There are many passions in life and one of ours is to Kayak. We love being out on the water, no cares, no worries, just taking one stroke at a time.
We are becoming a bit more adventurous with our journeys, trying out new locations, new routes and with each completion of a new route comes a more stupid grin or a high five.
Before we leave home we always check out the tide times, wind speed and direction; and we look at the weather conditions and work out whether the location works for us. Bear in mind that we are not spring chickens, but we do know what we are doing, we have been on the water in some form of craft for over 30 years.
So, today’s journey starts at Two Tree Island, our initial thoughts were to work our way out of the ray towards the sea. When we left home the winds were non existent and even the weather app didn’t show too much wind, but when we arrived there was some seriously choppy waves, wind was with tide, (when the tide turns it would then be wind against tide and could provide even more to contend with) but there was a very strong breeze. I reached for my life jacket straight away. But Ian went quiet. I left him alone, as he processes what he sees. We weren’t sure what to do, it was strong.
I headed off to chat to the guy in the hut about the weather conditions and he suggested we head into the creek behind the island. Hmmm, didn’t know there was one. Soon we were chatting to him and Harry a local kayaker who’s been kayaking in the area for 50 years. RESPECT. They both suggest a clockwise tour around the island. OMG, yes, it's an island, that works for Ian, so off we trot.
We head clockwise around the island and it’s a strong paddle, you can’t stop, or you will go backwards. We head into the lea of the island and there is the beginning of some salt marshes. We disturb some gulls and mallards, then we turn into the creek. The wind is quieter as it's a bit sheltered, but the tide is still quite strong, we overtake a few kayakers and paddleboarders along the way and see some teenagers playing on the rope swing under the bridge.
Everything is green, I’ve never seen so much samphire, I didn’t pick any this time, I didn’t have a bag to store it in, if I had put it in the kayak, it wouldn’t have been there when we got out, as the wind was that blowy. Next time! Whilst in the creek we were treated to a great display from the model aircraft club based on the island, there was a model red arrow flying, doing loops and barrel rolls. We even found a crashed model aircraft in the creek.
We moved on towards Old Leigh, there was music playing at The Boatyard, The Peterboat was full, but our attention was on the water, the tide had turned and was now heading against the wind, so our strokes were firmer, stronger and our muscles were feeling the workout. The waves were choppier, but we had our lifejackets on, and we ploughed on. We disturbed a flock of egrets, there were over 50, WOW, I love wild birds. We saw kestrels, oyster catchers, swallows and more swallows. Lots of small waders like ringed plovers, juvenile gulls being fed by their parents, even cormorants and little dippers.
We kayaked around the island in 90 minutes, and it turns out that we covered 6 km or 3.75 miles, it was fab, a bit of a test on our nerve and arm strength, but a great achievement to add to our belt. I know I shall sleep well tonight. Hmmm, where next?
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