Discounted Adventure in Scotland

September 8, 2008 on 1:52 pm | In Sea Kayaking, Surfing, Whitewater Rafting, Canoeing, River Bugging, Open Canoeing, Canyoning, Cliff Jumping, Coasteering, Kayak Surfing, Body Boarding | No Comments

The new VisitScotland Adventure Pass offers some fantastic savings on adventure sports and activities in Scotland.

Offers include buy one get one free so why not try surfing in East Lothian, canoeing near Inverness, white water rafting in Perthshire or sea kayaking in Shetland to name a few.

To claim your vouchers log on to www.visitscotland.com/adventurepass

Gillian Thompson
http://www.visitscotland.com/adventure
Works with adventure sports in Scotland and has a keen interest in keeping fit and walking and a new passion for surfing.

Soul Food

March 26, 2008 on 2:27 pm | In Kayak Surfing | No Comments

Ha, it will be difficult to upset me today.

Alex and I were out on the break at Vastiker this morning at ‘o’my goodness it is early’. There was a good swell but there was a funny thing going on with the fetch coming in from the east. It made the face of the waves lumpy and the pocket very tight, slip out and you were off the back of the wave, worryingly it seemed to happen to me quite often.

But it was great to be out, the views to the mainland were crystal clear and the snow covered mountains were simply stunning - it would be a nice day to be on the hill - it is on mornings like this I remember one of the reasons why we live here.

Difficult to upset me but also difficult to get any work done.

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

Surfs up in the Hebrides

February 12, 2008 on 10:12 am | In Kayak Surfing | No Comments

Ahhhh ! it is good to have been out in my boat again. Sunday saw the wrap round of the massive swell running on the west side, so the breaks on this side were working. We dropped into the water on the break at Tong and what a session.

Tong is a sand bar at the entrance of the river and is the longest break in the islands. You get on and exhausted, off three weeks later with a beard. It is a left hander which is usually fast and steep, Sunday, it was fast but not too steep, good for me as I hadn’t been in a boat for a while.

It was setty but when they were coming through there were enough to go round as it was a little busy with about seven people out.

So I am now looking at the predictors to see when the next swell is due, although I do need to paddle my sea kayak as the deadline for the guide book to the Outer Hebrides has been set and we need to get writing and taking pictures.

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

Surf and Snow

February 3, 2008 on 3:26 pm | In Kayak Surfing | No Comments

When most people look at the weather forecast they see northeries and start getting out the winter clothes and complaining of the cold. Here it is slightly different as northerlies mean fantastic swell. So I had been watching the forecast all week and anticipating the great swell due to arrive here.

We watch a variety of sites but good one is magic seaweed, as with all these things you need to apply what is says with some local knowledge and the view of various other sites but it was predicting good waves.

So you can imagine how I felt when I woke on Saturday morning feeling terrible and it was difficult to get out of bed. Made worse by the thick covering of snow and three children desperate to go sledging on the golf course.

I dragged my corpse kicking a screaming to the sledge run and pulled Murray up and then rode down, for what seemed an eternity. Then it was back to the sofa and some shut eye, when the phone rang an Mike was on his way to change in the warm. Because we live so close to the break the house is the changing room and the shower and tea bar after.

I drove down to the break and found Donnie watching the break with Ian Lawson was out on his surf ski and Mike was quickly out as well. On a reasonable size day it makes a good spectator sport with some top thrashings being handed out. I still would have liked to have been out there but we laughed lots.

So I am doing a wind dance for more notherlies so I can get out there.

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

Surfing

October 3, 2007 on 8:48 pm | In Kayak Surfing, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

The weekend served up up an unexpected pleasure, one of lifes magic moments.

The tides were big and we had been looking at going to play on the wave which is created by a tidal overfall in Loch Seaforth on the border of Harris and Lewis. It was all going to plan until I made the school boy error of leaving one of the spray decks (which we use to stop water going into the cockpit) in the barn. Trouble was were were half way there passing Lochs when I realised, so by the time we had turned round and arrived back at the barn it was too late. There is a resticted tidal window when the rapid works.

So Graham and I were sat in wall to wall blue sky in t-shirts outside the house wondering where this left us, so I suggested we should take a spin over to the west side of the island and see if there were any waves. So a quick swap of the boats to the surf boats (they have fins and are a very different shape, more like a surf board with the the shape of a stealth bomber fibreglassed on) and we drove like mad men over to Barvas.

On the machair we began to suspect there was something happening with all the cars and vans, so when we arrived there was perfect green waves at about 6 foot. Folding ourselves in to our wets suits it was a dash to the water and several hours of perfect surfing, some of the best in the world.

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

Deserted Beaches

August 12, 2007 on 10:12 pm | In Surfing, Kayak Surfing, Body Boarding | 2 Comments

The end of another week and the pace hasn’t slacked. Anna was playing at Piping Live in Glasgow this week so I have been playing with the kids and having adventures. It does mean I didn’t do much work.

We spent Friday at the Cliff Beach on the Valtos penisula. Tooled up with wet suits, boogie boards and a sit on kayak we hit the surf. If you were in the south of England there would have been hundreds if not thousands of people fighting for a piece of the sand. We were on the beach on our own. Surf, sun and solitude

Using a sit on was great for the kids in the small surf and gave a very forgiving platform for them to experiment with paddling on waves. These make getting on the water very accessable but this comes with inherent dangers - ‘the sea in a fickle mistress’, the surf is very powerful.

If you are using a sit on top in surf then you need to be aware if you fall off the surf will take the craft and hurtle it at the beach squashing everything in the way. If you are going to be in anything deeper than your waist a bouyancy aid is a must and you should be asking if you need one even if you are just going for a little paddle.

It was Koren’s first trip out in her new wet suit and armed with her new boogie board. I stood on the beach and remembered the first time I used a board, it was plywood and I used it on a beach in Devon (rather longer ago than I care to admit). I still remember the cold but the rush … Koren’s face was picture the first wave she caught and I suspect we have another adict in the family.

We are very spoilt here in Lewis and Harris with breaks facing in all directions of compass and the gulf stream servicing us with warm waters. The surf here is world class, Mark Lumsden who runs Lewis Surf Trek has some great pictures and as a professional film maker he made a dvd called Cold Rush featuring footage shot round the north coast of Scotland.

Catching your first wave.

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