A weeks work

October 11, 2007 on 8:31 pm | In Sea Kayaking |

How do you balance life a and work? I have been asked over the years when are you going to get a real job? Often people think because we work in the outdoors we have a life of pure pleasure, however we have to work and we do have to make money to eat and feed the children.

Over the course of the week I have been thinking about how I take the business forward from here to earn enough money and to remain true to my ethics. I hear the comment it is expensive to do outdoor activities but I have to ask how much would you pay a solicitor? I have over twenty years of experience and you trust me with your life and you are still wanting to pay me the minimum wage. Is there something wrong?

So I have come to some decisions over the the directions and once I have got it clear in my own mind and cleared it with the ‘Boss’ (Anna), I will start the marketing.

The week this week has had me travelling to Barra to run a first aid course to keep the bills paid over the winter.

Before this though we took the weekend off and headed off with the kids and Tommy and family (they live up the village). We had booked the long house (Taigh Làta) at the black house village at Gearrannan on the west coast of Lewis. These are renovated black houses which were abandoned in the 1970’s and have been renovated. There are some luxury ones and there is one large one which sleeps 16, we booked this and took it over. The kids had a great time, disappearing out into the village and coming back when they were hungry.

The Saturday saw us do the ‘tourist’ thing:

The Carloway Broch.

Callanish Stones

And it is good to remind yourself just why you live in a place.

The Callanish visitors centre wasn’t as good as I remembered?

For me it ended all too early as I had to catch the ferry from Leverburgh to Berneray on Sunday afternoon (horray for cal Mac making it into the 20th Century Stornoway - Ullapool next?) and then on to Barra on Monday morning. It wasn’t all bad as I had the pleasure of dinner again in the Loch Boisdale Hotel and the grilled skate melted in the mouth and I sat in the bar and watched the Scotland - Argentina rugby game.

Monday morning saw me on the ferry across the Sound of Barra and watching the sun rise.

A days work delivering first aid and then the need to escape to the outdoors. Over the west side and a run up the hill to the mast and then down to the cottage on the headland . What a place it is an old coastguard house and just simply in one of the most breathtaking places. I was wondering who owned it and will need to make some enquiries as it would be great place to retreat to.

The next day of work is spent looking longingly out of the windows at the blue skies. The end seemed to take forever to arrive and then the mad dash to escape. Over to the beach and dive into the boat.

Blue, so much blue from horizon to horizon, white blue.

The paddling starts as an easy gentle stroll and gradually as I head south the swell began to grow. Approaching the headland a large Atlantic swell rolled under me. As you sit on the top of a wave imagine sitting in a chair on the windowsill of your the first floor and someone behind is rocking the chair, not hard but just a bit randomly, as each wave rushes under you swoop to the ground and then back up to the to the windowsill again.

Dinner in the Castlebay Hotel after watching the sun set over the Kismul Castle sets me up for another day indoors wondering what adventures the weather will bring.

Strong winds overnight with rain bring a grey overcast day, a good one to be inside working.

So after finishing, I nipped out to see Nick and Kay at Barra Power Kiting for a quick chat and ended staying for tea and setting world to rights. They are offering great powerkiting, and buggying and they were telling me they will be doing kite surfing next year. They have also just completed their flat as outdoor friendly self catering accommodation and it looks great.

As we talked kites I was begining to regret not bringing my kites down to a kiter Barra offers kiting in any wind direction on deserted beaches and machair … and friendly people, there is only so much room in the car and space in the day

The only things I found hard about being in Barra were; the Vodaphone layby, if you want a vodaphone signal you have to drive out of Castlebay past the Isle of Barra Hotel and into the next layby, so talking to home was a bit restricted, apparently there is a signal from the other networks in Castlebay and as the lack of open wireless networks hence the long blog now !

Tim Pickering
http://www.canoehebrides.com
Living in the world's biggest adventure playground - The Outer Hebrides CanoeHebrides.com - Sea kayaking Expeditions BikeHebrides.com -Quality Mountain Bike Hire