stand out from the crowd and able to achieve some amazing things.

Anyway maintaining our course for Calshot chimney was our objective and maintain our course we did, we had rightly predicted that if we tried to keep to our target that the tide would play its part in pushing us around towards Lepe, which is exactly what had happened and we arrived back at Lepe 33 minutes after leaving Gurnard, a little cold and with no fish, but very happy with ourselves never the less.

Not the longest of paddles at 4.5 miles, but a good psychological battle won!

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